Posted on 04/27/2007 7:32:08 PM PDT by Simi Valley Tom
By Dr. Tom Snyder, Editor of Movieguide®
A group of self-described "progressive" Christian Evangelicals calling themselves "Red Letter Christians," and led by the liberal, left-oriented Sojourners Magazine and left-oriented religious pundits like Jim Wallis and Tony Campolo, has recently emerged in the body politic. These self-proclaimed "progressives" have been making a lot of noise recently complaining about the ties that other Christian Evangelicals have long held with the conservative movement in the United States, including the conservative movement in the Republican Party.
One conservative policy under attack by these "progressives" is the conservative effort to "cut programs to the poor." They say that such a policy goes against Jesus Christ's commands in Chapter 24 of the Book of Matthew to feed those who are hungry.
These "Red Letter Christians" are making a lot of noise, but they are just a bunch of clanging cymbals. And, the love that they claim to spout has no truth in it whatsoever.
What these misguided religious zealots conveniently fail to note is that, nowhere in the New Testament, or the other books of the Bible, do Jesus Christ, His apostles, God the Father, the Holy Spirit, Moses, or the Hebrew prophets command the government to take money from its citizens and transfer it to poor people. In fact, the Bible says just the opposite.
God presents us with three general ways in the Bible to take care of the poor and needy: 1) Through the family; 2) Through the church; and 3) Through individual charity. The applicable passages for these three ways are Deut. 14:28, 29, Numbers 18:24, Matthew 6:1-4 and 1 Timothy 5:3-16.
Now, the first two ways are pretty clear. People’s first obligation is to the needy, poor, widowed, and orphaned in their own families. Only after they do this do they have any obligation to help the needy, poor, widowed, and orphaned through their local church organization. God established the pattern for this kind of church giving in Numbers 18:24 and Deuteronomy 14:28, 29. As David Chilton points out in his great book "Productive Christians in an Age of Guilt Manipulators," the bulk of Christian giving to the local church should be geared toward financing professional theologians, experts in biblical law and church discipline, teachers of God’s word and leaders skilled in worship. It was only every third year that all the giving was set aside to help the needy, poor, widowed, and orphaned. Even then, the money was not given just to anyone who showed up. Those able to work but don’t, do not qualify for help. Also, those who have families to take care of them don’t qualify, nor do widows under age 60 qualify, according to the Apostle Paul in 1 Timothy 5:3-16.
Jesus Christ, who is God in the flesh, talks about the third way in Matthew 6. He tells His listeners that they should give individual charity. He also says they should give such charity secretly: “Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.”
In other words, God is not a socialist. Nor is he a liberal. In fact, in none of the Bible passages just cited, nor in any others I know of, does Jesus, God or even Moses cite the government as the means by which the poor, needy, widowed and orphaned are housed, clothed and fed.
Thus, a simple, straightforward reading of the Bible, God’s Word, including the "Red Letter" words of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, clearly shows that the American welfare state is anti-God, anti-Christian and unbiblical. Any Christian or Jew who advocates such a government welfare system (including clergymen or women) should be harshly rebuked and disciplined by their church and synagogue congregation or hierarchy. Furthermore, any members of any political party, including Republicans, Democrats, Reform Party members, Libertarians, or whatever, who advocate such a socialist system yet claim to be Christian or Jew should be reprimanded by their fellow brothers and sisters and by all church and synagogue leaders. If any such party members refuse to repent and change their ways, then their names should be posted at their church or synagogue and throughout the whole land so that all Christians and Jews in the United States or elsewhere can know not to vote for these people or place them in positions of authority and leadership.
Of course, all Christians and Jews should encourage families to take care of their own. And, they should also encourage their churches and synagogues to give at least one-third of their gross income to help the poor, needy, widowed, and orphaned.
On that note, it is interesting to recall that the Tenth Commandment in Exodus 20:17 actually protects private property by commanding people not to covet their neighbor’s house or belongings. That commands applies to the average citizen as well as the elected official, the judge and all other government officials.
