Do christians believe people should look after their family before worrying about the poor?

Answer 1

There is no official Christian belief about this. However, the average Christian would probably say that we should look after both our families and the poor, but with greater priority going to the family. Some more extreme believers might say that we should not give to the poor because the poor are poor because they are being punished by God. Some extreme believers on the opposite side might say that we should give only to the poor because having a family is sinful. Personally, I think that there is no reason to deprive yourself of the fruits of a common life (e g having a family) unless you deprive yourself of everything. And to do that, you simply have to give everything away; the identity of the receiver of your possessions would be irrelevant. Seeing as almost no one is willing to do this, I say that we should look after our families before the poor because giving to the poor is often Narcissism disguised as altruism. Those who give enough to the poor enough to make any sort of difference seem to do it only to show off. And Jesus tells us to give alms such that "your left hand knows not what your right hand does." Just be kind and generous to all who you meet, but don't worry about the sufferings of people you don't know, and don't worry about the events of the larger world.