Other than taking a child into our home and family to rear, how should we take care of orphans?<\/p>\n\t
“Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world<\/em>” (James 1:27).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The word translated as “visit” in this passage is the Greek word\u00a0episkeptomai<\/em>.<\/em>\u00a0According to Thayer, it means, \u201cto look upon or after, to inspect, examine with the eyes; . . . in order to see how he is, i.e. to visit, go see one. . . . to look upon in order to help or benefit; e.g. to look after, have a care for, provide for . . .\u201d It is related to the Greek word for overseer, as in an elder overseeing a congregation.<\/p>\n
Taking a child into your home would definitely give you opportunities to watch over him, but if such is not possible, you can get actively involved. Be a big brother, sister, aunt, or uncle to the child. Check to see that he is adequately cared for, go to his games, help him with his schoolwork, be someone he can go to to ask for help or to cry on your shoulder when he gets lonely. Help find them a permanent home. When you are involved in someone’s life you will see opportunities to make life a little bit more comfortable or less stressful.<\/p>\n
The same goes for a widow. Stop in and visit. Bring cake and tea for a little social. Bring a meal. Take her to the store or make sure she can get to her doctor’s appointment. Give her a ride to services.<\/p>\n
We fool ourselves into thinking that throwing money at some large organization is fulfilling our duty, but the very wording of this passage is that we are to personally get actively involved in the lives of those who are less fortunate than we ourselves are.<\/p>\n\t
Response:<\/h2>\n
Thank you, Brother Hamilton, for your answer. I love your website. Many blessings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: Other than taking a child into our home and family to rear, how should we take care of orphans? Answer: “Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world” (James 1:27). The word translated as “visit”…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[194,191],"class_list":["post-13290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-benevolence","tag-orphans"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":822,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/orphans-and-their-care\/","url_meta":{"origin":13290,"position":0},"title":"Orphans and Their Care","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 1, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Orphans are not mentioned often in the New Testament, once to be precise, but many have developed unusual ideas about how to care for the orphans in our midst. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Unusual, because their teaching does not follow the plain statements of the New Testament. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The passage we will delve into\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sermon"","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":27612,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-an-institution-was-not-involved-could-the-church-take-care-of-orphans\/","url_meta":{"origin":13290,"position":1},"title":"If an institution was not involved, could the church take care of orphans?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 28, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am familiar that the issues over orphan homes as always been the church giving the money to an institutional board so they can provide for the needs of the children.\u00a0 But would it be an issue if the church avoided the giving of funds to a board and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19669,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-church-pay-school-fees-as-an-act-of-benevolence-if-the-student-has-no-family\/","url_meta":{"origin":13290,"position":2},"title":"Can a church pay school fees as an act of benevolence if the student has no family?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 8, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Please, brother, can a church pay school fees as an act of benevolence if the student has no family? Answer: \"Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":59727,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-we-not-to-support-organizations-that-do-good\/","url_meta":{"origin":13290,"position":3},"title":"Are we not to support organizations that do good?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 7, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Dear Sir: I have been reading your website for a long time and gaining much knowledge from it. I am puzzled though about how we as Christians are to meet the expectations of Matthew 25:31-46. If we are not to support organizations, such as the Salvation Army, is there\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":47334,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/who-is-responsible\/","url_meta":{"origin":13290,"position":4},"title":"Who Is Responsible?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 24, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Galatians 6:1-10 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0One of the issues that has divided brethren is that of doing good. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The question is who is responsible? \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0One side argues that it doesn\u2019t matter, so long as the good is done. The other side argues that you cannot give away\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9891,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-was-once-in-an-orphans-home\/","url_meta":{"origin":13290,"position":5},"title":"I was once in an orphans’ home","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 21, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Thank you for your answer. It has helped to clarify those 'ideas' that I asked about. But, in truth, I have to say that this is just downright scary. When someone talks about 'anti' and 'liberal' and 'sound', it doesn't make me think of worshiping my God, but it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13290"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13290\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}