Furthermore, the Bible condemns laziness and praises hard work. Proverbs 10:4 says, “Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth.” Proverbs 14:23 says, “All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.”
Finally, it is interesting to note that, in Mark 7:20-23, not only does Jesus Christ declare that all sex outside of heterosexual marriage, including homosexuality, pre-marital sex and adultery, is evil, he also declares that both greed and envy are evil. Thus, Jesus Christ condemns both the greed of the rich man as well as the greed of the poor man, and the envy of the poor man as well as the envy of the rich man.
Thus, God condemns the politics of envy of the left, and He extols the virtues of hard work and capitalism, not just the value of charity!
Liberals and socialists like the "Red Letter Christians," Sen. Hillary Clinton, Sen. Ted Kennedy, Sen. Barack Obama, and Al Gore are violating the commands of the God of the Bible. If they truly want to follow God, they should stop their ignorant opposition to the conservative movement in America and join it. One of the first things they should do immediately is help cut government programs for the poor.
Americans and Europeans must stop the ungodly, immoral rape of taxpayers by the totalitarian, socialist welfare state of liberalism! They must establish a proper and godly system of family, church and private charity. Everyone should follow God’s clear guidance in this matter. God will reward people mightily for their total obedience in these matters.
Note: A journalist with 20 years of experience, Dr. Snyder has a BA in political science from Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio and a Ph.D. in film studies and communications from Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., where he studied politics and film and political philosophy. He is the author of "Myth Conceptions" (Baker Books) and co-author of "Frodo & Harry: Understanding Visual Media and Its Impact on Our Lives" (Crossway Books). He has done post-graduate work in Christian apologetics, history and philosophy at Simon Greenleaf University and at Answers in Action in Southern California, where he lives with his wife, Jan. You can write to Dr. Snyder at tlsnyder42@yahoo.com.
The leftest definitely not going to like this... I Love it. Validates what I have read in the Bible....
I saw a bumper sticker on a car at work today that said “Jesus was a Liberal.” They repeat the lie over and over until people start to believe it. Unlike liberals, Jesus didn’t lie to gain power. Jesus wasn’t all about making Himself feel better. Jesus wasn’t about keeping people down with welfare states. Jesus didn’t preach peace only to become violent when dissenters appeared. Liberalism is a mental disease.
God is a royalist. What else would He be?
Socialism is Slavery by Government.. always in every place, every time, in every era..
read later
A father.
Bump for Jesus.
Theocratic? Theocratist (just made that word up)?
Jim Wallis brought his ‘Jesus would be a Democrat’ road show to a Presbyterian (PC USA) church in my area last year. Fairly appropriate, since most of the Protestant churches where I live are basically doing the business of the Democratic party now. Whenever I see a bumper sticker like the one you mentioned, I always want to note to the person some true famous liberals and socialists...Joe Stalin, Pol Pot, Fidel Castro, Mao, Ho Chi Minh, Adolf Hitler....
God is an Atheist.
Liberals are about making themselves feel better. They don't want to hear what their "solutions" do (like you say - Hitler, et. al.)
I saw a bumper sticker on a car at work today that said “Jesus was a Liberal.”
Jesus also said the Slaughter of Unborn Innocents is the Greatest crime of all in 1935 to St Faustina in Poland.
Paul, Thessolonians 2: 10
In fact, when we were with you, we instructed you that if anyone was unwilling to work, neither should that one eat.
Proverbs 21:13
If a man shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, he too will cry out and not be answered.
Proverbs 28:27
He who gives to the poor will lack nothing, but he who closes his eyes to them receives many curses.
Luke 14:13
But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind,
Liberalism may be a mental desease, but liberalism is a sin. -Glenn
This is nonsense.
If the author truly believed in the Biblical principles of caring for the poor and those unable to fend for themselves he would not have his panties in a twist over Government using our tax dollars to do so.
If we are truly a caring charitable people, and our Govt is of the people and for the people, then there is absolutely nothing wrong with Govt aid for the poor and elderly.
Tax dollars are used for lesser things all the time.
However the degree to which taxes are used for this is certainly debatable.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.