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.

The Conservative Problem

Liberals/Progressives believe conservatives are the problem in our nation. Naturally. I mean who could fail to see the link between traditional family values and the explosions of teen sex, forcible rape, pornography, STDs, unwanted pregnancy, and abortions? Who could possibly deny the obvious causation between “thou shalt not lie, steal, lust, murder, and envy” and the tripling of the violent crime rate in the past 50 years? And who among us would dispute the fact that Sunday school attendance in Bible-believing churches obviously causes depression, isolation, anger, suicide, bullying, drug use, alcohol abuse, school shootings, and every other kind of anti-social behavior among our youth?

Of course I’m being facetious. But it requires these kinds of bizarre mental contortions to imagine that paying women to have children out of wedlock isn’t going to increase the percentage of children born out of wedlock, or that removing the most serious consequence for teen sex (by killing the resulting child) isn’t going to encourage our children to behave like animals in heat and result in a mountain of dead babies. It requires this kind of denial to imagine that any policy that is 180 degrees opposed to God’s instruction in the Bible is going to be anything other than a staggering failure—because what’s in the Bible works. And heaven forbid we would ever implement a program of following up on such policies to see what the results actually are. That might mean having to cancel all of these government programs, and then we couldn’t feel good about wanting so desperately to deliver the less fortunate from their basic human responsibilities.

Ultimately it comes down to this: which side is trying to obey God’s instruction, and which side is trying to get rid of God’s instruction? Which side has the greater percentage of healthy kids and strong marriages? Which side has all the STDs? Which side is successful? Which side continues to fail?

The Congressman's Mistake

I recently heard a couple of guys on the radio discussing whether or not a known terrorist should be allowed to speak at a university. One guy, a former congressman, said he should be allowed to speak because we have freedom of speech in this country. The other said the terrorist should be prevented from speaking to the impressionable young minds.

This disagreement arises from a common misconception in the United States: that we are great because of our freedom. I submit that this is not the case. The United States grew to greatness because of our virtue, not our freedom. Freedom without virtue is anarchy, and will eventually bring about oppression from those who yield to the basic human desire to control one's neighbors. Virtue without freedom, however, will eventually bring freedom for all.

This is why we, with maximum freedoms, have murdered 50 million babies, why we find our teens behaving like animals, why we have an infinite amount of graphic pornography on the Internet, and why our entertainment industry is dedicated to the corruption of our children. It is also why we are beginning to see a clamping down on some of our freedoms. Expect that trend to continue as long as we deny God.

"I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her commodious harbors and her ample rivers - and it was not there . . . in her fertile fields and boundless forests and it was not there . . . in her rich mines and her vast world commerce - and it was not there . . . in her democratic Congress and her matchless Constitution - and it was not there. Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great." – Unknown (formerly attributed to Alexis de Tocqueville).

I fear America has ceased to be good.

The Biggest Problem with Liberalism

It doesn’t work.

It should always be stated so clearly: the problem with Liberalism is that it doesn’t work. It is inadequate to help us because it misdiagnoses the human condition, calling people inherently good when we lean instead toward secrecy, sin, and selfishness.