Here is a man (he is no longer living) who spent his life serving others. If anyone was conformed to the image of the Son, it was he!
I remember him well when he lived in my area as a young man as a pastor of a local church. He perceived that I held to the popular false gospel that requires nothing of us. At the time, I dismissed the statements he made to help me, wondering why he never preached the gospel (as I understood it). But many years later, I repented of the false gospel, and became a disciple of the Anointed One!
I took my kids to the park one day with a bag of bread to feed the ducks. As we started to throw the bread pieces, hundreds of ducks and geese swooped down out of nowhere and surrounded us. Several of the geese even got snappy and tried to snatch the bread right out of our hands; at which point I threw the bag down and we all ran back to the car. My kids were terrified. The duck situation got totally out of hand. They took over the park and were camping out, crapping all over the place, so we just quit going down there. The city finally posted a sign that says not to feed the ducks. Now we have the same scenario with the homeless beggars. I won’t go to the downtown library because they’re camping out and sleeping in the chairs. Besides that, they stink and probably have lice. They’re also in the parks, laying around and actually peeing on themselves. I saw this with my own two eyes! Excuse my brutal honesty, but to think that giving these people money is actually helping them in any way is beyond me. The only thing it does is to help them stay in their condition.
Excuse my brutal honesty… ok, so for you “money” is out — so in what way then might you plan to help this sh*tty situation, other than holding your nose and passing on the other side of the street?
Hmmm, I did not mean to cause such confrontation, but to get to a point where we can ‘maybe’ love a person no matter how vile they may be, I ask what do we have to do or maybe, what do we have to become? 
Your views will be appreciated.
No. I did not say that money was out. I said to give it to an organization that actually helps, such as AA. In the same sense,you wouldn’t keep giving money to a financially inept person unless you want that person to be totally dependent upon you for the rest of your life. Question: Would you keep giving your son or daughter an allowance if you found out that he/she was spending it on drugs/alcohol or any other no good thing out there? No. Why? Because you love them. Then why do it to a stranger? If you truly want what’s best for them then you can’t just keep giving them money and hope the problem works itself out. This is turning a blind eye to the truth of the matter. Sorry I seem so adamant about all of this. I think my strong opinions come from the fact that my father was an alcoholic. He never did quit drinking because he didn’t have to.
The deep question for me, is why they call them pan handlers. I don’t see them carrying any pans around. 
Fortunately, the site Quora provides some answers - to this burning question:
How did the practice of panhandling get its name?
Or maybe this article might help:
Panhandler: Its Origins Are Unclear, But Its Meaning Isn’t
It seems to me, that God also gives back to us. Isn’t this the message - in the ending - of It’s A Wonderful Life? I’m sure TV evangelist Joel Osteen, would agree with my sentiments. 
And for folks directing people to various organizations. Do you PERSONALLY KNOW how to find, the various food banks and homeless shelters - in you area? If not, then you are USELESS to panhandlers, if you won’t give them money or food.
Or to put it another way:
Personally, I think (in my opinion):
The Calvinist site Got Questions, has the most comprehensive answers to Biblical questions.
The Eastern Orthodox have the best answers to theological questions.
The Buddhists have the best answers, for how to quiet the mind.
The Charismatics have the best answers, for the gifts of the spirit
The Native American medicine men and women…along with the Bruno Groening Circle of Friends…have the best answers for spiritual healing
And I will direct folks to there resources - here and elsewhere.
Perhaps this cartoon panhandler - is cleverer than what we thought?
I was looking at some information for an event for veterans day and happened upon this song and thought I would share it:
“WILL WORK FOR FOOD © 2013 Lyrics & Music by Michele Jennae
There he was with a cardboard sign,
Will Work For Food
Saw him on the roadside,
As I took my kids to school
I really didn’t have time to stop,
Already running late
Found myself pulling over,
Into the hands of fate
The look in his eyes was empty,
But he held out his hand
I knew my kids were watching,
As I gave him all I had
My heart in my throat I had to ask,
“What brought you here?”
He looked up and straight into my eyes,
I wanted to disappear.
CHORUS
He said… Do you think I really saw myself,
Standing in this light
Forgotten by society,
After fighting for your rights
WILL WORK FOR FOOD,
WILL DIE FOR YOU
I AM JUST A FORGOTTEN SOLDIER,
I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO
v. 2 He put the money in his pocket,
Then he took me by the hand
Thank you dear for stopping by,
I am sure that you have plans
He nodded toward my children,
Watching from afar
It’s time they were off to school,
You should get in the car
My eyes welled up and tears fell down,
I couldn’t say a word
Here this man with nothing to his name,
Showing me his concern
I knew then that the lesson,
That today must be taught
Wouldn’t come from textbooks,
And it could not be bought
CHORUS
v. 3 I told him then that I had a job,
That I could give him work
And in return he’d have a meal,
And something to quench his thirst
He looked at me and shrugged a bit,
And followed me to the car
We went right over to a little café,
Just up the road not too far
After I ordered our food he looked at me,
And asked about the kids
“Shouldn’t these tykes be in school,
And about that job you said.”
