[Pastor Billy-Reuben]

Re: Selfishness makes America GREAT, except for the GREEDY poor!

Taxes arent all bad - they help preventing homelessnes. let's look at some statistics:
First off. find a country with a high tax rate. Denmark. Now - compare.
We'll just take a random american city, say San Francisco.
San Francisco:
Tax Rate: 10-35%
Number of Homeless folks:7-10.000
Total Population: 815.000
one in every 82-116 is homeless
Denmark:
Tax Rate: 40-60%
Number of Homeless folks: 4.500-5.000
Total Population: 5.500.000
1 in every 1100-1222 is homeless.

Higher taxes is not always a bad thing.

You're comparing an extremely densely populated city against a whole country. Of course the city is going have higher rates of homelessness than a country. You are comparing apples and oranges here.

How about doing a fair comparison of two cities with similar population density?

When you include the nationwide VAT, India has higher taxes than the US. How does the rate of homelessness in San Francisco compare to that of Mumbai?

Pastor Billy-Reuben

[Rev. M. Rodimer]

Re: Selfishness makes America GREAT, except for the GREEDY poor!

I am just looking at facts, and they speak pretty clearly. If the homeless are all bad people spending their money on stupid things, why not get rid of them?
The statistics speaks for themselves - 0,08% (Denmark) vs 1,22% (USA). The american number is 15 times higher - the danish system is clearly working. Or maybe the danes are just more capable at earning money than the americans.

Or maybe Denmark has a different way of dealing with its homeless:

[BelieverInGod]

Re: Selfishness makes America GREAT, except for the GREEDY poor!

You're comparing an extremely densely populated city against a whole country. Of course the city is going have higher rates of homelessness than a country. You are comparing apples and oranges here.

How about doing a fair comparison of two cities with similar population density?

When you include the nationwide VAT, India has higher taxes than the US. How does the rate of homelessness in San Francisco compare to that of Mumbai?

Pastor Billy-Reuben

Not only that, but he's comparing probably the most liebral city in the US and saying it's bad. There's also the fact that lazy people head to California for the simple reason it is possible to live there out doors year round and not freeze to death.

[Master Gordon]

Re: Selfishness makes America GREAT, except for the GREEDY poor!

Or maybe Denmark has a different way of dealing with its homeless:

Yes I have heard that and it just goes to show why God hates Denmark.

[Rev. Jim Osborne]

Re: Selfishness makes America GREAT, except for the GREEDY poor!

Don't forget the Elephant in the Room that the liberals don't want to mention: Another reason why there's less homelessness in Denmark than San Francisco is because there's more white people in Denmark. Everyone there is blonde and blue eyed, and we know for a fact that blonde and blue-eyed people are simply more intelligent and hard-working. Now, compare that to San Francisco which is the toilet of America. You get drug-addled hippies, perverts in fishnets, migrant Mexican workers, and all sorts of other scum.

Anywhere where there is a majority of white people (like 90%+), you will find record-low amounts of violence, homelessness, poverty, etc. The converse is also true when you look at negro or Mexican population.

Liberals don't want to admit that because then people will know they are actually racist!

[Rev. M. Rodimer]

Re: Selfishness makes America GREAT, except for the GREEDY poor!

If you wish to believe leftist liberal groups like the "National Alliance to End Homelessness", there are 671,859 homeless people in the United States.

The US population is 310,686,344.

Therefore, 0.2162% of the US population is homeless, not the 0.85% you show in your San Francisco example. If your example applied to the entire country, there would be 2,668,472 homeless people in the US.

With a little more "help" from Obama, we just might reach or exceed that number in the coming months.

[AngelClark]

Re: Selfishness makes America GREAT, except for the GREEDY poor!

The poor I know are not greedy. There are many people living off of SSI or SSDI who are living off of less than $1000 per month. They do there best to make it. There are also the working class who has to work at minimum wage and try to make it again off of about $1000 per month. These people are on housing, getting food stamps just to make it. I believe the rich need to help out the poor. Donate to a cereal drive that feeds kids breakfast during the summer, donate to a food pantry there are people who needs it.

Correction: They want a handout, while my husband actually works to provide for his family. Why should WE provide for the LAZY? The poor wouldn't be poor if they'd quit stuffing their faces, cranking out children before marriage, and whining about how bad they have it. I personally think they should do away with Food Stamps, Section 8 housing, welfare, etc. It makes people lazy and teaches NOTHING!!

[Louise1987]

Re: Selfishness makes America GREAT, except for the GREEDY poor!

I have a point.

Let's assume there must be a percentage of poor to keep the economy running, like someone mentioned earlier.

But let's face it. Who wants to be poor?

It's easy to bitch about the poor when you're not one yourself.

[librarian]

Re: Selfishness makes America GREAT, except for the GREEDY poor!

