God Is Watching

If a politician stood up and said that he wanted to severely cut the size of government including such facets as military, medicare, and social security and the reason he wanted to this was because he genuinely thought this would be the best thing for the poor of the country and of the world. Would you applaud him for thinking of and specifically mentioning the poor and society's responsibility toward them?

In other words, is there room in this ad campaign for people who think the poor will be best served by severely reducing the size and scope of government?

Thanks Jim for your efforts and those of like-minded individuals to insist that poor and vulnerable persons must be protected however federal expenditures are allocated.
It mystifies me as to why neither party has stood and said 'we must protect the poor. It is simply unacceptable that the wealthiest nation on the planet have any more homeless, any more hungry, any more destitute.'
How can either party lay claim to closing their political speeches with "God bless the United States of America" when the very people God calls 'blessed' are the people being overlooked in this debate and who are likely to be even worse off when this debacle is said and done! God can't bless a nation determined to make life even worse for the poor!
It is shameful. There is no other way to put it.

Each morning I thank God that I live in a safe neighborhood, with clean drinking water, safe food, health care and education for my family. My wife and I support a family of 5 on 45K / yr.

I am willing to pay more in taxes if it will help the poor - those that do not have the things that I have. Who is with me?

I agree that whatever happens in DC will have ripple effects. Nevertheless, I believe that God is in the plan and is moving in unexpected ways even now. Sojourners "Circle of Protection" aligns with what is right and good. Continue to use various means to communicate this much needed message. Thank you.

I fail to see how the poor are harmed by declining to provide them with government largesse.

Sometimes I just don't get Sojourners.

Your editorials keep telling us that it is immoral not to be willing to spend more and more money on social programs to help the poor.

Yet you seem to ignore the fact that the single biggest part of the federal budget that helps the poor, medicare, is screaming for reform.

The recent health reform Sojourners celebrated as a victory for the poor just shoved millions of uninsured people into a medicare system that is already unsustainable, rife with waste and fraud.

Yet you seem to spend very little time calling for our representatives to work to institute reforms that will actually insure that those programs are fiscally sustainable and therefore able to help those in need.

Financial responsibility is just as much a moral issue as giving to the poor. If you are not financially responsible you have nothing with which to help the poor.

What I can't fathom is how little you are talking about how much the poor will continue to be hurt by a health care system that gets more and more expensive each day. The poor (and the middle class) are continuing to be priced out of a health care system, public and private that, in it's present form, is fiscally unsustainable. Please talk up the moral responsibility to deal with that, too. God is watching.

Jim,You are operating from the premise that all of the care of this country's individuals is a Federal mandate. While these specific issues you mentioned having to do with taking care of the poor are well and good they are not the reason for a federal government.This is how God said to feed the poor:
Lev. 25:47-53; Ruth 2, Matt. 19:21, Lk 11:41, Acts 9:36, Acts 10:31, Acts 24:17, Rom 15:26, Lk 9:13...God wants people to work for their bread and for his people to take care of others not the federal govenment. He never said to pay your taxes to the Roman Empire so that they would feed the poor and take care of all their needs.Why do you insist that the federal government be given the authority to excise taxes from individuals and their businesses to take care of everyones needs in our country?Peace.
JR

Since 1990, the debt limit has been raised a total of $10.1 trillion, and nearly half that increase has occurred since September 2007. Please recall that the Democrats took the majority in Congress in January 2007. It's not just the Republicans; it's not just the Democrats. Both major parties have permitted our deficit and debt to spiral out of control. We need to cut, if not freeze, spending. We need to evaluate the current federal programs, and cut those that replicate one another and state programs. We also need to design educational and job programs in conjunction with businesses to enable people to gain skills that will lead to employment. Right now, too many jobs are leaving the country because Americans don't have the necessary technological and scientific skills. Note that the G.E. X-ray unit is moving from Wisconsin to China because of the skilled personnel in China and the growing economy there.

