{"id":23191,"date":"2019-08-06T14:12:16","date_gmt":"2019-08-06T18:12:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/?p=23191"},"modified":"2019-08-06T14:12:16","modified_gmt":"2019-08-06T18:12:16","slug":"helping-the-needy-whats-the-christian-thing-to-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/2019\/08\/06\/helping-the-needy-whats-the-christian-thing-to-do\/","title":{"rendered":"Helping the Needy: What\u2019s the Christian Thing to Do?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script async type=text\/javascript src=https:\/\/www.dclick.io\/static\/js\/ad.min.js><\/script><br \/>\n<a class=\"attachment wp-att-23192\" href=\"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/?attachment_id=23192\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-23192\" src=\"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/jesus-1024x683-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"802\" height=\"535\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Readers of these pages know of my keen interest\u2014as an economist, as a historian, and as a Christian\u2014in what Jesus and the New Testament have to say about things like helping the poor. My <a href=\"https:\/\/fee.org\/resources\/rendering-unto-caesar-was-jesus-a-socialist\/\" rel=\"nofollow\" data-toggle=\"popover\">essay<\/a>, \u201cWas Jesus a Socialist?\u201d partially dealt with this issue, as did my more recent Prager University <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=i9EXnVitkmo\" rel=\"nofollow\">video<\/a>\u00a0(see below) of the same title.<\/p>\n<p>Here I would like to explore the matter a little further and share with readers my favorite relevant New Testament passages. [Note to my non-Christian friends: No need to blow a gasket here. I\u2019m not preaching, pontificating, or proselytizing\u2014 merely presenting facts as I see them.]<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe style=\"max-width: 615px; width: 730px; height: 410.699px;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/i9EXnVitkmo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"link-0\">Robin Hood and Forced Redistribution<\/h2>\n<p>Imagine a person who, acting entirely on his own initiative and exclusively from a desire to help the needy, decides to take from the rich and give every penny to the poor. Would that find approval from Jesus, his apostles, or anyone of authority in the early Church? If you\u2019ve read the New Testament with even the least depth and discernment, you know the answer can\u2019t possibly be yes.<\/p>\n<p>Well, may I ask, <em>why not<\/em>? Keep in mind that this imagined Robin Hood is redistributing without a middleman\u2014no bureaucracy, no paperwork, no vote-buying, no deficits or debt, no cynical demagoguery. <i class=\"fa fa-plus-square-o\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i><\/p>\n<p>He is likely giving the money to the poor who are close at hand, so he probably has a better sense of their actual needs than do distant government agents. No funds are diverted for any other purpose but poverty relief. The poor get it all, which means they get more this way than if the original sum was filtered through the government.<\/p>\n<p>Of \u201cprogressives,\u201d in particular, I ask: If the rich or their riches are inherently bad and the poor are naturally entitled to some portion of their wealth, wouldn\u2019t deputizing do-gooders to get the job done directly be the most just and efficient method? Is there some virtue in laundering money first through the IRS and other agencies?<\/p>\n<p>So back to the main question. Would Jesus, his apostles, or anyone of authority in the early Church approve of our Robin Hood? I say an emphatic <em>NO!<\/em> Here\u2019s why:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>His actions spring from <em>theft<\/em>, which is not blessed by either his intentions or the purposes to which he puts the loot. Theft is categorically and unconditionally condemned by the Eighth Commandment and never once endorsed, condoned, or excused by Jesus on any grounds.<\/li>\n<li>The poor are poor for many and varied reasons. Their destitution, whether short-term or long-lasting, may be due to accidental harm, natural calamity, personal handicap, bad life decisions, lousy character, or foolish policies of government. So giving money to the poor just because they\u2019re poor, without regard to the source of their poverty, could in some cases be wasteful and counterproductive. It could even prolong the problem.<\/li>\n<li>There are far better ways to reduce poverty than plunder, legal or illegal. Free markets, private property, rule of law, entrepreneurship, wealth creation, personal responsibility, and voluntary charity come to mind\u2014all of which are undermined or even crowded out when force enters the picture.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The New Testament includes dozens of references to helping the poor and those who suffer from misfortune, oppression, or sickness. Jesus himself more than recommends it; he declares that what one (especially a Christian) does to assist the deserving needy is an outward sign of the love for others that resides in one\u2019s heart.<\/p>\n<p>The misguided may cry, \u201cJesus was an altruist, and altruism is evil because it requires that one sacrifice his own values!\u201d I don\u2019t see Jesus as an altruist at all, and I think Christians who argue that you should \u201cgive <em>because<\/em> it hurts\u201d have naively misinterpreted Scripture.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want,\u201d says Jesus in Matthew 26:11 and Mark 14:7. The key words there are \u201cyou can help\u201d and \u201cwant\u201d to help. He didn\u2019t say, \u201cWe\u2019re going to <em>make<\/em> you help whether you like it or not.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"link-1\">Voluntary Compassion<\/h2>\n<p>Jesus clearly holds that <em>compassion<\/em> is a wholesome value to possess, but I know of no passage anywhere in the New Testament that suggests it\u2019s a value he would impose at gunpoint. What the thief in our story does, or what a government may do to achieve the same end, are not remotely associated with the compassion Jesus sought to encourage. As I wrote in a 1997 essay:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>True compassion is a bulwark of strong families and communities, of liberty and self-reliance, while false compassion [that employs compulsion] is fraught with great danger and dubious results. True compassion is people helping people out of a genuine sense of caring and brotherhood. It is not asking your legislator or congressman to do it for you. True compassion comes from your heart, not from the state or federal treasury. True compassion is a deeply personal thing, not a check from a distant bureaucracy.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Don\u2019t take my word for it. Consider what the apostle Paul says in II Corinthians 9:7.