Through the prophets, God instructed: "Do not oppress the orphan and the widow the alien and the poor". (Zech 7:10 NEB. See also Mal 3:5, Jer 7:6, and Isaiah 1:7 NEB, NWT). The apostle James went further in conveying God's Will in this matter, when he said, "The kind of religion which is without stain or fault in the sight of God our Father is this: to go to the help of orphans and widows in their distress and keep oneself untarnished by the world." (James 1:27 NEB).

An orphan is a child bereft of one parent or both by death. A widow is a woman whose husband is dead (and who has not married again).

People are oppressive to orphans, widows, and the poor, when they knowingly deprive them of their basic needs while having the power and resources to help them. But what if they, these widows, orphans and the poor, refuse to listen to the teachings and way of life given to us all by our Lord? Then helping them would mean becoming tarnished with the world ourselves, even to promoting unGodly living. We would become stained with fault in our spirit life of faith in God.

Therefore, caring for widows, orphans, and the poor, only applies to genuine faithful people of God. As to what merits the actual status, and who really are deemed widows to be helped within the Christ's congregational arrangements, refer to 1 Timothy 5:3-10 NEB.

13/2/88.