The Levy Was Dry

The idea of tithing is mentioned in The Bible. God commands his followers to give a part or their animals and crops back to the church.

Tithe: transitive verb - to pay or give a tenth part of especially for the support of the church

The instructions are pretty easy to follow. If you acquire ten mules then you should give the tenth one back to God and let Him give it to the less fortunate. Notice the poor person, who doesn't have a mule, isn't required to tithe. The poor person will actually be the benefactor of the tithe and receive a mule even though they never contribute to the system.

Approximately 2000 years later it seems we have adopted a different attitude about the givers and takers of our times. Now it seems we look down upon them and vilify the poor and don't appreciate the idea of being forced to give away part of our hard earned income to support those who feel entitled.

To be fair to those who do harbor this resentment of the needy, God's plan was for the church to take care of them and not the government. But this still seems like an inconsistent attitude, begrudging the poor, once walked through to completion. If one honestly believes this nation was founded on Christian values and they believe part of the problem we face in modern times is the fact our country has gotten away from its Christian roots, then it would seem like the idea of the government helping out the needy would be more embraced by the followers of Christ.

The man that just ran for President of the United States of America and received about sixty million votes and lost recently explained why he thinks he didn't win:
"The president's campaign, if you will, focused on giving targeted groups a big gift...With regards to African American voters, Obamacare was a huge plus...Likewise with Hispanic voters, free health care was a big plus."

On election night Bill O'Reilly explained why he thought Romney was going to lose:
"It's not a traditional America anymore. The white establishment is now the minority. There are 50 percent of the voting public who want stuff...You're going to see a tremendous Hispanic vote for President Obama...and women will probably break President Obama's way. People feel like they are entitled to things, and which candidate, between the two, is going to give them things?"

Now, completely ignoring the blatant racism and sexism (perhaps another blog post on a different day), it seems obvious these people don't really view the needy the same way God did. God didn't decipher between which poor people to give to and he didn't set criteria for them to be the benefactor; He simply gave to them because they were poor. And what He gave them was your hard earned crops and livestock.

I'm not suggesting there isn't waste and inefficient parts of our entitlement programs. And I'm not suggesting people can't discuss those areas without seeming cold and mean. But what I am suggesting is the attitude we hold toward the poor seems to be out of alignment from the entity most people claim to follow.