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Throughout his extensive journeys, Paul was more than a preacher. He was a doer. He was a fundraiser. He practiced what he preached, pitching in to assist the deserving needy. He never endorsed compulsory redistribution as a legitimate means to that end. He drew a contrast between those who personally help and those who give charity false lip service or try to impose it. His words in II Corinthians 8:8 are plain and simple.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>I am not commanding you,\u00a0but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h2 id=\"link-2\">Give Freely<\/h2>\n<p>Later, in II Corinthians 8:24, Paul implores his audience to give freely because that\u2019s the way others will know that you really mean it\u2014that it comes from the heart.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Show these men the proof of your love and the reason for our pride in you,\u00a0so that the churches can see it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Cato Institute Senior Fellow Doug Bandow, author of the 1988 book <em>Beyond Good Intentions: A Biblical View of Politics<\/em>, commented on the significance of Paul\u2019s words with this question:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>If Paul was not willing to command believers in a church that he had founded to help their less fortunate Christian brethren, would he have advocated that the civil authorities tax unbelievers for the same purpose?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Of course, nothing anywhere in the New Testament suggests that Paul either called for or would support compulsory welfare state measures. This is the same Paul, by the way, who said the needy who are able-bodied owe something to their charitable brothers. In II Thessalonians 3, he writes:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>We were not idle when we were with you,\u00a0nor did we eat anyone\u2019s food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you\u2026We gave you this rule: \u201cThe one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h2 id=\"link-3\">Individual Character Matters Most<\/h2>\n<p>As I see it, what Jesus, Paul, and other early Christian leaders were calling for was an inner renaissance of <em>character<\/em>, one individual at a time, from the heart and not by force. Good character embodies many traits and virtues, one of them being empathy for the less fortunate, a desire to see them flourish.<\/p>\n<p>The great majority of people who favor the welfare state are, without a doubt, well-intentioned. They really do want to help the needy, and many of them mistakenly believe the welfare state comports with Christian principles. They likely would oppose the freelance poverty-fighter of my hypothetical story on the grounds that government doing the job makes it more \u201corderly\u201d and \u201cdemocratic.\u201d It also seems \u201cfinal\u201d in that it offers assurance that the job will be done, whereas leaving the issue to \u201cmarket forces\u201d or \u201cprivate charity\u201d or \u201cindividual responsibility\u201d seems so risky and uncertain.<\/p>\n<p>But if we\u2019ve learned anything about the welfare state, it surely is that it doesn\u2019t resolve the problem of poverty even as it creates new ones of its own. The poor are still with us. Meanwhile, the welfare state empowers greedy, myopic politicians. It breeds corruption. It fosters dependency. It breaks families apart. It undermines the work ethic. It crowds out more effective private initiatives. It mortgages the future, economically and spiritually.<\/p>\n<p>Historically, it would appear that few things are riskier than a welfare state. It\u2019s put more than a few countries out of business or off the map. But no nation ever died because of an overabundance of character.<\/p>\n<p>Almost everybody wants to help those who truly and deservedly need help. How we do it is replete with massive implications. At the very least in this ongoing debate, let\u2019s not make the mistake of arguing that to use force, plunder, and dependency is somehow \u201cthe Christian thing to do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><center><\/p>\n<div class=\"dclickad\" data-client=\"darth-azrael\" data-slot=\"1565115099428\">\n<\/div>\n<p><\/center><\/p>\n<div>\n<h5><a href=\"http:\/\/fee.org\/people\/lawrence-w-reed\/\"><br \/>\nLawrence W. Reed<br \/>\n<\/a><\/h5>\n<p>Lawrence W. Reed is President Emeritus, Humphreys Family Senior Fellow, and\u00a0Ron Manners Ambassador for Global Liberty at\u00a0the Foundation for Economic Education. He is also author of\u00a0<em><a href=\"https:\/\/store.fee.org\/products\/real-heroes\">Real Heroes: Incredible True Stories of Courage, Character, and Conviction<\/a><\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0<em><a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/2wM284a\">Excuse Me, Professor: Challenging the Myths of Progressivism<\/a><\/em>.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/lawrencewr\">Follow<\/a> on Twitter and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/Lawrence-Reed\/202924809735438\">Like<\/a> on Facebook.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"font-style: italic;\">This article was originally published on FEE.org. Read the <a href=\"https:\/\/fee.org\/articles\/helping-the-needy-what-s-the-christian-thing-to-do\/\">original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/fee.org\/counter\/184658\" alt=\"\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" \/><script src=\"https:\/\/fee.org\/Scripts\/fee-repub.js\" async=\"async\"><\/script>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Readers of these pages know of my keen interest\u2014as an economist, as a historian, and as a Christian\u2014in what Jesus and the New Testament have to say about things like helping the poor. My essay, \u201cWas Jesus a Socialist?\u201d partially dealt with this issue, as did my more recent Prager University video\u00a0(see below) of the same title. Here I would like to explore the matter a little further and share with readers my favorite relevant New Testament passages. [Note to my non-Christian friends: No need to blow a gasket here. I\u2019m not preaching, pontificating, or proselytizing\u2014 merely presenting facts as I see them.] Robin Hood and Forced Redistribution Imagine a person who, acting entirely on his own initiative and exclusively from a desire to help the needy, decides to take from the rich and give every penny to the poor. Would that find approval from Jesus, his apostles, or anyone of authority in the early Church? If you\u2019ve read the New Testament with even the least depth and discernment, you know the answer can\u2019t possibly be yes. Well, may I ask, why not? Keep in mind that this imagined Robin Hood is redistributing without a middleman\u2014no bureaucracy, no paperwork, no [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[2410,2604,1574],"class_list":["post-23191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-politics","tag-charity","tag-jesus","tag-socialism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23191\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}