dolfan wrote:dawgs10 wrote:dolfan wrote:thatonegirl wrote:Soooo in my version of the bible it says "something something something that you do for the least of these, you do for Me...something something"
What about the people who really CAN'T help themselves at this point? What about the single mother of multiple children who is single because her husband has a midlife crisis and leaves her??? Should she not be entitled to some sort of government assistance?? Or should we just let her and those children starve to death and go without medical care? If the children are small enough (Pre-schoolers, let's say) then the mother might be stuck in a spot where it won't pay her to work.
The system is broken, my friends.
by the way hithis is my first post
The single mother situation: been there, done that (or my mother did and I was one of those kids). Entitled? Nope. System broke? Yup. Government is never the answer. Never. Without fail, whenever the government steps in to finance living, government creates a culture of entitlement that overwhelms the will to work. Government does not assist; government enables failure and dependency.
The church of Jesus is the single and only legitimate authority for the distribution of wealth to the poor when it comes to Jesus' admonition of doing "unto the least of these." The government is an institution of the fallen with no hope of eternity, is destined for destruction, and is the least equipped and least competent to address any --- ANY --- matter of eternal importance. Feeding the hungry, caring for the fatherless, widows and prisoners and sick --- all of eternal importance.
i wonder how many people gave more to their local church than they paid in to taxes last year. if you did not, would you? if no, then how will the church pay to feed the hungry, care for the fatherless, widows and prisoners and sick. we have to remember that in the book of acts they gave all they had and shared everything. if your not willing to do that then how will the church do this. the fact is its a cop out. just say what you really mean. i dont want to pay taxes for anything other than maybe defense. because that makes you feel safer. or maybe to schools. but not to the schools that have a low GPA because they are not doing their job right. never mind the fact that they are more than likely poor schools with mostly minority students. so just say what you mean.
Dawgs, I agree with you that "in the book of Acts they gave all they had and shared everything. If you're not willing to do this how will the church do this." That's perfect. Spot on. I'll tell you what. Let's me and you organize a church. I'm not joking. You start in your house, I'll start in mine, but we'll do it "together". Both of us will tell everyone we know simply what Acts 2:42 said and what the followers of the Lord demonstrated in the NT church. Each of us and our folks in joint prayer will commit to taking every penny we have (and I realize that we all have debts and stuff we can't just walk away from, but we'll take whatever we have after our debts are paid and we'll instruct and teach not to incur new debt at all) and putting it into a common pool. From this pool, we'll all determine what our needs are --- which will have to be redefined over time as we learn Christ in a radically new and selfless way --- and we will take from the pool only what we need and we will take care of the families in our little gatherings. We will work to fund each other's needs. We will take on a Christlike character that takes it as an ordinance to be obeyed and a non-negotiable necessity of the faith that we esteem each other's needs greater than our own. We will institute, prayerfully and with the power of the Holy Spirit (which even this non-pentecostal fellow would expect to see poured out in ways that neither of us could ever have imagined) New Testament-informed checks on receiving funds without working and contributing, so that the truly needy would receive help and the truly able would be sustained while providing it.
You've said it can't be. I say it can be. I say it must be or we're all really just playing around.
I'm not copping out, Dawgs. I simply want out. I want out of this grid of deceit, this grid of illusion that purports to be stable, productive and peaceful which is really less than a house of cards built on thin air of digitally "existing" money and debt-as-growth-engine. I want the security of living in and for the church. I want all Christians to abandon the lie that is the order of our world and to unmercifully unplug from it and rebel against it. Let the dead bury their dead.
ok, you and I do that and it wont replace the fed. if every christian does it maybe. the fact is its not gonna happen. do you know that tithes in a average church is paid by about one half of Christians and in many cases less. most churchs see about 20% of the people support the whole church with their 10%. Christians are not giving. and they dont wont to pay taxes according to the right wing. so what to do.. if only.

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