Quote:
Originally Posted by TLFisher
James 2:14-17
What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
Verse 14 totally exhibits the local churches; faith without deeds.
Has it always been this way?
Not my experience. As a child when my parents would move to a new locality, there were families that gave us a place to sleep in their home.
Not many years later (Dec1982/Jan1983) as a 9th grader during winter break we were out of town spending winter break with relatives. The house we lived in burned to the ground. Sure those in our locality could have said "we are not a salvation army". That may epitomize the Recovery today, but 40 years ago it was a different culture. A brother moved out of his home so my parents and my siblings had a place to live. Different ones in our locality donated clothes, appliance, food items. There was faith with deeds.
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Yeah I knew another brother who was disabled and went to his locality for help because the government wouldn't help him financially. The local church that he went to turned him away and told him that he should keep trying to find help from the world. But he had already tried and told them he had been trying for years with no help. They essentially just gave him the run around. Which I don't think is in the least bit biblical. The brother needed real practical help and they just denied him. While at the same time they basically gaslit him saying they loved and supported him and cared about him, and claimed they would pray for him, yet they wouldn't help him in any practical way. I was really upset by that. I think that despite how much the local church's look down on modern Christianity, I bet you that the denominations would open their wallets and help a sick and needy brother. This happened about a year ago
Also during the time the brother was asking for help, the leading brothers he was communicating with were acting very squirrely when it came to text and email conversations. They always wanted to meet up with him and talk in person as opposed to over text and email. You could say some people communicate better that way, but to the brother it seemed more like they didn't want anything in writing that could be used against them later. He said it was really bizarre how much they tried to avoid putting any of their communication in writing