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Judge not, lest ye be judged
Last month word spread that one of the famed Extreme Makeover Home Edition houses had fallen into hard times after its owners, Milton and Patricia Harper, had used it as collateral on a $450,000 business loan. The business went belly up, and now the home is in foreclosure. (Although latest reports indicate the Harpers still have a shot at keeping their home.)
Local Mayor Willie Oswalt, who helped with the construction of the home said the whole situation is “aggravating. It just makes you mad. You do that much work, and they just squander it.”
But Crosswalk blogger Eric Hogue urges caution before judging the Harper family: “Should we ever ‘feel’ (believe) we ‘own’ someone, and their decisions, because we gave something to them …. Does God expect us to murmur and grumble because they tried something and it failed?”
Thoughts?
back to top11 Comments to “Judge not, lest ye be judged”
A business investment may have been a bad decision but I don’t see that as squandering. They were probably trying to improve their lot a little and made a mistake.
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Yeah, I gave someone some money a long time ago. I meant to help them in their need (as I perceived it). He used it to buy a camera like the kind I wanted (and have never got to own even yet).
That was about 27 years ago.
Get it over it, Mark.
The moment you gave it away, it ceased to be yours.
His camera purchase did me no harm. My bad attitudes did.
PS: I borrowed the camera a time or two.
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Two thoughts: I have heard that winners of lotteries and other big prizes soon go bankrupt, as they have never learned good money management. So could the recipients of those (IMHO) overdone houses be in the same boat?
As for the actual case, that mayor should have realized that the owners of the house had every right to use it as collateral.
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Get over it. It was their property and they can do what ever they wish with it. It is a free country and they can be as stupid as you think they are.
I have mortgaged my house a couple of times over the years to make payroll. My employees would not have cared one bit, other than they might have worried about the security of their jobs, if they had known about it. My wife was pretty mad about it though. So, you or anyone else shouldn’t lose any sleep over these people or care about this in the least.
Keep you nose out of someone else’s business and you will be just fine – and keep your thoughts to yourself too
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Mark said it well, “the moment you gave it away, it ceased to be yours”. I don’t watch the show though as I think they are exploiting people horribly (though the people volunteer). I put it in the same category as reading romances.
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I agree. It was classless to mortgage such a gift, but certainly within their rights. Wonder why someone who couldn’t house themselves thought they could make good on a $450K business loan?!
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#6 MOMOF%,
They knew the Left and Obama would bail them out. I’m guessing they were very right about that so it wasn’t much of a risk.
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Llama – how much bailout money is going to the stupid homeowners and how much is going to the mortgage lenders who lent the money in the first place.
The chances of this family getting bailed out are slim; the chances that the mortgage lender gets relief are much higher.
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The ‘judge not” verse is probably the most widely misunderstood and most erroneously applied verse in the Bible. Christians are almost as bad as non-Christians in messing up o this one.
It is NOT a prohibition on making any judments or exercising any discernment.
It is a caution as to avoiding hypocrisy.
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As Mark said, when you give it away it ceases to be yours….
There would be far less strife in churches today if all Christians would remember that once the money , time, whatever is donated…it is no longer yours.
I have witnessed many arguments concerning folks who believe their tithe gives them more say in a church than perhaps they should have…
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To paraphrase a favorite saying of mine, Life’s what happens when you’re making plans for other people.
A gift is a gift. Strings make it something less.
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