Tom Coburn attempts to educate a single payer advocate, but the part that interested me most: “Jesus said to love your neighbor as yourself. And you can’t love through the federal government.”
h/t to the blog prof
It does not advance the church’s mission – or increase our individual sanctification – to allow government to do our jobs – Social Justice, For The Glory of Government
What is troublesome is that Christians are getting so stuck on health care. I’ve looked through a few of your posts and feel saddened. How can you possibly feel that everyone doesn’t deserve access to health care? Is it an economic issue? That some people don’t deserve care because they work overtime for companies which do not provide any coverage? Do children not deserve care (I am well aware of the programs which are already available, but certainly they should also be discontinued if we are to follow the logic that not everyone deserves care). When does a person’s economic wealth/status become great enough that he or she is WORTH the care? I cannot find a verse about Jesus leaving people ailing.
One thing struck me lately, when missionaries descend upon other countries, they often decry the diseases and hardships that people endure. They say cute phrases like, “You have to minister to the body before you can minister to the soul.” Why does that change in America? Do you actually posit that the church should be providing this medical care and economic support to individuals? If the government can be a tool at times to carry out or enforce “Christian” morals, why can’t it be in this instance, too?
My mom recently had breast cancer. She works full time (and then some) as a dental assistant. Her office doesn’t provide any health coverage for workers. Fortunately, my retired father still has insurance coverage. I struggle to think of my mother, or really anyone having to choose — do I want this Neulasta shot to boost my immune system, or do I want to eat and have somewhere to live — with the possibility of contracting a life-threatening infection?
So, as a Christian, I will continue to support government funded health care. Do I think the current proposals are excellent? Not really. But we need to find a good solution.
I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me. Matthew 25:40
On another note — politics are severely divisive. There is a significant difference between participating in governmental affairs and becoming politically aligned and involved.
I am amazed that you think it’s moral to vote yourself a share of your neighbor’s paycheck. The question is not whether everyone deserves health care (or food, or housing, or transportation) but whether others should be forced by threat of jail (and if you think I’m exaggerating, try not paying your taxes for a while) to pay for goods and services for other people. I’m not aware of Jesus teaching his disciples to petition the government to care for the poor. On the contrary, he told them to do it themselves. (See Parables, Good Samaritan, and many other parts of the new testament.) Furthermore, the vast majority of the people for whom liberals demand we ruin a mostly satisfactory health care system are either a) only temporarily uninsured, as between jobs; b) already eligible for government-paid care like SCHIP; c) making more than $50k a year and able to afford it themselves if they made different lifestyle choices and d) not Americans, and therefore the responsibility – as far as it goes – of their home countries.
As to being divisive – taking the fruits of your neighbor’s hard work against his consent is pretty divisive, don’t you think?
This post also refutes your points: Social Justice, For the Glory of Government
Ashley, first remind yourself that “the law of Jehovah is perfect,” and then read through Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. While you’re reading, decide if you can justify a socialistic government from those books. In case you get bogged down in all the details, you might remember that two of the Ten Commandments deal with private property.
Yet nor can one justify modern laissez-faire capitalism (or the more libertarian examples thereof). For example, property was an inheritance allotted by the Lord, and only to be sold in time of dire need (witness the reaction Ahab got when he tried to buy a neighbouring vineyard) and could be redeemed. And let us not forget the tithe every third year in Deuteronomy 26:12, for “the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow,” which seems to have been a command. The edges of fields and gleanings were also to be left for the poor, widows and orphans and the like.
In all that, it does seem like there was to be some mandatory giving, and their idea of private property rights were not those of the modern age (ours to do with as we please).