It was followers of Calvin who brought to the world the idea that there are *worthy* needy and *unworthy* needy, and that charity should be institutionalized and regimented so that the *unworthy* wouldn't simply rely on handouts.
And so you see the industry that charity has become. Simple helping-hand charity one person to another has become more rare. And many churches simply refer the needy to government programs for help.
I'm remembering a sermon I heard in a Baptist church some years ago. The story was about a woman of comfortable means who had run into an old friend of hers on a downtown street -- but the old friend was a bag lady; homeless and truly down and out. Well! The comfortable person did a magnificent Christian thing in her mind. She took the old friend for some food, and bought her a blanket and clean clothes and gave her a bit of money. And that was the end of the sermon. Praise be!
I took issue with the message. What did Jesus teach about this kind of charity? The proper thing to do would have been to take that woman to her home, clothe her in her own clothes, feed her the best dinner, and generally just take her in.
Not only did Jesus preach sacrificial charity -- charity without any expectation of return or repayment -- but he preached that his followers should extend that kind of charity even to STRANGERS. Treat strangers as if they were brothers.
Most of us are so far from that model of how to live in this world....
I can tell you, friend, that Christians and their Calvinism have largely turned me against religion. I have only found a few people who really, truly, understood their human obligation to each brother and sister.
And as times get harder and harder for so many people, too many stubborn people continue to refuse to lend a helping hand to those in need. They've been told that needy people are somehow deficient and unworthy. (Forgetting that "losers" were the people Jesus loved most.)
Did any of that make sense?
Please look for some help. It may not be as close as your closest church, but keep trying. We are always here to listen and offer whatever suggestions we can find.
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