—– Mary A. LaClair
The Lord had starting telling me to write a column on ‘mis-placed compassion’. This is in response to my question of how people can be caught up in such backward thinking which shows a big lack of common sense. He answered me by saying – “They think they have compassion, and they do; but they have mis-placed compassions.”
When one stops and thinks about it, it may be readily seen. One need only consider the fact that more legal compassion is often shown to murderers than to their victims. I am sure more examples can be found.
Christians should be careful where they spread their compassion. Greasy Grace can have the effect of making God an accomplice to sin. And it is easy for church members to fall prey to this tactic. When God chooses to bless His people, to show the unbelievers how God chooses to bless and honor those who honor Him, should those people feel guilty for having more than others? …to the point that they will give away their blessings to people who ask because those people spend their money on luxuries and then beg for the necessities? I think not ! ! We should be good stewards of God’s provisions. Caring for the truly needy is one thing but having mis-placed compassion is another. Being indiscriminate in our giving, in other words, being poor stewards, can be a discredit and a disgrace to the managment of our own provisions. We need to be on guard using discernment, accompanied many times by research, to determine who is truly in need and who are not being good stewards of their own provisions.
syracuse.com” https://www.syracuse.com/crime/2018/06/fourth_spca_thief_pleads_guilty_as_thefts_top_1_million_under_former_director.html
When other people see Christians as doormats it does not make Christianity attractive.
https://looklistenthink.wordpress.com/category/christians-letting-non-christians-define-christianity/ This should not be.
You may wish to see an article also found here – check the categories at the right for this one:
https://theproverbs120column.wordpress.com/category/others-as-better-than-ourselves-dont-be-fooled
Mis-Placed compassion can be quite costly and result in lengthy regrets, some life threatening.
Think of the young girl who ‘falls in love’ with a young man of questionable character, thinking all he needs is love. Ha! How many wind up beaten or dead? She had compassion on the wrong person, a person who did not think he needed changing. But, she had compassion, right?
Environmentalists: Lumber prices went up, lumberjacks were out of work because a few people had ‘compassion’ on the spotted white owl. Gee, did they forget about the evolution they teach? Let it evolve. No, just don’t cut the trees that give lumber for house building.
California, the fire laden state, instead of saving water, it pumps water back into the Pacific when it comes down from the North. Why? Because some environmentalists were more concerned about a tiny fish called ‘smelt’. Worshiping creation rather than the Creator.. Result? Water rationing for lawns, Dry land ripe for fires, landslides of mud and dirt because roots of burned trees no longer retain soil when rains do come. Homes lost. Because of mis-directed compassion on a small fish. Let the fish evolve if they believe in evolution, which they teach school children. Thankfully, President Trump introduced common sense regarding this issue.
Welfare: Mis-placed compassion on men who commit sex crimes – maybe prison will reform them- give them three strikes. Yeah, sure. How many people become victims of cock-eyed mis-placed ‘compassion’. Level three sex offenders should NEVER be let out. Chemical castration??..just let them take their own pill? Sure, Ha! Cock-eyed reasoning, just as ankle bracelets which can be cut off. Lock them up or give them physical castration.
See what is happening in New York City with bail reform.
See what has happened in San Francisco with mis-guided compassion on people who violate immigration laws.
I decided to see what else is out there on the topic of mis-placed compassion. I discovered there are already many good articles, whose links I will post here; while saving me from re-inventing the wheel.
This one says pretty much what’s on my mind: See what you think:
by Staff | Sep 11, 2015 Bill Lockwood of The Pierce County Tribune:—
“Misguided Compassion is part of the woes of this county. In fact “Few things have done more harm in the world than disproportionate compassion,” wrote William Lecky in The Map of Life. Examples of misguided compassion can be multiplied many times over, against which common sense as well as God’s Word continually warn us. For this reason, our founding fathers made unconstitutional any transfer of monies from one segment of society to another portion of the populace. Instead, all public monies were to be for the “general welfare” (Preamble to Constitution) which was defined as the well-being of all the people. Casting this sage advice, as well as LAW, behind their backs, the progressives have led us into the abyss of financial and moral collapse in America.
“Beginning in earnest in the days of Franklin Roosevelt and continued with a vengeance by Barack Obama, our ungodly welfare state is beyond mammoth proportions. Per NBC Business News 15% of Americans (46+ million) are on food stamps. CNN Money reports more than 1 in 7 citizens receive expenditures from the Department of Agriculture. Under Obama they are advertizing for more. The Huffington Post tells that dependence upon the government is at “an all time high.” Heritage Foundation statistics show that from the time of JFK when federal spending was distributed to 21.7 million Americans it is now 1 in 5 citizens! More than 67 million receive this aid. Of the federal budget, more than 70% goes to pay for housing, food, income, student aid, farm subsidies, etc.
