Don’t you just love it when Liberals turn to the Bible for support of their policies? How many times have you heard Liberals tell us that “Jesus never got mixed up in politics” or “We’re not supposed to Judge” or “You can’t impose your morality on other people” or “There’s a separation between church and state”? Liberal hypocrisy knows no bounds.
At the National Prayer Breakfast, the President said that as “a person who has been ‘extraordinarily blessed,’ he is willing to give up some of the tax breaks he enjoys because doing so makes economic, and religious sense.” Then why doesn’t he? No one’s stopping him from giving more money to the government if he wants to. Just do it and quit talking about it!
There is not a single word in the Bible that directs the State to confiscate money from the rich to enlarge the power and authority of civil government. Governments can’t follow the Golden Rule. Government doesn’t have any money to be gracious with. You can’t love your neighbor with someone else’s money. If I stole money from a rich person and gave it to a poor person, I would not be following the Golden Rule. President Obama wants to be benevolent with someone else’s money.
In biblical terms, the State is a minister of justice not a dispenser of benevolence (Rom. 13:1–4).
Jesus challenges the Rich Young Ruler to give his money to the poor not to Rome.
“Looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him and said to him, ‘One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me’” (Mark 10:21).
If the Roman government had taxed this young man and given his confiscated money to the poor, then what the man lacked would not have been challenged.
President Obama went on to say, “For me as a Christian, it also coincides with Jesus’ teaching that for unto whom much is given, much shall be required” (Luke 12:48). Notice that Jesus did not say “much shall be required by the State.”
Jesus was a Jew. There was no income tax under the Old Covenant. A sign of civil tyranny was a ten percent tax (1 Sam. 8). Rome heavily taxed its citizens and subjects. Is the President saying that he’s a modern-day Caesar and our government is like that of Rome? He may not be saying it, but that’s what it’s become.
Gleaning is the closest thing the Bible comes to in requiring the prosperous to help the poor (Lev. 19:9-10; 23:22; Deut. 24:19-21.). But gleaning is hard work. The owners of fields, vineyards, or orchards were not required to harvest the leftover grain. If the poor wanted to eat, they had to work for it. Paul most likely had these passages in mind when he wrote to the Thessalonians, “Don’t you remember the rule we had when we lived with you? ‘If you don’t work, you don’t eat’” (2 Thess. 3:10).
Wealth redistribution today is punitive; it’s about punishing the rich, not helping the poor. The rich don’t hoard their money. They loan it, invest it, and spend it. It’s these actions that help the less prosperous.
Government instituted poverty programs have only created more poor people, making them dependent on the State and less human.
