Misguided Religion and the Debt Ceiling
By Michael Fletcher | Tuesday, July 26th, 2011 | Politics
Religious groups: Debt ceiling is a moral issue
The Washington Post
Perhaps the most unusual debt ceiling meeting was one Obama had last week with a coalition of Christian religious leaders who urged him not to hammer the poor in trying to reduce the national debt.
Read more.
If these “religious leaders” knew their scripture, they’d know they could find no reference where Jesus said it was the responsibility of the government to care for the poor. Instead, the New Testament says true religion is taking care of widows and orphans. (James 1:27)
How much do these groups spend on lobbying Washington in support of programs for the poor?
How much money could be spent actually doing something rather than lobbying the government to do it for you?
Cross posted to The Write Side of My Brain.
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About the author
Michael Fletcher works as a freelance writer and consultant in Richmond, Virginia. He blogs regularly at http://www.thewritesideofmybrain.com, http://www.richmondvabusiness.com and http://365thingsibelieve.wordpress.com
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26 Responses to "Misguided Religion and the Debt Ceiling"
Terrible post, absolutely terrible.
Bad formatting? Bad karma?
Why do you say it’s terrible?
I think he is upset that you are spurning the notions of
collective salvation and forced charity. Maybe he doesn’t have time to be concerned with salvation and charity on his own and would rather the government take care of both.
Debt Ceiling is a Moral Issue,,,,
Absolutely right,,,
“Thou Shalt Not Steal”
And even more right,,, We are commanded to be personally responsible for the poor, not pass it off to a bunch of nameless bureaucrats,,, and for good reason… many “undeserving” poor get welfare because of one size fits all rules… many of us know folks who are poor because they make bad personal decisions,,, that are not deserving of government welfare,,, These folks need tough love not government welfare… What did Paul say to the Thessolonians,,, If a man will not work neither shall he eat….!!!!
If you are unemployed and turn down my offer of work at $3/hour then you don’t deserve jack….
I don’t believe there was any kind of government during Jesus’ time. Furthermore, didn’t Jesus walk around the land without funds, being fed and taken care of by good people? I believe one might have called him “poor people”.
Java, there was the Roman government. And you can be darn sure there were no entitlement programs.
Yes there was a government during Jesus time and that government crucified him.
Absolutely true. What’s more, their behavior demonstrates what is their TRUE religion: Big Government.
OK, my rational for why this is a terrible post.
1) If you don’t want religious people trying to influence the President on this issue then, I hope you don’t want religious people trying to influence any issue: abortion, adoption, prayer, etc.
2) Jesus only exists in the 2nd half of the Bible, you’ve left half the Bible out. So while you claim Jesus doesn’t say it’s not the responsibility of government to take care of the poor, these people are dictated by their religious beliefs to stick up for poor people. Of course, I think maybe your interpretation of James 1:27–”27Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world”–is flawed.
3) Did you find out how much they spend lobbying? My guess it’s less than any single business that conducts lobbying. Simply because someone is poor doesn’t mean they shouldn’t have a voice. These people were lobbying for the disadvantaged and there’s nothing wrong with that-just ask Jesus, or was he Roman?
And I’ll leave you with a piece of scripture:
Luke 14:13-14:
13But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind:
14And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.
First, I never said that religious groups shouldn’t have a voice. But they also should not expect the government to do their job.
Second, these religious leaders should know that Christ’s teachings fulfill the law of the Old Testament. There is no contradiction.
Finally, the Scripture you cite reaffirms my comments. Jesus was talking to religious leaders, not the government.
A creative interpretation of a singular pronoun “thou” in a religious passage for the “rich” to pay more taxes so that it can be redistributed to the poor. This shows desperation to justify the need to raise taxes on incomes over $250,000 by now using the Bible. Desperation doesn’t get any better than this.
@ToR
John 1:1
Google “Messianic prophecies” if you think Jesus was only “in the second half.”
“This shows desperation to justify the need to raise taxes on incomes over $250,000 by now using the Bible.”
There is no need to bend over backwards to justify increasing taxes on the rich. They have disproportionately benefitted from the high economic growth times and they should disproportionately suffer during the low times. That as yet has not happened. They owe a great deal more than 3% increase in taxes. One can argue whether or not the morality of this is supported by scripture but the rightness of it is indisputable.
Eric, ROFLMAO!!
They are worried their grant money is getting cut.
“And Jesus answering said to them, ‘Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God’s the things that are God’s'”
This was arguably the beginning of the principle of separation of church and state. Taxes by the government to support the poor is not charity, it is wealth redistribution. Charity is given freely. As Shakespeare wrote, “The quality of mercy is not strained…It blesses him that gives and him that takes…”
And when Jesus sat with the prositutes, sinners, and tax collectors, what was the point?
Britt,
Most members of Congress sit with prostitutes, sinners, and tax collectors. So what is your point?
Most members of Congress have shown themselves to be prostitutes, sinners, tax collectors and much, much more. Jesus may be out there somewhere, but he surely isn’t anywhere near our Congress unless they get caught and the praying starts.
I don’t know, Tim. Jesus was asked why he could be seen associating with tax collectors etc. Tax collectors were less popular than IRS audits back then. His reply in effect was that he went to where the problems were.
Some people romanticize big government. Some hypocrites on both sides criticize those claiming religion or Jesus, but think it is ok to do themselves. I thought this particlular insight on his thoughts of tax collectors might just irk big government types to no end.
When it comes to doing for others and caring for the less fortunate, it seems that a free will giving or service is far more noble and effective than forced charity by way of the tax collector.
The whole thing about give a man a fish vs teach him to fish is a Chinese proverb and not Biblical, but in addition to free will giving, mentoring to enable independence rather than dependence on forced wealth redistribution (and it’s middlemen taking a cut) is far more in line with what we should aim for.
I find it laughable when the Left ridicule the religious right when they themselves go to churchs and use the name of Jesus or religion/morality to their own hypocritical and selfish ends.
Indeed our government is filled with figurative prostitutes and tax collectors. I am certainly not a Biblical scholar, but there is an argument to be made that Jesus would again go to where the problems are.
@ TIm J, how does your response in any way contribute? It certainly did not counter any of my points in any way.
Eric, your funny, and your “points” are about as serious as a vulgar Bill Maher tweet.
Didn’t Nancy Pelosi get some old time religion too when Obamacare was on the line? Leftists are quite happy to use anything and anybody to advance totalitarianism. All for the children of course. By the way ToR why were your posts lacking in that fake Southern dialect that you have used so adroitly in the past?
Oh, boy! More threatening talk from the White House putting Jesus in the center of the debt debate…. “GOP aims to gut Christmas”. Maybe Obama can summon Jesus to the White House so he can they can do a joint press conference and have Jesus condemn the Republicans for messing up his birthday just like the Republicans are threatening to mess up Obama’s birthday in a couple of days.
http://dailycaller.com/2011/07/28/gop-aims-to-gut-christmas-white-house-alleges/
“Eric, your funny…”
My funny what, Tom? You’re not so smart, Alec.
Eric, Alec or whatever your Troll name is… that’s even funnier!
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