State Welfarism

Greg

In the US today, many have decided that the State should be our brother’s keeper.  God’s charitable purposes through churches have been crowded out by a dependence on State solutions for the needy.  This has resulted in many local churches not carrying out this intended church function, and this causes the poor to miss out on God’s benevolent purposes through the people of Christ.  The Bible says: 

I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive (Acts 20:35).
 
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.  But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind: And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just (Luke 14:12-14).
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He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker: but he that honoureth him hath mercy on the poor (Proverbs 14:31).
 
God has called upon Christians (individually and corporately) to be their brothers’ keepers, not to turn them over to State departments and programs. State welfare provides money apart from morality, by stealing from some and redistributing it indiscriminately to others. True Christian charity not only provides goods to the needy, it rescues people from the streets, delivers hope, restores families, and helps people position themselves to be their own providers.  People need more than a handout that they can get from a State politician - they need to know that someone cares.  Churches must obey God’s instructions to assist the poor, the sick, the heartbroken, and the outcast (James 2).