by: Jason Williams
Recently, Obamacare was enacted in America and our nation took a dramatic turn towards socialism. We have heard arguments from both sides of the news spectrum as they chronicle every twist and turn of this currently failing system. Of course, the recent news has been about how the website seems not to be working, which is ironic, because now we will be punished for not joining a system that will not allow us to join even if we wanted to. Of course both sides of the debate are flooding the airwaves with people who claim to support or oppose the system. So far after polling, almost seventy percent of Americans are against this system which brings up the question, if we are against it then why aren’t politicians trying to overturn it? The simple truth is that our current leadership is running our nation more and more like a dictatorship than a democracy, with surveillance on anyone with a phone, the ability to use drone strikes against U.S. citizens, and the rapid loss of freedom of speech, we are dangerously closer to a King than a President. It would seem that regardless of what America wants, our current ruler really wants his new social agenda to be law and he is willing to monitor, threaten, fine, bully, and remove from office anyone who is opposed.
It appears most of America is against Obamacare, and it also appears that our leadership, though fractured, is for Obamacare. As Christians, the real question should be, what does God think about Obamacare? After all, doesn’t the Bible command us to help those who need help? How do we help the poor? Let’s answer these questions one at a time.
Let’s start with the question whether or not we are commanded to help those who need help. There is over 20 verses in the Bible commanding us to give to those less fortunate. So, there really is no option, but a command. If you are a Christian, then God wants you to help the needy. This was the topic our president brought about in his new book that chronicles his daily devotions. It would seem that God Himself told Mr. Obama that he needs to force us into giving our money to others. But the Bible also makes it very clear that we are to do so out of love for our neighbor, and this is the tricky part. Can you give out of love when you have no option but to give? To answer this Paul said, “And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.” (1 Corinthians 13:3) Paul made it very clear that anything given without love is meaningless, which brings up another question that I believe needs to be asked. Can you give out of love when you are being rewarded for it? The obvious answer is no! In fact, Jesus discussed this very issue in the Book of Luke.
Luke 14:12, “Then said he also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompence be made thee.” Christ is saying that while we are commanded to give to the needy, we are not to do so simply to receive a reward. In our case, this reward would be a tax break or avoiding a fine. The truth is government enforced charity is not charity at all, it is simply a government enforcement.
How do we help the needy if not through socialism? I believe the Bible gives us the answer by giving us a warning in Ezekiel 16:48-50. “As I live, saith the Lord God, Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy daughters. Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good.” God says that Sodom was full of bread, but notice it did not say they didn’t help. It says they did not strengthen the poor. In other words Sodom was guilty of the exact same thing we are doing today. Instead of giving money to give the poor a hand up, they merely gave them a hand out and kept them in the exact same condition they were in before receiving help. They gave food to the needy, but did not teach them how to work or how to take care of themselves.
The truth is that God does want us, and in fact demands us to help the needy out of love without receiving any reward, but helping is not simply giving a handout, sometimes it is giving a hand up.
Jason Williams
Assistant Pastor
High Street Baptist Church
Columbus, OH
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