Saturday, June 27, 2009
Doug Wilson has an excellent post on Christians who think it right to take in Jesus' name rather than to give. He doesn't pull punches.
Every Christian heart does go out to those who are uncared for, to those who are uninsurable. We are supposed to clothe the naked, feed the hungry, and treat the sick. Of course we are. So take up an offering already. Support your church's missionaries. Give to the inner city work that your denomination sponsors. Jesus said to give in His name. He never told us to go out there and take in His name.
The Church is called to be an organization of worshippers, worship that results in a glorious overflow of givers. The statists, leftists, do-gooders, and sob-sisters are an organization of confused takers. They talk as though they are giving, but the whole thing is a sham. They give only what they have previously seized by force. And to crown this glorious hypocrisy, they preen themselves on their ethical conscience and moral superiority. But there are few spectacles worse than thugs with guns acting all Sermon-on-the-Mounty.
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4 comments:
In numerous OT passages, God commands the nation of Israel to care for the poor. Why shouldn't the nation of America do the same?
Exodus 22 (especially verse 22)
Deut. 16
Deut. 14
Deuteronomy 14:29 is a direct national law commanding the giving of money to the poor.
Obviously we all know that God care for the poor. There are around two thousand (yes, literally two thousand) verses in the Bible expressing God's love and desire to care for the poor. Why shouldn't the nation of America do that at a national level?
If you want to say that people should care for the poor as a church and individually also, I wholeheartedly agree. But the Bible gives very clear precedent for national care for the poor.
So, to be consistent, you must also believe that we should not eat pork, and stone anyone who doesn't worship the true God, and tithe a tenth of our animals (of those who farm, anyway) and a tenth of our income. I would hate to live in your legalistic world.
Why in the world do you apply God's words to ISRAEL to secular societies? The Old Covenant presumed a people devoted to God's law. America's secular democracy doesn't consist of such a people.
What a ridiculous straw man argument Darius. I clearly said that the Bible gives precedent. Obviously interpreting the OT requires more hermeneutical work than strict application of laws. If the church doesn't witness to secular societies with the principles of the Bible, then where are they applied? Only to individuals? You're blind to your bondage to individualistic, anachronistic, enlightenment era thinking.
The principle of the Bible is freedom, not government-enforced theft or redistribution of wealth. God desires mercy, not forced sacrifice.
How do you decide that God wants America to follow only certain rules that He gave to Israel? Why shouldn't they also start a holy war against all pagan countries? You're understanding of the Old covenant is ridiculous, and it isn't a straw man to point that out.
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