Quote
“If you give a man a fish, not only will he be back the next day looking for more, but you may also have undercut the local…
Mercy
Mcconnell · Mckinley
Analogy
Treating Symptoms Only
Corbett and Fikkert, When Helping Hurts
When a sick person goes to the doctor, the doctor could make two critical mistakes: treating symptoms instead of the underlying illness, or treating the wrong illness altogether. The same danger exists in helping the poor. Relief that never asks about root causes can create dependency or miss the real problem. Wise compassion learns to look beneath the surface.
How you’d preach it
Mercy ministry must diagnose carefully. Treating symptoms while ignoring causes can leave people worse off.
- Faith
Fikkert