maybe this whole government mess is God's way of telling us American Christians and our church leaders that it is our responsibility to help the widows , orphans and the poor. If the church was taking care of its own...IN OUR OWN COUNTRY first....then people wouldn't need to expect handouts from the government. Churches are as bad as the government these days. Churches should not expect the government to take money from the wealthy that have worked hard for it...other wealth, maybe.....but first and foremost, churches should be doing the work God gave them to do, each in his own neighborhood first....but it seems many of our churches want the pride of saying we are helping everywhere...in Africa, Asia etc...when we having starving in our own nation. If we would take care of our own forst, other countries might also look to us as a light..rather than see us as people who just want to change their faith. Oh God, I pray for our churches and our people in this country to turn to you and do as you would want us to...be people helping each other in our own towns before marching off to see the "world evangelized". I don't mean to discount missions, but we have forgotten our own children right now, while we help countries who don't even like us.

I hear what you're saying, but couldn't we cut federal spending in such a way that the poor and working class are not adversely affected? In other words, the wealthy and middle classes should bear the burden of these cuts rather than the poor--or at the very least, the poor should suffer as little as possible from these cuts.

At your income level, you're likely one of the lucky ones who pays about zero in net income taxes, and might be on the list for a net gain. Aside from that, nobody is stopping you from paying more in taxes, nor is anyone stopping you from giving directly to agencies/individuals who will channel that money directly to where it will do the most good. Those of us who are opposed to government redistribution efforts -- efforts that are at best wasteful and often fraught with fraud and abuse -- prefer the more direct approach. Don't use your flavor of elected officials to force us to do pay more than we are into an obviously broken system.

My Warm Greetings from Hamilton, New Zealand.

I have been watching and praying for Congress. The legacy of partisan bickering has a very long history, back to the founding days of George Washington and others. But what I find different here is the intensity formed around Hatred. I understand that Republicans don't like the word socialism in any form but what they are missing out is the words social responsibility. The bible says a house divided will fall. I pray Congress will act quickly to prevent a catastrophe of epic proportions

Jim, I commend you to God for getting a president's ear. Hopefully he will have the courage not to resist what needs to be done. I think this event is the wake-up call for America, and as my long study of your country tells me, it is unprecedented. What happens come 3 August will change America forever. I also wonder in prayer how the 2012 elections will play out with a country angry at irresponsibility.

When you can afford to buy food...without SNAP or WIC...I can understand your confusion. If you can also afford to heat your home without wondering what you're going to give up to pay for oil or your heating bill...I can also understand your confusion. The point is if you've never been there...you will never understand. Heaven forbid if you lose your safety net and need to depend on these government programs the same as those who do now. Unless you can foretell the future...you will never know.

Actually, I have. But that misses the point. When I lived in poverty, it was not the government's responsibility to provide me with my daily bread.

I am surprised and disappointed by those who self-identify as Christians and yet defend the accumulation of personal wealth. Jesus said that those who would follow in His steps should sell all that they have, give the money to the poor, and follow him. I don't remember any passage in the Bible that suggested that those who are wealthy are such because God has rewarded them for their "virtue". Nothing could be further from the Gospel Truth. Find me chapter and verse that says that when you are a good Christian, God will reward you with a nice home, a car, a vacation a year, etc. Heck, find me a chapter or verse that suggests that what you "earn" in this world, you should be interested in keeping! As for those who state that God wants people to earn bread by the sweat of their brow, what of the lily? It neither spins nor weaves, but what is clothed in beauty and glory like it? It does not sow or reap, but gets what it needs from heaven. (Don't confuse Puritanism, or what Max Weber called "The Protestant Work Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism" with righteousness or God's way!)

What gives me pause is Matt. 25:31ff, esp. Matt 25:32. The Nations (Gr. EthnE) will be led in before the Son of Man to be judged. The image is that we will be brought in as a group. The separating (literally "severing") does not occur until after we are led-in and judged, based on how we treated the least among us. WE have a responsibility, especially within a democratic society to build, and inform our society; to be salt, light, yeast in our society, and most especially to provide for all, as a society. We Christians are supposed to work with God to build God's Kingdom. As we pray in the Lord's Prayer, "...your Kingdom come, on earth..."

