Expert: Pastor Don Carpenter - 5/8/2008

Question
  What does God say is the "right of the poor"? Thank you.

Answer
Hello Ray,

Thanks for this excellent question!  There are three basic things that Gid teaches about this subject.

1.  God is against anyone who victimized the poor and helpless.

Job 20:19-20
19 Because he hath oppressed and hath forsaken the poor; because he hath violently taken away an house which he builded not;  20 Surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly, he shall not save of that which he desired.  
The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

2.  God encourages us to help those who are truely helpless.

James 1:26-27
26 If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain. 27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

3.  There are those who could work and simlpy choose not to,or those who could be helped by their families and they are not.  These people need yo bear their own burdens.

2 Thessalonians 3:10
10 For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.
The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

1 Timothy 5:8
8 But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.  
The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

I hope that this helps.  Please forgive my tardy response.

In Christ
Pastor Don