Five Hundred Words

While attending a rally in opposition to President Obama’s health care proposals, some of the counter-demonstrators held signs making an appeal from the perspective of faith.  As I recall one old fellow held up a sign stating that Jesus would support the sick.  Of the arguments for “Obamacare” perhaps this is the most compelling. 

The president himself states that we are “partners with God” over these grave issues.  I would not say that I am God’s partner, but I am certainly His servant, and I am both humbled and delighted to serve.  Being a follower of Christ, among the general commands articulated by The Master himself are these:  Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless and visit those in prison.  Pure religion is that widows and orphans receive care and mercy.  Anything that I have done to the least of these His brethren, I have done for Him. 

This may seem alien to my secular readers, but the Judeo-Christian tradition of charity is obedience to God’s call on our lives.  Giving and mercy are both spiritual gifts that scripture teaches must be exercised to do the work of the Church, which is to glorify God and make him known in the world.   Charity is an act of worship, expected of the believer as an exercise of faith.

The point that I am spooling up to is this:  The power to tax is the power to send a man with handcuffs someone’s home and exact money.  How can I as a Christian demand that the tax man go to my non-believing neighbor and exact resources to do God’s work?  When I write a check to support a clinic, I am drawing upon the resources of the Most High, who gives me all things I need to do His work in this world.  The non-believer may not make this claim (though God may still provide).

Christians who agitate for government-funded charity like health care are well motivated, but whatever appeal to my conscience they are trying to make is on shaky ground.  Forcing a charitable enterprise upon the unredeemed upon pain of law is not materially different than sending a cop to drag a man to church.

The very foundation of the health care system we enjoy in the US was built out of the pockets of Christian and Jewish congregations uniting to bring mercy to their friends and neighbors without regard to their creed, and for the most part without regard to their ability to pay.  The faithful, and those inspired by the faithful did this voluntarily and found great joy in the work.

If my Christian brothers and sisters wish to provide clinics and hospitals for the poor over and above what is offered now, I encourage them to join with the charitable institutions already in place and help.  Christian Charity is rewarding and commanded. We can’t relieve ourselves of our obligation by subcontracting this work to a bureaucrat.  Perhaps that’s why it’s been such a dismal failure.

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