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2 Thessalonians 3:

6Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us. 7For yourselves know how ye ought to follow us: for we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you; 8Neither did we eat any man's bread for nought; but wrought with labour and travail night and day, that we might not be chargeable to any of you: 9Not because we have not power, but to make ourselves an ensample unto you to follow us. 10For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat. 11For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies. 12Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread. 13But ye, brethren, be not weary in well doing.

The problem is not with the occasional people who, through unanticipated personal disaster, find themselves in a bad situation. But these are a small minority of welfare recipients. The issue we have is with those who WILL NOT work, who prefer to live off government money rather than do something productive to earn their own bread. The problem comes from those who crank out kid after kid in the expectation that feeding them is the responsibility of others, and can't be bothered to spend the effort to raise them to be productive adults.

I would say what I would like to do with this latter category of leeches, but it would get me banned.

Interestingly, we see similar issues discussed by the Apostle Paul in his letter to his protégé', the young Pastor Timothy. In this Epistle, we learn that Timothy's church is establishing a program to care for its widows, which is certainly a noble effort. However, Paul gives some advice to his close friend which would seem surprising and even harsh by today's standards. He tells Timothy that those widows receiving the aid must meet rigid requirements regarding age (1 Timothy 5:9), and they must have no family or other means of support (1 Timothy 5:3-16). They must also have a proven reputation for pure lives and service to the church (1 Timothy 5:10). Paul even goes as far as to say refuse the aid to younger widows, as they would abuse the privilege (1 Timothy 5:11-12).

The Bible STRICTLY advises us to give NO CHARITY, not even on a personal level, without extremely stringent requirements -- and to GIVE NOTHING TO THE YOUNG.

Give me back that ice cream, ya immoral little leeching kid. (snatch)