on the redistribution of wealth and the Bible..

March 26th, 2010 4 Comments

Matthew 25: 14-15 says:

“Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey.”

Benjamin Franklin says:

“I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. In my youth I traveled much, and I observed in different countries, that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer.”

What do you say?????

Posted in discipleship, normal christian life, political | Tags: , , ,
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  • Doug Smith

    I agree, an lunch sounds good, email me.

  • Doug Smith

    I think that God shows us through his word and through his deeds how important charity is. However I firmly believe that the bible does not teach redistribution of wealth. when money is forcibly taken from one group and given to another that is not charity, it does nothing for the condition of our hearts, and isn’t that what God is concerned about in matters like these, our hearts? I have ofter heard and espoused myself that if you give a man a fish you feed him for a day but if you teach him to fish you feed him for a lifetime. Even Paul understood this. Even though he felt he had every right to live off the offerings of those that he was preaching to he took great pride in the fact that he did not. Even making himself and example in the way that he worked so that no one would feel entitled. I like the quotes that you chose Trey but I am not sure from them where you fall on the topic. I would love to have you expound on your thoughts.

    • http://www.treybailey.net trey bailey

      Doug,

      Those are some great thoughts. And I must agree with you on every account. I believe that Jesus taught his disciples to have a heart (compassion) for those who were downtrodden and those less fortunate. He even helped those who had made poor decisions..(these are oftentimes the hardest ones for me to have compassion for).

      It is my personal belief that the Church and the disciples of Christ should be the ones who assist those in need (much like in Act 2)..NOT THE GOVERNMENT. That goes along quite nicely with my Libertarian platform, too.

      If the Church (as a whole across the globe) would step up and help others to the magnitude that Jesus taught, “Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.” Acts 2:45, then the world would look A LOT DIFFERENT. And there would be less need for government to feel compelled to redistribute wealth.

      That is my take in short..I’d love to delve deeper though..let’s do lunch sometime and dream about what the Church could look like..a new normal, if you will.

  • http://chrisqueen.wordpress.com Chris Queen

    I don’t think it could be said more eloquently.

    The thing that infuriates me the most about this whole entitlement mentality on the part of politicians is when the politicians try to bring Christ into it, as if He mandates that government give a bunch of handouts. One congressman intimated that he was worried that he would lose his salvation if he didn’t vote for the health care bill; another, Georgia’s David Scott said it had to be passed when it did (on a Sunday) because it was “the Lord’s Day.”

    I could go on and on, but I’ll just get angrier and angrier, so I’ll leave it at that.

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