To Whom Much Is Given...

President Obama spoke recently at the National Prayer Breakfast, quoting several Bible verses instructing us to take care of the poor. They were good verses, and something that I'm going to try to internalize to a greater degree.

But he also said that these verses are why he believes in raising taxes, so the government can take care of everybody, because "From to whom much is given, much will be required." In coming to this conclusion, he's missed a couple of subtle but crucial points, ones I find nearly all Christians unable to articulate. Instead, I hear Christians verbally floundering around, quoting irrelevant verses--contradictory or otherwise--as if the act of demonstrating they know as much about the Bible as the advocates of big government will invalidate the original verses. I cringe when they do that.

So here are the right answers:

First, when Jesus said, "much will be required," he wasn't talking about Barack Obama or the US Federal government. In that statement, it is clear that GOD is doing the requiring, not other people, because he said "will," not "is," indicating the requiring will take place at a future event: death.

Second, Jesus commanded us to give what we have to the poor. He did not command us to "Take what your neighbor has BY FORCE, and give that to the poor." He didn't intend to say this, because it doesn't work very well.

For the recipient, gifts from a faceless government increase irresponsibility and a sense of entitlement. Huge amounts are wasted by government inefficiency (trust me, I've been a government employee.) The transaction also increases class resentment among the people from whom the money is forcefully taken.

As a Christian, I have an obligation to take care of the poor and to love my neighbor. I do not have an obligation to make sure you take care of the poor and love your neighbor.

There's no virtue in forced charity.

In Acts, the Christians lived together and shared all they had, but the sharing was clearly voluntary.

Though God did not instruct us to forcefully redistribute, He did command us "Thou shalt not steal."

So, by all means, let's try to persuade the rich (and everyone else) to give. Let's have TV commercials, public opinion campaigns, and a fund for voluntary contributions to the poor. But the choice to give must remain with the giver, or we'll end up with ... well, what we've got, and worse.

Why Liberalism is Unchristian, Part I

This one is for the 38% of Democrats who describe themselves as born-again Christians.

Liberals go to great lengths to make it seem that voting Democrat is something other than a spectacular moral failure. There is a feeling among some Christians that, although the Democrat party promotes child murder and homosexuality, those evils are offset by the belief that Democrats do a better job obeying Christ’s command to help the less fortunate.

According to Matthew 25, Jesus told his followers, "Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'” (NIV)

It is very clear that Jesus is saying you take care of them—YOU do it.

But that’s not what Democrats do.

In order for Democrats to have it right, Jesus would have to have said, “Take what your neighbor has by force, and give that to the poor, the sick, etc.”—for that is what Democrats try to do: taxing other people and throwing what the government doesn’t waste to the needy. But Jesus didn’t say that; he didn’t intend to because it doesn’t work nearly as well as what he did say.

I often hear the communal arrangement of the early Christians in Acts cited as proof that government wealth redistribution is Biblical. But again, the giving there was voluntary and not forced through confiscatory taxation. This is made clear when Ananias and Sapphira were about to die for lying to the Holy Spirit, and Peter said in Acts 5:4, “Didn't [the land] belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn't the money at your disposal?” (NIV)

Forced charity is obviously not charity at all; it is theft with social appeal. Virtue is always voluntary. This is a subtle distinction, but one that makes all the difference.