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 government takes so much of our money (at least half when it’s added all up) that we are unable to care for our own families the way we should be able to.
No, it is not right, nor is it constitutional, for our government to take our money and distribute it the way they see fit. That’s not what the Federal government was constitutionally created for.
The government also inserts itself in the place of family, which is also wrong and unbiblical.
It’s great that you have compassion and a will to help the poor and needy, as we all should, but it’s not biblically right for government to take our money and mandate these things, nor is it in line with our Constitution, just as it wouldn’t be right for Government to preach the bible to us. It’s not their place.
God set things up so that we had to give 10% (tithe). We rejected God and wanted man to lead us, and now we’re paying a whole lot more than 10%.
I hope you aren't using this verse to say we as a nation should allow those without jobs starve.
Paul was addressing a specific situation within the church with this passage.
Are you for real? Read the Bible verse again. The word is unwilling. That's somebody who refuses to work, not somebody who is genuinely trying to find a job.
There are Christian charities that help people find jobs. They get them job training, give them nice outfits (donated by Christians) to wear on job interviews, bus tokens to get to the interviews, etc. I believe God would approve of such charity, but not merely handing taxpayer money to people who are "unwilling"to work.
When you depend on the government for your sustenance, the government becomes your “god” , thus displacing God in your life.
With the federal programs come the federal regulations, and guess Who is regulated out of the equation?
I never said otherwise.
Read my post again.
Do you believe that is true? The “poor” that I see in the hospital all have cell phones and nice clothes. I think they can afford to feed their children.
I give up. Who?
Federal money cannot go to any program that has any element of religion involved, like the Gospel Rescue Mission. President Bush tried to have faith based programs, but they never got off the ground.
It’s better that the Feds get out of this business; most of the money is wasted on bureaucracy and never reaches the people it is intended for.
Welfare programs have busted up families. Liberalism is a disaster for our country in so many ways.
I have NO DOUBT that God is the biggest conservative around. You need to look no further than the 10 Commandments as proof.
Funny how the liberal are against most of the 10 Commandments. Heck they do not even like it sitting in a court house. Then they have the audacity to say God is a liberal????
Why not? Federal money goes to programs like these all the time and quite successfully.
President Bush tried to have faith based programs, but they never got off the ground.
Who told you this?
The Faith Based Initiatives programs have been up and running ever since Bush introduced them.
"Competitive Federal grants to faith-based organizations (FBOs) increased for the third straight year in FY2005. More than $2.1 billion in grants were awarded to religious organizations in FY2005 by seven federal agencies. This is up from last year (FY04) when $2.004 billion in grants were awarded to faith-based groups across the same agencies. "
You can read more about these programs at; http://www.whitehouse.gov/government/fbci/2006_accomplishments.html
Its simple obvious fact that many who give generously to help the poor make that same objection.
I should certainly always trust in God. As for collecting the check, I have never objected to anyone forced into the system from collecting the check. I simply object to the system that was forced on us. So yes, I would, after being forced to pay for the program, take advantage of it.
The fact is God often uses Govt's as an agency of His authority.
Yes. A fact which hardly excuses immoral behavior in a government. Being generous with another's money is not generous.
Its simple obvious fact that many who give generously to help the poor make that same objection.
Well it doesn't make sense. It seems so disingenuous.
I should certainly always trust in God. As for collecting the check, I have never objected to anyone forced into the system from collecting the check. I simply object to the system that was forced on us. So yes, I would, after being forced to pay for the program, take advantage of it.
LOL! You are too funny.
No. The government is supposed to be made up of representatives, not each and everyone of us. The representatives are supposed to be entrusted with specific enumerated powers necessary for the benefit of society. Because the representatives are not perfect, their power is supposed to be strictly limited to the enumerated powers. And a system of checks and balances was set up between the branches of government. Charity is not an enumerated power. Thus when representatives start engaging in it, it is no longer us doing it.
So no, the government is not the same as the people. And particularly not the same as "us" in the sense of the body of Christ.
Either support this implied accusation of hypocrisy. Or don't make it.
It certainly does make sense. And it is hardly disingenuous.
Individual Christian families are better at being generous then huge government bureaucracies. We use the money more effectively. We help the needy get on their feet...while the government just tends to build unhealthy dependencies.
The power to tax is granted to government by the Constitution.
No. The government is supposed to be made up of representatives, not each and everyone of us.
Oh please. Let's split hairs why don't we.
It's supposed to be a Govt "FOR THE PEOPLE BY THE PEOPLE".
Don't even argue with me on this.
I think you are my hero.
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