Does the Bible Back Government Entitlements for the Poor?

Political activists on the left criticize Sen. Santorum for lacking compassion for the poor and for being a hypocrite who will stand condemned before Christ on Judgment Day. The basis for the left’s harsh judgmentalism is that Santorum would cut programs such as foodstamps, and that Christ makes feeding the poor the basis for eternal life. Both of these claims are false.

For starters, despite the leftist blogosphere’s hysteria over Santorum’s position on foodstamps, his actual stance is to block grant the states to administer such programs individually, so that government would be more efficient in feeding America’s poor.

Secondly, the left profoundly misunderstands the biblical passage which they cite to condemn Santorum. Of course, the left feels that it can pick and choose the passages they like, but passages about the sanctity of life and holy matrimony are otherwise ridiculed as ignorant. But specifically, in judging Santorum, they erroneously cite Jesus’ illustration of how people will be separated as sheep from goats on Judgment Day. To be sure, the “sheep” will be welcomed into the Kingdom, while the “goats” will be condemned to hell (Matthew 25:31-46), but this judgment is not based on how one treats poor and disadvantaged people. Rather, Jesus said that the judgment will hinge upon how a person treats “one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine.” The term “least of these” is a favorite in Matthew’s Gospel to refer to true Christian disciples. The left should be warned: if they ridicule, slander, mistreat, or revile Jesus’ disciples, it is the same as doing it to Jesus himself, and they will be sent to hell. In stumbling upon this verse and erroneously applying it to Santorum, the left condemns itself.

But more to the point…. The Bible certainly teaches that we should be generous with our money and to help those who are truly in need, but nowhere does the Bible justify the government imposing itself into people’s pocketbooks through huge government bureaucracies (i.e., “tax collectors”) staffed by its own constituencies, to redistribute private wealth to others, and to do so without discerning which person is lazy and which is really in need. Rather, the biblical model is that each person should freely help the needy, without compulsion.

I’m a Baptist. If you come to me hungry, I’ll take you to our church’s food pantry (regardless of your religion). If Santorum were you neighbor and you asked him for help, he’d take you to Catholic Charities. This is the way that biblical charity works, and it is more efficient than waiting for a government bureaucrat to give your foodstamps.

But the Christian call to generosity must also be heard with the biblical teaching that if a lazy person doesn’t work, neither should he eat, a teaching to which the left is deaf. Interestingly, the left discovered this past week the command that people should leave the corners of their fields unharvested so that the poor and landless might also have something to eat (Leviticus 23:22). Forthwith, activists on the left got the memo to cite this passage in condemnation of Santorum. But note that this passage assumes that the poor and the landless would at least get off their rumps and go harvest the food so generously left unharvested by the landowner. In our government run system, so many people abuse the system who are otherwise healthy and could harvest the corners of the fields for themselves. But we have created a dependent society where lazy couch potatoes have government paid workers harvest the grain for them. Santorum wants to effectively help people reach their potential so that they will have dignity, without having to depend upon government and other people’s money.