Another passage that comes to mind is Luke 12:48, -typically paraphrased- "to whom much is given, much will be expected."

This is not about a "flavor of politician," but of being a Christian in a Democratic Society.

God wants people to work for their bread and for his people to take care of others not the federal govenment.

In a perfect world...you would be right. Because of greed/indifference/lack of jobs...the federal government needs to do this or else you will see a world in the selfish image of Ayn Rand rather than the One who created it.

You have mentioned what you see in the Bible. What have YOU done personally to make sure your behavior is consistent with the verses you mentioned? When was the last time you volunteered at a soup kitchen? When was the last time you took a box of groceries over to your neighbor with a starving family?

Myself...I provide several big bags of cereal every month for my church for the kids on Sunday morning who don't have breakfast. I also cook for 50-60 children on Wednesday evenings to make sure they have at least one hot meal that week. It's one thing to talk about how the government should be or shouldn't be doing this...but it's another to put your faith into actual action.

Strange that Mr. Wallis complains about the partisan rhetoric while engaging in the same. The radio ad I heard specifically blames Mr. Boehner while not mentioning the President or Democrats. Why not raise money to feed the poor instead of raising money for politically biased radio ads. Maybe you should investigate who gives the most to the poor out of their own pockets, Republican or Democrat. That would be interesting to know. I'm for the poor;I'm far from what you would consider rich in money. But I don't think your blame game is helping.

I would say if a politician stood up to say such things he would be...a victim of muddled thinking.
If there were an agency that could care for the poor and needy better than government agencies (sloppy, inefficient, slow, and uncaring as they can be sometimes), what would it be?
The churches? They already get government support (they they pay no taxes on their property, gifts to them are tax-deductible)? Many run feeding programs, child care, etc. They alone cannot do the job, never have, never will.
Other "Faith-based" NGOs? They cry out for support, depend on contributions from individuals and corporations, and still cannot meet the need. Many are run with volunteer or poorly-paid staff Again, the government allows us to take our contributions to them off our taxes, but they still can't begin to meet demand. Indeed, we hear that since the Downturn their resources all over the country are stretched to the limit.
Corporate matching gift programs? They are provided for numerous charitable causes religious, and secular, by many companies, but again are strictly voluntary and don't come close to reaching adequate levels. And they don't care if you gave your gift to the Harvard Endowment or Food for the Hungry. The government encourages corporations to have these programs by giving them tax credits, too. If that were adequate we would have heard by now....
I would like for Thad to explain how "society" will meet its "responsibility" for the poor if politicians cut medicare and social security (both of which expect people to pay in before getting anything out, BTW).
It would be so much easier if the poor would just get a job or at least suffer quietly and quit whining about not having enough. God forbid they should vote.
I am with you on the military, though.

Why? President Obama said it best himself; raising taxes in a struggling economy is "the last thing you want to do." http://www.weeklystandard.com/...
We don't need additional tax burdens on anybody, especially those who create jobs. What we do need is a government that doesn't write checks on money it does not have.

Actually...it doesn't miss the point at all...except with those who espouse a philosophy of selfishness...greed and indifference toward those who God said is our responsibility to take care of. Saying it doesn't...does not change the fact that it is your duty as a believer to help your neighbor.

We as individuals are responsible before we as a society. I do not believe that individuals who dodge their responsibilities in an attempt to sluff it off to the state will be exempt from the judgement. he spoke of. And yes, we are to work with God to build His Kingdom, but that Kingdom will not be brought about through the likes of Barack Obama nor the Democrat Party nor the Republican Party. Jesus' said, "my kingdom is not of this world." John 18:36

Oh, and we live in a Representative Republic, not a Democracy. There is a difference. And we became the great nation we are today through God's grace and capitalism, not limp-wristed socialism.

What effort are you going to do or have you done?

Of course it's my responsibility as a believer to take care of my neighbor, and I take that very seriously. It doesn't mean that I espouse a philosophy of selfishness and greed if I think government has no special responsibility to care for the poor. It would be selfish and greedy if I declined to ever help anyone, but that is not true. I can be a Christian and not be a socialist.