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To: markomalley

I don’t remember Christ either demanding the Roman government be charitable, or demanding that private persons be charitable. I believe he preached the gospel of volunteering to be charitable. To give from love.

Nothing could be further from socialism, which is 100% dependent on extorting money from some to grant undeserved to others.


30 posted on 07/14/2015 9:17:22 PM PDT by Freedom_Is_Not_Free (The Confederate Flag is the new "N" word.)
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To: Freedom_Is_Not_Free
I don’t remember Christ either demanding the Roman government be charitable, or demanding that private persons be charitable. I believe he preached the gospel of volunteering to be charitable. To give from love.

  1. You are absolutely correct about the requirement for Caesar to be charitable.
  2. As for private persons, that is a bit more complicated. I don't recall a commandment to be charitable, but there were grave warnings for those who were so tight with their money that they weren't charitable. For example:
    Matt 19: [21] Jesus saith to him: If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come follow me. [22] And when the young man had heard this word, he went away sad: for he had great possessions.
    [23] Then Jesus said to his disciples: Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. [24] And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven. [25] And when they had heard this, the disciples wondered very much, saying: Who then can be saved?

    Again, though, bear in mind that in the above, the government was not in any way involved.

    And then there is this:

    Matt 25: [31] And when the Son of man shall come in his majesty, and all the angels with him, then shall he sit upon the seat of his majesty. [32] And all nations shall be gathered together before him, and he shall separate them one from another, as the shepherd separateth the sheep from the goats: [33] And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on his left. [34] Then shall the king say to them that shall be on his right hand: Come, ye blessed of my Father, possess you the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. [35] For I was hungry, and you gave me to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me to drink; I was a stranger, and you took me in:
    [36] Naked, and you covered me: sick, and you visited me: I was in prison, and you came to me. [37] Then shall the just answer him, saying: Lord, when did we see thee hungry, and fed thee; thirsty, and gave thee drink? [38] And when did we see thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and covered thee? [39] Or when did we see thee sick or in prison, and came to thee? [40] And the king answering, shall say to them: Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these my least brethren, you did it to me.
    [41] Then he shall say to them also that shall be on his left hand: Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels. [42] For I was hungry, and you gave me not to eat: I was thirsty, and you gave me not to drink. [43] I was a stranger, and you took me not in: naked, and you covered me not: sick and in prison, and you did not visit me. [44] Then they also shall answer him, saying: Lord, when did we see thee hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister to thee? [45] Then he shall answer them, saying: Amen I say to you, as long as you did it not to one of these least, neither did you do it to me. [46] And these shall go into everlasting punishment: but the just, into life everlasting.

    True, this is not a commandment (as in a statement "thou shalt" or "thou shalt not") but it sure looks like a mandate to do so, as there were fairly hefty condemnations for those who had but didn't share.

Also, if you take a look at all the rules in the Old Testament (such as not gleaning fields so that the poor could come in and glean them, releasing Hebrew slaves in the seventh year, and so on), there were some pretty strict rules for dealing with the widows, the fatherless, and the poor. Not to say that those rules didn't get perverted over time, but they were put in place. Again, those were not mandates for the government to establish social assistance programs, but were mandates for the people to do what was right.

Nothing could be further from socialism, which is 100% dependent on extorting money from some to grant undeserved to others.

Exactly. There is a blessing involved for those who, in of themselves, give to the poor (see the Matt 25 quote above). When the government takes money at the point of a spear and then declares that others are "entitled", neither the giver nor the receiver are blessed.

31 posted on 07/15/2015 2:31:05 AM PDT by markomalley (Nothing emboldens the wicked so greatly as the lack of courage on the part of the good -- Leo XIII)
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