beetlejuice's ghoulish wifeRegarding the thing about people asking for money on here and whether they NEED it - St. Augustine has a thing about charity where basically when you give money to someone who says they need it you are absolved from what they do with it. Like. It's none of your business from a moral point of view!
rustcellar@mark @mtrkdjoyce Francis Joseph Hall had a good line of this despite being a fussy moralist on a lot of matters:
@mark @mtrkdjoyce screenshot is of Francis Joseph Hall’s Moral Theology page 157, in relevant part saying:
"In the matter of giving to the poor, careful judgment may be needed to avoid hurting instead of helping,and to escape the evil of wasting resources which should be administered to the best advantage But in doing this we incur the danger,generally over-looked, of forgetting a vital Christian aim in alms-giving,…“
@mark @mtrkdjoyce “…which is to show personal love, and to win persons to God. Accordingly, we always incur a risk when we refuse to give money to persons because w e do not feel sure that the gift will be properly used. [Footnote 1]…”
@mark @mtrkdjoyce
“…[Footnote 1] Bp. Butler, Three Sermons on Human Nature, serm.ii, "Because some are unworthy we cannot excuse ourselves from all giving." Morally the position taken by the man who says "I never give to beggars" isapt to be very questionable. While we should observe the findings of sound sociological science,the requirements of visible Christian love may not give way to them, lest we become mere utilitarians."
“…[Footnote 1] Bp. Butler, Three Sermons on Human Nature, serm.ii, "Because some are unworthy we cannot excuse ourselves from all giving." Morally the position taken by the man who says "I never give to beggars" isapt to be very questionable. While we should observe the findings of sound sociological science,the requirements of visible Christian love may not give way to them, lest we become mere utilitarians."