The Good Samaritan

I continually urge people to watch the film 'I, Daniel Blake' as an example of just how difficult it is to navigate the benefit system. Sadly, for those who are in Universal Credit areas, things have become much worse since the film was made.

And yes, Good Samaritans are to be found in all guises.

Dear old batty, you are you whatever the state of your suffering and other feelings and you have perfect right to express yourself and to have feelings. please dont go away!

Granny23, I watched 'I, Daniel Blake' last night. He himself was a Good Samaritan who gave as much of himself as he could to others in need. Daniel Blake also portrayed the theme of Jesus overturning the tables of the money changers in the Temple. It was symbolic that Daniel Blake was a carpenter.

Anniebach why does it hurt? None of us can pretend we are perfect whatever our faith/ non- faith! Doing the right thing can be tough & we all fail frequently. Just more noticable sometimes when the person "failing" has publicly aligned themselves with a group that professes to be part of a group that promotes love, compassion and care!

Ouch, that hurt, not only putting the boot in but grinding with your heels.

Did anyone watch I Daniel Blake on BBC2 last night? Plenty of unlikely Good Samaritans in that film, but none of them apparently religious people. Just other humans showing a bit of empathy and kindness.

Also the parable of the Good Samaritan is from the Christian New Testament and attributed to Jesus. Hence my reference to Christians. Really not 'getting' at anyone personally but just commenting on what I see as blatant hypocrisy from some people ( not just on GN!) who show little compassion despite professing to be Christians.

Absolutely Iam64 I would say the same for anyone who identified as an active member of any major faith. I did make an assumption, based on comments on threads over time, that there are fewer Muslims, Jews, Buddhists & Hindus on GN than those who attend church and identify as Christians.

Anyone is entitled to speak on the teachings, the philosophies, the words of anyone. Indeed that is what discussion is all about, except possibly those people who only choose to talk about themselves.

oldbatty sorry to read that ?

batty I did not take a dig at you I explained. Yes I shouldn’t have brought nutter into it and I am sorry, I was sorry you didn’t apologise when you used it, even if sarcasm it was so wrong .

Annie, I have had enough. I have no idea why you wish to take these digs at me. I would love to have a faith but after many attempts I just can't manage it.
I do love the parables and often think of them.

My comment about the " nutter" was meant to be sarcastic, although of course that doesn't show up in print.

Perhaps days after suffering a bereavement is not the time for me to be on this site.

I'm done.

.Iam64 and who are they Christians here who you say do not understand or empathise with people seeking asylum, refuge or a better like for themselves?

batty note a poster spoke of the Samaritan and followed It with ‘ i’ve deliberately not used the word Christian on this thread ‘ rather strange straight after speaking of his teaching,

I difference between me as a Christian and the atheists and agnostics here is I say I am a Christian and follow his teachings but fail most days.

Perhaps I too am a nutter batty

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samaritans

The Samaritans were a Jewish sect.

Since the discussion started with a text from the Bible it is natural to discuss the Christian faith.

The majority of people who say they follow a faith on this site, refer to Christianity. I expect that's why PECS expressed sadness that people who identify as Christian can't understand or empathise with people seeking asylum, refuge or even a better life for themselves and their loved ones.

I'm second guessing PECS here, so apologies if I've made a leap too far but I expect the expectations PECS and others who share her views, would have the same expectations of people of no faith as well as to other faiths, such as Buddhism, Sikhism, Islam and Judaism.

GG54 There is something badly wrong with your arithmetic. By my calculation, if you visited on average 2 different churches every week (Easy if you are say an Itinerant Organist or Undertaker or perhaps a person that travels constantly in the course of their work) and you did that for 50 years then you would easily clock up 104 x 50 = 5,200 churches.

'humanity has no religious boundaries' - Anja I completely agree:

humanity
/hjʊˈmanɪti
compassion, brotherly love, fellow feeling, humaneness, kindness, kind-heartedness, consideration, understanding, sympathy, tolerance, goodness, good-heartedness, gentleness, leniency, mercy, mercifulness, pity, tenderness, benevolence, charity, generosity, magnanimity

I find some of the most generous attitudes to refugees I come across are from the homeless people I work with - many of whom don't profess to have a faith of any kind, but whose humanity is humbling.

PECS sorry you are saddened, perhaps if you didn’t judge you would avoid this sadness which seem so heavy for you to carry

Then why Christian, why not Buddhist, Islam, Judaism, Sikhism ?

I am saddened that anyone who identifies as Christian cannot seem to understand and empathise with the plight of migrants be they refugees , asylum seekers or young people seeking better opportunities to help their families in impoverished and war torn parts of the world.

When the abomination that was happening in the 30's in Europe and Jewish people were fleeing not all were in immediate danger & many were reasonably well off. They were doing what any of us might do when our livelihoods, lifestyle and ultimately our lives are under threat. I am pleased Britain was able to offer refuge then and only wish we could see that those seeking lives here are not brigands and cutthroats!

I don’t understand why you think it would be of interest to you Annie it was simply to illustrate that humanity has no religious boundaries.

Your use or not of the word Christian is of no interest to me , i note you use Christ’s teachings though

Incidentally I’ve deliberately not used the word Christian in my posts on this thread, please note.