be ready [compassion and christian ethics]

I recently posted some questions that seemed to hit a sensitive spot for lots of people.

See it here: can you give me a ride? [a question in christian ethics]

While I wanted to generate some discussion around this question, I never expected it to spark as much interest as it did. But that was awesome, and I really learned a lot from the conversation that this has generated for me both online and offline.

So here’s what I learned:

I think that everyone agrees that when in a situation where somebody needs help, the appropriate Christian response is to help them. Where people tend to differ is in how they help.

Through this conversation I’ve become much more aware of other ways that I could have helped this young lady without having her jump into my car with me (creating a potential accountability situation). Some of the possibilities include:

• Call (and pay for) a cab
• Call someone to or ride with us
• Call someone (female) to come pick her up
• Call my wife to let her know what I was doing

All of these scenarios only require one thing… making a simple phone call.

But I’ve also learned that my knee-jerk response closed the door to any of these possibilities happening at all. This is why it is important to be willing to talk before responding.

If I had taken the opportunity to ask her about what was going on and where she wanted to go, I would have been able to gather some important information on how I might be able to best help her out.

Engaging her in conversation may have given me the opportunity to even make suggestions. If she told me that her husband (or boyfriend) was beating her, then I may have been able to direct her to a safe house or shelter for battered women. Regardless of what her need was, I only would be able to discover it by actually talking to her.

Even if I did talk to her and found some ways to help her, I’ve since realized that I wasn’t prepared to really help her out anyway. So I’ve decided that I need to have some phone numbers programmed into my phone. Some of the places that I would need to be able to call might include:

• A reliable cab company (or two)
• Homeless shelters
• Food banks/kitchens
• Safe houses/shelters for battered women
• 24-hour medical centers/clinics

If she needed to get to a safe place to sleep for the night, having these phone numbers at my fingertips would have allowed me to call ahead to ensure that we wouldn’t end up running all over town to find what we need.

I would challenge you to also be ready in the same way.

So what numbers did I miss? What other resources do you think we should always have at the ready so that we can respond (appropriately) with compassion when the time comes?

can you give me a ride? [a question in christian ethics]

So I noticed her on my way into the 7-11 store. I was on my way to teaching my Homiletics class and I stopped to get a bottle of water. The 21-day Daniel fast that I’m on kept me from stopping at Starbucks for my venti non-fat chai latte, but I needed something with me to drink in class.

She was clearly upset as she cried on the phone with someone. She was wearing a short skirt, and that just revealed the bruises all up and down her legs. I’m not sure what they were from, but the first thing that I could think of was that she was in an abusive relationship. While I got my bottle of water she had stepped outside.

She stopped me on my way out the door. With tears rolling down her cheeks she looked at me with desperation and asked if I could help her out by giving her a ride somewhere.

Being a married man who is very active in ministry in my local church, I suddenly found myself in a dilemma.

On one hand my Christian belief is to help those who are needy and in times of trouble. That side of me wanted to help her into my car and take her to wherever she could get the help that she needed. After all, I know of several places that could help her regardless of the situation that she was in.

The other side of me kicked back and said, “DON’T DO IT!” The last thing that I needed was to put myself in a situation where I was alone with another woman in my car. A false accusation from her, or even someone I know driving by and seeing this woman with me could bring a world of problems for a faithful husband and servant of the church.

So I told her that I was really sorry, but I could not help her.

This raises the question that I’d like to discuss here. Which of these options should a faithful Christian be more concerned about?

Is it better to not care what others might think, and to just do the right thing to help out another human being in need?

Or is it more important to maintain a level of trust with people like my wife and those that I minister to?

Or is there another way to handle a situation like this?

What do you think?

Editors note: See the follow-up response to this discussion at be ready [compassion and christian ethics].

government health care? why christians shouldn’t be surprised

This whole health care thing has gotten way out of control! And this is something that the church (that means us, the people, not the institution) needs to take notice of and do something about. But what I am about to propose to you may take you off guard.

First let’s take a look at the actual issue that is driving this whole thing. Basically, while many people enjoy the privilege of decent medical care, there are still over 40 million people in the United States that have no coverage whatsoever.

I could provide my own commentary on this and other numbers, but there is enough of that already. What I will say is that there is a big need in our country today as it relates to care for the sick. So the government responded.

With this response by the government, many in the church are expressing outrage over such a ’socialist’ act! And that brings us to the point that I want to make…

Why is the church surprised? After all, isn’t the government simply doing something that the church should have been doing all along?

Personally, I’m still not sure what to think of the plan itself. But where there is an obvious need like this, I would prefer to see the church step up to meet that need. If we had, then there would be no problem that the government would feel compelled to fix.

Aren’t we (the church) called to take care of the sick? (Just in case you were wondering, the answer to that question is, “yes”.) Then how have the medical needs in our country gotten so bad? The only answer that I can think of for these questions is that we (the church) have not stepped up to the call.

The good news is that I know that it is possible for the church to meet needs like this. Things like relational tithe that are designed to help people in a community meet each other’s needs are solutions that could eliminate the need for socialized health care.

Whatever it looks like, if you want to fight things like socialized health care, then the best way to do it is by eliminating the needs that government feels obligated to address. As the church we should be leading the world in finding creative ways to meet the needs of the sick (and the orphan, and the widow, and… you get the idea). We should be a light to the world.

The church that Jesus called us to be is full of people who were created in the image of the most Creative Being in the universe! And we have been tasked with taking care of this place, and each other. For once I would like to see the church BE the solution, rather than complain about someone else trying to meet a need that we have failed to address.

is suicide forgiven?

I recently got rocked by someone who reached out to me through this website asking me this one little question…..

is suicide forgiven?

I followed up directly to this reader via email (the only means that I had to contact them), but never heard back. So I don’t know how my response may or may not have affected any decisions on their part. Personally, this question has haunted me ever since.

I do know that suicide is something that is not specifically forbidden by the Scriptures. However, I also know that it is not something that aligns with what I believe about how people should respect life. Thoughts of suicide typically stem from extreme depression, and I know that God has used many people who live with depression.

I feel good about the answer that I gave this reader. But what I want to know from you is…

How would you respond to this question?

If someone reached out to you asking questions about whether someone who commits suicide will still go to Heaven or not, then how would you respond?

Let’s talk about this…

I think that this is the type of conversation that more Christians should be prepared for. And my gut tells me that many Christians don’t have solid answers for this one. So please share your answers, thoughts, and questions….

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