Essay about Its Time for More Bible and Less Welfare

Its Time for More Bible and Less Welfare Government has considered and tried many plans for dealing with poverty in the United States, from all different points of view-welfare, workfare, charities, economic interference, and the like. There is one method, however, which has fallen out of popularity in this age. This is the biblical method. What God says about the poor The Christian, or biblical, view of poverty is liberal in some respects and conservative in others. For example, Paul gives this rule to the early church: If a man will not work, he shall not eat (2 Thessalonians 3:10). At the same time, the leaders of the church placed great importance on providing food for the poor, and James says that†¦show more content†¦Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the alien (Leviticus 19:9-10). In ancient Israel, those who couldnt afford to buy food could go into the fields and vineyards, follow behind the harvesters, and glean the excess from the fields or vines. In this way, individual Hebrews provided for their less fortunate neighbors. It seems at first glance that many of the Bibles statements on poverty contradict themselves. Are those not working not entitled to assistance, or do all the poor have rights which we must protect? Is poverty the result of individual choices, or is it a situation in which the individual has no choice? Should government, whether church government or state government, care for the poor, or is that the job only of individuals? In fact, none of these statements are contradictory, because poverty is an issue with a wide range of questions, and the Bible addresses many of those questions in the statements above. All the poor have rights to assistance, but they also have a responsibility to work in some way-thus the Hebrew practice of gleaning, where the poor could obtain assistance only if they would go out and get it; gleaning was undoubtedly hard work. Poverty often is the result of individual choices, but in many situations the poor are not responsible for theirShow MoreRela tedThe Issue Of The Gay Rights Movement Essay867 Words   |  4 Pagespeople living off of Welfare, or even that we can’t seem to get an effective health care bill passed. Those are only minor issues. The real problem is that we give away rights like they are free to give away. We gave the blacks their rights, and look what it got us. Barack Obama. We gave women their rights, and look what it got us. Hillary Clinton. What’s next? The Gay Rights Movement. The main issue with giving the gays their rights is that homosexuality does not truly exist. It’s an infection of theRead MoreThe Legalization Of Polygamy1349 Words   |  6 Pagescoffee dates, even when someone is eavesdropping on a neighbor s endeavors with his mistress. Nowadays, it seems as if horror stories about infidelity are more common than happy marriages. Cheating on a spouse is morally wrong, so why not make it easy and legalize the act of polygamy? Polygamy is defined as willfully and knowingly ha ving more than one husband or wife. As unnatural as it seems, many successful people have been in multiple marriages at once. The founder of the Mormons, Joseph SmithRead MoreThe Relationship Between State and Church Essay901 Words   |  4 PagesEvery person has the human right to engage in worship during public forums. Thus every person has the right to pray in school. When prayer was still allowed in school crime was at a low rate. Basically there was less crime everywhere. We consider the good ole days when basic morals were taught at home. When the difference between right and wrong was enforced. When family and religion was considered the most valuable and precious things to have. Now look at the mess we have created. Children lookRead MoreAttitudes of Christianity and Islam Toward Merchants and Trade.1421 Words   |  6 PagesChristian and Muslims toward trade shifted as conditions in the Christian and Islamic worlds changed. In the beginning, Christian attitudes were mo re negative, while Muslims tended to encourage and respect trade and merchants. Over time, Muslims became more like early Christians in that they were suspicious of traders whereas the Christians became more like the early Muslims, equating merchants (at least honest ones) with doing God’s work, reflecting the changed importance of trade in the high MiddleRead MoreTaking a Look at Political Ideologies684 Words   |  3 PagesIt’s an understatement to say our ideology shapes the way we live our lives every day. It affects the way we view and react to different people. Ideology is a set of beliefs that affects our outlook on the entire world. Most of the time ideology refers to a set of political beliefs or a set of ideas that relate to religious views. In a simpler meaning, ideology means having a views or opinions based on your ideas of that thing. The Republican ideology today is based on conservatism. They believeRead MoreGay Civil Rights689 Words   |  3 Pagesbe around them, so the people like this in the military will focus more on them and not getting their job done. People also believe this could cause fighting and disorder, again leading to not getting their jobs done. On the other hand people believe not allowing homosexuals in the military might take away from our ability to fight. Allowing them puts more people into our military. Not just more people, more willing people. More people who actually want to go over. 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Upper classed people are more than likely overly wealthy, and their money isn’t being spent in the right places, the lower class people actually have more rights and advantages than the middle class because the united states love to place economic and social welfare programs in place to take care of those people. According to the United States census, 22% of the American population is opn welf are, and of that 22%, African Americans take up 53% and of that 53%Read More The Welfare Problem Essay2320 Words   |  10 PagesThe Welfare Problem The poor are everywhere it seems. They are on the street corner, in the local 7 Eleven, and in the plaza. Sometimes I get sick of them and even angry with them when they pester me for money. I ask myself, Is the best way to deal with poor, to give them money from my pocket? Its obvious that other people have given them money from their pockets at different times. If no one had ever given them money, then these people wouldnt be standing here asking for money. The factRead More Abortion: Common Ground Must Be Found Essay1722 Words   |  7 Pagestrimester of pregnancy, the stage called quickening. Church courts imposed more severe sanctions than secular courts, and were more concerned with unborn human life and abortions that occurred earlier in pregnancy. The first abortion legislation enacted in the English-speaking world was an English law of 1803 that punished whoever acted â€Å"to cause and procure the miscarriage of any woman then being quick with child.† Later enactm ents more strictly imposed liability on pregnant women themselves, and because