From: dlhpfm!dlh@ncoast.org (daniel lance herrick)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian
Subject: Re: "Christian politics"??
Date: 4 Sep 92 06:28:11 GMT
Organization: dlh Performance Marketing

whheydt@pbhya.pacbell.com (Wilson Heydt) writes:

> In article <Aug.30.03.10.42.1992.12700@athos.rutgers.edu>, dlhpfm!dlh@ncoast.
> > 
> > Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 both contain the injunction, "Thou shalt
> > not steal".  There doesn't seem to be an exception allowed for stealing
> > with a ballot box.
> > 
> > The policies of our national government for a long time have been built
> > on ideas of taking from those that have and giving to those that don't
> > have.  
> 
> What about "Render unto Ceaser that which is Ceaser's"?

Jesus said, "render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's and unto God
that which is God's."  In that context he did not say anything at all
about what it is that belongs to Caesar or what it is that belongs to
God.  Another of those beautiful answers to confound those who are
seeking to trap him.

> Isn't there room for both public *and* private charitable activity?
> (For that matter--would there even *be* public activity of this type
> if private charitable activity had been sufficient to satisfy needs?)

Biblical charity is founded on a set of ideas that are abhorrent in
certain places.  To get rid of those ideas, we have to get rid of the
system of charity.

The law calls for a double inheritance for the eldest son.  The purpose
of this double inheritance is to give him the wherewithall to take care
of the parents in their dotage.  The modern United States has made
itself the heir of everyone, declaring that it will take care of the
old.  The policy is designed to weaken the bonds between the
generations.

The law calls for the landowner to not harvest the corners of his
fields, leaving grain for the poor to glean to feed themselves.  Notice
this is an opportunity to work and eat or not work and go hungry; but
the work involved is less than the work necessary to bring the grain
from seed to table.  Where we see this law in operation, Ruth asks
permission of the landowner, Boaz, to glean in his field.

Applying the current system in the United States to the situation of
Ruth and Boaz would give us something like:  Boaz harvests his entire
field and gives some fraction (numbers from about 20% to about 50%
apply to different people today - Boaz would fall in a higher rate) to
a tax collector who carries it off to a distant city.  In that city
there are people who distribute the goods, keeping about a quarter for
their pay. They distribute it back to similar functionaries in the
provinces who give it to Ruth and Naomi, keeping a third of what
reaches them (a quarter of the original "contribution") as their pay
for their efforts in distributing the goods.

The law makes a direct connection between the beneficiary and the
benefactor, so that the benefactor is involved in solving the problems
of the beneficiary, whether they be utter dependency or indolence or a
temporary setback.  It makes the first source of benevolence the
relatives of the beneficiary, the second source the benevolent
individual, and the final source the assembly.

The builders of our contemporary, government mediated, system, calling
the lawful system demeaning (a big lie) have created the genuinely
demeaning bureaucratic system that has one solution for everyone and
demands that you bare your soul to the machine so that maybe it will
take care of you.

The current government mediated system is ridiculously inefficient,
delivering only a small fraction of the collected resources to the
beneficiaries, consuming the rest in operating the system.

The current government mediated system breaks down the natural
interactions between donor and beneficiary making it a faceless
transaction at both ends with the donor resenting his compulsory
contributions and the beneficiary resenting the intrusive and demeaning
delivery system.

The current government mediated system replaces the meaningful work of
the gleaning system with the pointless necessity to spend hours
standing in lines.

The current government mediated system fails to restore beneficiaries
to productive participation in society, instead creating
multi-generational lines of dependents.

The current government mediated system has as its purpose establishing
a religion in which everyone looks to the State (the civil magistrate)
as savior from whom all blessings flow and to whom all thanks and
praise and service are due.

Who takes care of us when we are old?  The State.  Who takes care of us
when we are poor?  The State.  Who takes care of us when we are
orphaned?  The State.  Blessed be the name of the State.

There is a system of benevolence laid out in the law of Moses.  It
works.  It directs attention to the authentic Savior, the one from whom
all blessings really do flow and away from counterfeits such as the
growing State here in central North America.

dan