First of all, I am sorry for digging up this thread but I have some questions to the good people of this forum.

I had been reading the bible and I came upon this passage on Luke 6:20 which says: "Blessed are you poor, For the yours is the kingdom of God."
Then I happen to stumble onto this forum. Help me enlighten my understanding. What does that mean exactly, in a relationship to the views expressed on this forum?

Thank you in advance for helping me get to the truth.

[Zechariah Smyth]

Re: Selfishness makes America GREAT, except for the GREEDY poor!

First of all, I am sorry for digging up this thread but I have some questions to the good people of this forum.

I had been reading the bible and I came upon this passage on Luke 6:20 which says: "Blessed are you poor, For the yours is the kingdom of God."
Then I happen to stumble onto this forum. Help me enlighten my understanding. What does that mean exactly, in a relationship to the views expressed on this forum?

Thank you in advance for helping me get to the truth.

Why did you cut out the "And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples" part? It's exactly that sort of editing, cherry-picking, and obfuscation that prevents the vast majority of people from having true discernment.

Certainly by the time you got to Luke (which is around 80% of the way through the KJV Bible) you had achieved some level of understanding: or are you simply trying to Google your way to salvation?



Yours in Christ,

Z. Smyth

[librarian]

Re: Selfishness makes America GREAT, except for the GREEDY poor!

are you simply trying to Google your way to salvation?Z. Smyth

I am sorry if I made that impression. It was an honest mistake.
It is not in my intention to "google my way to salvation", but rather I am trying to reach an understanding in accordance to the bible. For me, salvation comes within the understanding of the bible.

The full text of the scripture is as follows: "And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said, Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God".

But still, my question stands. I am hoping you could explain to me how it is in agreement to this thread. Thank you for helping me out.

[Zechariah Smyth]

Re: Selfishness makes America GREAT, except for the GREEDY poor!

I am sorry if I made that impression. It was an honest mistake.
It is not in my intention to "google my way to salvation", but rather I am trying to reach an understanding in accordance to the bible. For me, salvation comes within the understanding of the bible.

The full text of the scripture is as follows: "And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said, Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God".

But still, my question stands. I am hoping you could explain to me how it is in agreement to this thread. Thank you for helping me out.

How about this: tell me IN YOUR OWN WORDS why you feel that it is in disagreement with this thread, and what is the catalyst for your concern. Surely you are not implying that the KJV Bible is contradictory in any way whatsoever?

Please be honest: this is where the rubber meets the road.

YiC,

Zech

[librarian]

Re: Selfishness makes America GREAT, except for the GREEDY poor!

What I do understand so far, is that Jesus took pity on the poor and blessed them with the kingdom of God (specially his disciples as they were the ones that Jesus was addressing).

Also, I am quite sure that there is also passage during the last supper of Jesus ans his disciples, when Jesus said something to Judas before Judas leaves in order to betray Jesus. The disciples that was with Jesus during this event, assumed that Judas left because either Jesus had commanded him to buy supplies or give money to the poor. The point is that Jesus' disciples had expectations that Jesus commanded Judas to give money to the poor, showing that they believe Jesus have compassion for the poor or at least pity.
I am not a bible expert so I cannot quote the exact texts on command or tell which exact scripture was it from. But because you had been pointing out my reliance on google to find texts I had read before but not memorized, I did not search for the said text. But if you want, I can find it and post it here.

[librarian]

Re: Selfishness makes America GREAT, except for the GREEDY poor!

About the contradictory thing, no, I do not believe the Bible would contradict itself. I have great respect for it and I believe it is the guide to truth.

On that point, I have yet to read a Bible qoute on this thread that points out that the God condemns or hates the poor. In fact I just remembered a law in ancient Israel I have read once. It tells about the way farmers should gather their crops (i am not sure of the plant mentioned). I believe it mentions about how farmers should not go back and get the missed (or fallen) grains to gather them so poor people (again not sure without researching, but i think its widows?) can take them so they have something to eat.

If you want, I can take my time to do research. But I am quite sure you remember about it. Again, I do not claim myself any expert on anything, just somebody who wants to learn. I just read a lot and had gathered my own understanding of the bible. Its just I want guidance in understanding it, because as a human being i am bound to make mistakes or misunderstand God's word.

[librarian]

Re: Selfishness makes America GREAT, except for the GREEDY poor!

My concern about this is the way long time members of this forum view the poor. I believe that the bible and God takes pity and even blesses the poor with His kingdom. The behavior of most of the members here are not in accordance or in the footsteps of Jesus. I have seen them post how the poor are vermin and vile beings, and that God will kill them in his own time.

I am searching for the truth and therefore, I need to know if I am in the wrong viewpoint or I have yet to find the Truth in another place.