“Your job,” I said, “is to school my girls,
In the ways of the world
Explain to them your service,
And how your life unfurled.”
CHORUS
v. 4He wasn’t sure quite what to do,
As he ate his food
And began to tell us all about his life…
the bad… the good.
He wiped his own tears from his eyes,
His story all but done
My girls and I all choked up,
Hugged him one by one
Understanding his sacrifice,
But not his current plight
We resolved then and there that day,
That for him, we would fight.
We offered him our friendship,
And anything else we had
He wasn’t sure how to accept it,
But we made him understand
LAST CHORUS
That we had not really seen before,
Him standing in the light
No longer forgotten by us,
We are now fighting for his rights
He had… WORKED FOR FOOD
HE HAD ALL BUT DIED FOR ME AND YOU
NOT FORGOTTEN ANYMORE
BUT STILL A SOLDIER IN TRUST”
― Michele Jennae
Powerful lyrics.
.
[size=120]What a song, MM! It brought tears to MY eyes![/size]
The word “laying” requires an object. What are they laying? Eggs?
The AA organization considers alcoholism to be a disease. If you have a disease, it’s not your fault that you have it. As long as a person bears no responsibility for his alcoholism, he will never truly conquer it.
Paidion,
That’s why Bill Wilson (The Founder of A.A.) wrote this:
As Bill Sees It
We must never be blinded by the futile philosophy that we are just the hapless victims of our inheritance, of our life experience, and of our surroundings— that these are the sole forces that make our decisions for us. This is not the road to freedom. We have to believe that we can really choose.
As active alcoholics, we lost our ability to choose whether we would drink. We were the victims of a compulsion which seemed to decree that we must go on with our own destruction. Yet we finally did make choices that brought about our recovery. We came to believe that alone we were powerless over alcohol. This was surely a choice, and a most difficult one. We came to believe that a Higher Power could restore us to sanity when we became willing to practice A.A.’ s Twelve Steps.
In short, we chose to ‘become willing,’ and no better choice did we ever make.”
- GRAPEVINE, NOVEMBER 1960 2. LETTER, 1966
All sin is a disease:
Recovering from the Disease of Sin by John Piper
I’m not going to get into a debate about “alcoholism.” But for a more complete understanding, I would recommend the book:
HEAVY DRINKING THE MYTH OF ALCOHOLISM AS A DISEASE by Herbert Fingarette, University of California Press, first paperback printing 1989.
If you do an internet search, you will find the book still available at several places.
If you go to the following Amazon site, you can look into the book without cost:
amazon.com/Heavy-Drinking-Myth-Alcoholism-Disease/dp/0520067541
For a more in depth treatment from scripture on sin being a disease check out “Healing The Gospel” by Derek Flood where he defends the Christus Victor atonement. I agree with the book now that I’ve finally gotten around to reading it. I’ve moved away from Penal Substitution.
I possess Flood’s book and have read it. It is indeed great!
All praise to God that you have moved away from it! Penal Substitution is a part of the false gospel that I believed until I was 24. The idea of that false gospel is that since Christ was punished in our place, nothing is required of us except to accept this “fact.” Then we are covered by His blood, and are reconciled to God. Even if we live like the devil we will be fine in God’s sight, since when He looks at us He doesn’t see our sin, but Christ’s righteousness. He is blinded to our wickedness since we are covered with the robe of Christ’s righteousness.
Those who promote this false gospel make a big deal out of Romans 3, 4, and 5 (as they interpret these chapters, of course). But they entirely ignore Romans 2:6-10
I have no problem giving a few bucks if I have it to someone I know will spend it on booze or dope. Life is tough and unpleasant; what’s wrong with having a few hours of chemical bliss?
I agree, Andre, but some people who posted on this thread believe that you are enabling them to be loafers, since presumably they are unwilling to work. For example:
That may be the case with some beggars. But my belief is that the majority of them cannot find work, or are poor due to other conditions that are beyond their control. We ought not to paint every needy person with the same brush. To help “the deserving poor” (as George Bernard Shaw called them) you may at times enable “the undeserving poor.” However, in order to aid the majority—“the deserving poor,” it’s worth it to take that risk.
“If you have a disease, it’s not your fault that you have it.”
I disagree. Are those last two sentences your views, or those allegedly of AA?
Who would deny that those who purposely seek to be infected with the disease known as HIV are not at fault when they get it as a result of this seeking? Or when those who have sex without a condom with strangers they’ve just met, such as bar pickups & street crack whores, get a STI.
Much contemporary research has shown…That there is a strong generic predisposition factor in alcoholism…I got this info from a professor of genetic modeling research - at Harvard. I assume he is correct. Are you saying a person is stronger than their genetics?
Don said:
Andre said (and DON agreed )
Randy said to Origen:
LLC said:
ST Michael said:
So as an outside observer, what has this little post taught us? Do we need to love, do we need to hate, do we need to shove people off to the side? Can we genetically be what we are and yet live the way that society wants us to live? Do we have it with in our will to say ‘today I will change such and such?’ I am trying myself to think outside the box so to speak Or will we never agree 
I look forward to the comments