Mark 12:13-17
Later they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus to catch him in his words. They came to him and said, “Teacher, we know that you are a man of integrity. You aren't swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not? Should we pay or shouldn't we?” But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. “Why are you trying to trap me?” he asked. “Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.” They brought the coin, and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”“Caesar’s,” they replied. Then Jesus said to them, “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” And they were amazed at him.
41-44
Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”
Mark 14:1-14
While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head.Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, “Why this waste of perfume? It could have been sold for more than a year’s wages and the money given to the poor.” And they rebuked her harshly. “Leave her alone,” said Jesus. “Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me. She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. Truly I tell you, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”
Mark 10:17-27
As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother.’”
“Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.” Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor,and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.Matthew 6:1-4“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others 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 others. Truly I tell you, 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 25: 31-46
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
So, according to these liberal 'theologians', Jesus is ok with Caesar taking your money and redistributing it, and it covers all of us! How cool is that??!?!?!? Except, that totally misses the point.
The Bible says that every good and perfect gift is from above. (James 1:16, but 16-27 says a LOT about what the purpose of giving is) Paying taxes isn't a gift, and it's not optional. Paying taxes isn't spontaneous and it isn't a secret. Paying taxes isn't DIRECT contact and intervention with the needy.
To be clear, I have absolutely no problem with a safety net. I don't hate people on food stamps, not even the people who abuse it to the fullest. My problem is where most of the funding comes from and what the government has turned the safety net into. Our government seems to want to make poverty their way of life, not a temporary stop before people can build themselves back up. When someone gets their bills paid by someone else, there is no incentive to work, outside of self respect. Fortunately, they have the feminist movement to thank for chopping the balls off of men. Many consider retirement the ultimate goal, or not working and still getting paid something to be chased.
How do people build themselves back up? Capitalism. Rush Limbaugh had an interesting caller and response.
Why do some of our politicians tell us that to cut our taxes, that has to be 'paid for' by someone or something? Now, in what universe does reducing the tax burden on people need to be 'paid' for? The liberal universe of spending into oblivion. They see all of your money as the government's money, and to let YOU keep more, someone else has to give more. That would ONLY be true if they are spending more than they're taking in, which has become the fashionable thing in Washington. They view 'Caesar' (the government) as their god. The government giveth, and taketh away, and writeth the rules. How different was our founding... "When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness".
Just an FYI, the "Pursuit of Happiness" has absolutely nothing to do with people's feelings. It has everything to do with the framework in place to maintain order in a civil society. From the Massachusetts Constitution, as originally written:
"Article III. As the happiness of a people and the good order and preservation of civil government essentially depend upon piety, religion, and morality, and as these cannot be generally diffused through a community but by the institution of the public worship of God and of the public instructions in piety, religion, and morality: Therefore, To promote their happiness and to secure the good order and preservation of their government, the people of this commonwealth have a right to invest their legislature with power to authorize and require, and the legislature shall, from time to time, authorize and require, the several towns, parishes, precincts, and other bodies-politic or religious societies to make suitable provision, at their own expense, for the institution of the public worship of God and for the support and maintenance of public Protestant teachers of piety, religion, and morality in all cases where such provision shall not be made voluntarily."
What about the Separation of Church and state? Well, 1. that's the Federal government and 2, it's not in the constitution. Seriously. How many people no longer support the 'pursuit of happiness'? Don't worry, they changed it. No longer public, no longer seen as important. Also as an FYI, the Progressives' attempts to ban alcohol started 30 years before it actually happened (See the part of the Massachusetts Constitution not approved by the people).
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