“Some “conservative” pundits continue to argue that the federal government “needs” to provide a “safety net” for the poor or disadvantaged. This is compassion, we are told. But how are we to define “who” needs assistance? Where is the line to be drawn? How are we to reckon charity? In truth, any government (forcible) transfer of wealth from one person or group of people to another is not only unconstitutional, it is not even compassion. It is, what might be called, in the words of William Lecky, “misguided compassion” that erodes society.
“How Does Misguided Compassion Destroy Society? First, consider the penal code. The Apostle Paul shows us in Romans 13 that the government (“powers that be”) are ordained of God for the specific purpose of doing good. “For rulers are a terror, not to the good, but to the evil” (13:3). “For he is a minister of God to thee for good; but if you do that which is evil; be afraid, for he bears not the sword in vain” (4). To promote a civil society that rewards the good, God has ordained government. But this must also punish the evil, which is depicted here by “the sword,” indicating capital punishment. But as Lecky points out, “It is no exaggeration to say that the death of an interesting murderer will often arouse much stronger feelings than were ever excited by the death of his victim” But we must be on guard here, for “The humanitarian spirit is a perfectly right thing as long as it does not diminish the deterrent power of punishment as to increase crime, and as long as it does not place the criminal in a better position of comfort than the blameless poor.” If this becomes the case “compassion” becomes misguided and becomes more evil than good.
“Second, consider legislation protecting people from themselves. God demands work (2 Thess. 3:10) and that we must make a living by the “sweat of our brow.” But politicians, seeking to protect men from excessive labor (from themselves) and by “surrounding them with costly sanitary precautions, may easily, if they are injudiciously framed, so handicap a sex or a people in the competition of industry as to drive them out of great fields of industry, restrict their means of livelihood, lower their standard of wages and comfort, and thus seriously diminish the happiness of their lives.” Our staggering American economy testifies to the truthfulness of this statement.
“Third, consider the discipline of children. “Spare the rod and spoil the child” was revealed for a reason. “The parent who shrinks from inflicting any suffering on his child, or withholding from him any pleasure that he desires, is not laying the foundation of happy life, and the benevolence which counteracts or obscures the law of nature that extravagance, improvidence and vice lead naturally to ruin, is no real kindness either to the upright man who has resisted temptation to the weak man whose virtue is trembling doubtfully in the balance.”
“Fourth, consider state welfare. Biblically based benevolence is always freewill compassion, dependent upon the charity of individuals who have the option to give or not to give. Redistribution, however, (socialism) flying under the false flag of charity, is actually the “insidious growth of selfishness” and is a “disease against which men should be most on their guard.” Socialism is, at root, a deception. In truth, many and great evils spring from ill-considered charities. For this reason, the framers of our nation warned us of the socialistic state into which we are now plunging. Paying no heed to biblical injunctions, greedy progressives have made America a shambles by causing wickedness to grow. Compassion is Christ-like. But “misguided” or “unthinking” compassion is really not compassion. It is a destructive force in society.” — Bill Lockwood,–Concerned Citizen
From an Indian prophet:
“By giving you can destroy someone’s life. If you want to be the most compassionate working yourself up to some huge amount of emotion and reaching out to somebody… it is not compassion, it is self-gratification, devious ways to fulfill yourself. (sin of pride)
“Helping someone who has not fully evolved yet denies them the privilege of their own self-fulfillment.
“This is not about depriving people of something; this is about instead of helping people to evolve where they will naturally receive the bounty of life. If you give him something you will only overburden him, will only destroy his life. If you are concerned about somebody’s ultimate well-being, you must put him through the painstaking process of evolving himself to a higher possibility, where he will receive higher dimensions of life where receiving just happens to him because he deserves it.
“What you give and how you give is very important. You do not give just because somebody is asking. Very fine line between being trustful and being naïve. If you give beyond what people deserve, they become mean-spirited ” – by Sadhguru
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https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/misguided-compassion-its-been-all-us-chris-weber:
“Yet the definition of compassion says nothing about protection. In fact, the definition indicates a desire to address, to alleviate or to fix. So Instead of alleviating, our compassion is protecting.
“Misguided compassion may enable others to stay in their situation instead of bettering themselves so they can have pride and self-fulfillment. And therein lies the problem. Our compassion is misguided. It’s pointing in the wrong direction. It’s all about us.”– Chris Weber
FOR FURTHER INSIGHTS – ALL VALUABLE
https://www.speakingtree.in/article/beware-of-attachment-and-misplaced-compassion
The Proverbs 1:20 Column 