Christianity and Helping the Poor

In Deuteronomy 15.11, God says to the Israelites, "I command you to be open handed toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land." (New International Version) God commanded the Israelites to help the poor and intended for Christians to take this as an example and follow it. The Israelites were God's people in the Old Testament and Christians, including those from Israel, are God's people. As this is read from the Bible, all that is thought of is that we are people of God and that we need to take God's commands seriously and to heart. Why, how, and how much should the needy be helped? Take a look at some examples and we can see what God commands us to do with the needy.…