Liberty Reborn

A reader this week reminded me in an email of a passage in the Bible which refutes that concept of liberalism’s belief that excessive taxation and government welfare programs are akin to charity in order to assuage their own guilt and bolster their own belief that they really are good “Christians”.

This quote comes from 2 Corinthians 9:7
“Each of you must give what you have decided in your heart, not with regret or under compulsion, since God loves a cheerful giver.”

My translation is a little different, but the same:
“Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”

It is clear that coerced giving, such as taxation and wealth redistribution under liberalism, does not generate any grace under the concept of Christianity nor does it amount to true charity under Christianity.

Here is another passage that I have found looking around that reinforce that Christianity believes in the concept of freely giving without coercion:
“One man gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.” Proverbs 11:24-25

We are also, as Christians, admonished to not do our giving in public in order for it to be seen and be praised for it by other men:

“Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” Matthew 6:1-4

What can we glean from these passages? Simply that while liberals who believe in expansive government welfare and coerced giving may claim to be Christians and may attend a Christian Church, that they really are not Christians.

Let the hate from the so-called “Christian” left commence!

This entry was posted on Friday, August 29th, 2008 at 2:24 pm and is filed under J.J. Jackson's Daily Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.