Working at a pharmacy ensures that at some point during the day, I will deal with people who live off the government through welfare and Medicaid. There tends to be two types of people that use these services (that all the working people pay for). The first, is the lazy man or woman with no ambition in life. They choose welfare because it is convenient, and the benefits of getting a job aren’t nearly as good as staying on public assistance. These people deserve nothing but shame. The Bible clearly states that if you can work and don’t, you should not eat.
Clearing out all of the abusers in the system would go a long way to fixing our society that is off balance with too many people siphoning out money and too few creating it. But why do we need welfare in the first place?
Now of course, I will agree with you that there are people who are mentally or physically “challenged” (gotta be PC) who under normal circumstances would not be able to provide for themselves. Then there are children or the elderly who cannot work. I’m sure that there are other examples of people who could genuinely need welfare. But the real question is who should provide this aid? An easy answer is of course, the government but I believe this is an error from which we already see the negative fruit.
God didn’t intend for the government to tie our shoes for us, but to provide order and protection. What we end up seeing is a system that is designed to help those who cannot help themselves, but is abused by many more who should not be able to use it in the first place.
So let’s imagine a world in which government welfare does not exist. Suddenly all those able-bodied people who were sitting on their butts are starving to death, which as it turns out, is a great motivator to get a job. Sure there is a rough transition, but now we are left with the small percentage who still cannot work and maybe even through no fault of their own due to disability. Do we need a government program? Well we know that doesn’t work. So what now?
This is where I had my epiphany. The family and the church are the two institutions that God designed to care for these people – not the government. And the disintegration of the family unit and the neglect for God and the church is where we fail as a nation so badly that the government has to step in.
Proverbs 22:9 – He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed; for he giveth of his bread to the poor
Proverbs 28:27 – He that giveth unto the poor shall not lack: but he that hideth his eyes shall have many a curse.Galations 2:10 – Only they would that we should remember the poor; the same which I also was forward to do.
1 Tim 5:1-5 – Honor widows who are widows indeed
These verses show our personal responsibility to help the poor, but also the church’s responsibility. It should also go without saying that families should care for their own that are incapable of doing so for themselves. Remember that if you don’t provide for your own house you are worse than an infidel. If families would provide for their own children, elderly and mentally challenged there would be no need for the government to do so. The problem is that families are more fractured, disjointed, and dysfunctional than several decades ago.
In a situation where a family could not care for someone, the church should help (with some qualifications). In 1 Tim 5, we see this exact situation. A widow without family and no way to provide for herself should be cared for by the church. But in order to qualify she has to have no other means of providing (re-marriage) and also be a dedicated, faithful member of the church. I think those are good stipulations for anyone seeking assistance from the local church. The problem again is that Americans do not care about God like in times past. God is far from our thoughts as is church attendance. We would rather get free handouts from the church then be dedicated faithful members.
The welfare problem needs a big dose of Christianity before it will ever be solved.
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December 13th, 2010
3 Comments at "My Welfare Epiphany"
That is so true.
Amen, brother!
So my wife said that I should check out your site. The title of this particular post caught my eye as a potential to see how radical your thoughts might be(I judge my reading by that). I see that there is great insight in what you have said, the issues of Welfare and how to solve the many problems related to it is often a challenge to the greatest of minds, but mostly because they focus on having great and complex minds instead of the simple solutions that have existed for generations. I believe that many fear Religion because it calls for personal responsibility, and that is way too much for many people to handle. Keep up the good work Dan, one day you may make sense to us all. LOL!!!
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