Points well taken.
The Bible DOES NOT SAY it’s ok to hate the poor as long as some of them are abusers or sinners.
Some of the comments here are just as despicable as the MSNBC comments, but in the opposite direction, though both utilize hate.
The only place I see things differently from you is I am not surprised to read the comments because I have been seeing them here for years.
Charity is given voluntarily. That which is extracted at the point of a gun is something else entirely, and conflating the two makes me want to vomit.
Here’s what the Bible DOES say:
For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat. ~ 2 Thessalonians 3:10
He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand: but the hand of the diligent maketh rich. ~ Proverbs 10:4
How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?
Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep:
So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man. ~ Proverbs 6:9-11
Notice that it doesn’t say that those who are physically handicapped should not eat. No, we should have compassion for and help out those people. But if someone can work, yet WILL NOT work, then he’s left to the consequences of his actions (or inactions in this case).
He said in his morally superior tone reserved for freepers.
Define poor in the United States with plenty of opportunity compared to any third world hellhole that devoured any chance of establishing civilization. Choices are a fundamental problem in this first world Country, not the lack of opportunity to actual become self-reliant. Your Biblical thesis lacks merit in this first world Country called United States of America.
I'm surprised you can see them from up on top that high horse.