You asked how I can be a Christian and a Democrat. Well, here is a partial answer:
Jesus, speaking to a crowd, said, “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." Matthew 25:35
“When did we do that,” they asked. “In as much as you have done it to the poorest, the most obscure, the most despised and afflicted of these, you have done it also to me.”
"But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind." Luke 14:13
When you celebrate your plenty, share with the poor, the sick, the handicapped, and those which do not have the means to celebrate.
"In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (which, when translated, is Dorcas), who was always doing good and helping the poor." Acts 9:36
A disciple is someone who follows the disciplines of a teacher. One of the disciplines of Godliness is doing good and giving to the poor.
“Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, 'Here's a good seat for you,' but say to the poor man, 'You stand there' or 'Sit on the floor by my feet,' have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom He promised those who love Him? But you have insulted the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court?" James 2:2-6
"If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth." 1 John 3:17-18
These are but a few of the scriptures scattered throughout the Bible, exposing the mind of God, on the subject of how we should be responding to the poor.
In Amos, God talks about several of the sins of Israel for which He will not withhold His wrath. One of these was, “They trample on the heads of the poor as upon the dust of the ground.”
In Ezekiel, He presented a list of the special sins of the priests and people. One of these was that they oppress the poor and needy. What is this oppression? They used harsh control over them. They held them down. They did not offer a hand of assistance, but used their power and the needs of the poor to keep them down.
Jesus told the story of the rich man and Lazarus. The rich man fared sumptuously every day. Lazarus begged for only the crumbs from the rich man’s table. Both men in this story died and ended up in the places their lives dictated their ends to be. The rich man was in Hell. (This is not to imply that the rich cannot go to heaven,) and Lazarus was comforted in Abraham’s bosom.
In the story, we never hear of any interaction between Lazarus and the rich man. It would seem that the rich man took no notice of Lazarus. He seemingly felt no compunction to attend to the needs of Lazarus. What was his was his. He worked for it. He earned it. He did not need to share it with anyone.
The Word tells of a rich man that looked out across his fields and saw that they produced plentifully. He looked at his barns and took stock that they would not be able to contain all that his fields produced. He surmised the answer was to tear down his inadequate barns and build bigger barns to hold all that was his. Then, he decided he would take his rest and live a good life. The Lord spoke to him. He called this man a fool. He told him that this night was his last on earth. “Then to whom will all these goods belong?”
Can you see the purpose of a blessing from God?
The purpose of your blessing is to bless others.
Yet, I see Christians stand vehemently opposed to governmental assistance.
I know your love of the scripture in 2nd Thessalonians chapter 3, which states: “if any would not work, neither should he eat.” It’s one of your favorite go-to loopholes. We must consider that the Bible is not a tug-o-war book. It is a book of agreements. It does not give something in one place and then take it away in another. The scriptures agree. Therefore, one of us must be missing something. A deeper look at this scripture reveals the writer is talking about someone able who refuses to work. If we simply go by the letter of this one scripture, we can say, anyone on unemployment shouldn’t be allowed to eat. Anyone on disability (temporary or permanent) shouldn’t be allowed to eat. How about retirees? They aren’t working, so no food for them. Then there are the biggest group of non working eaters, children. Stop feeding them. It’s scriptural. If this isn’t what the scripture means, then perhaps it shouldn’t be your ‘do all end all’ reference when it comes to supporting or not supporting the poor.
There is much rhetoric out there about the poor. Most of it comes from those with no concept of poverty. They have no idea what it is to make a choice to feed your child or pay the rent.
So, they stand on their soapboxes of ignorance and shout their unfounded opinions.
And, I wonder if God cries. I wonder if He weeps, as he did at the tomb of Lazarus, when he was faced with the inability of some of His followers to grasp the concept of His power and compassion.
“In as much as you have done it to the least of these, you have done it to me.”
When you, as a Child (representative/witness) of God, condemn those on assistance (understand, when you condemn those abusing the system by condemning the system, you have targeted all people on assistance) you have told them your God, or your Church, or your belief system does not value the poor equally as it values the rich; it does not look at the needy with the same eyes as it does the prosperous; it does not offer the same salvation to the downtrodden as it does to those already blessed. You have perverted the Gospel of Christ. You have preached gain as Godliness, and His Word tells us to withdraw from such.
“For us to achieve 3 percent GDP growth over the next 10 years from tax reform, we have to have welfare reform. We need people who are mentally and physically able to work to get into the workforce,” Rep. Rod Blum (R-Iowa) said. “In my district, a lot of employers can’t find employees ... Sometimes we need to force people to go to work.” (December 2017).
Several things here stand out. Republicans voted for a tax cut for the wealthy. Their strategy to pay the difference in the Gross Domestic Product is to force people back into the job market. This implies people on governmental assistance are simply riding the gravy train while being fully capable of working. The problem with this rhetoric is it isn’t based in any facts. Many programs require the recipients to either be working or in a program training them for work. (www.usa.gov/benefits) If a person is one of the exceptions to this mandate, they are a child, disabled, over 60, or pregnant. So, what Rep. Blum is saying is, we want to force children into the job market, or disabled citizens back into the job market, or the elderly, or poor pregnant women into the job market.
In April 2018, the president signed the Reducing Poverty in America by Promoting Opportunity and Economic Mobility executive order. It requests that the executive agencies charged with overseeing the social safety programs consider making various changes that reduce spending, albeit under the guise of furthering “economic mobility, strong social networks, and accountability to American taxpayers.” Work requirements factor critically into achieving this objective.
Basically, what this order means is: we are going to cut the funding for housing and feeding millions in order to force them into the job market. This doesn’t consider requirements which mandate recipients be working, with a few limited exceptions.
President Trump followed up his budget for the 2018 fiscal year with a somehow even more draconian budget for the 2019 fiscal year, “An American Budget.” It suggests a $250 billion cut to Medicaid over the next ten years and revisions to its federal funding structure. Cuts to the TANF block grant and the elimination of the TANF Contingency Fund would amount to $21 billionby 2028. SNAP would lose $17.2 billionin 2019 alone. By 2028, SNAP would witness a loss of $213.5 billion. Again, trying to force recipients back into the job market by taking away housing and food.
This doesn’t sound much like “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." Matthew 25:35
When you try to imply a Christian couldn’t support the Democrats because they support “choice,” you open a floodgate of personal responsibility. If, by supporting Democratic candidates, I am supporting abortion, then by supporting Republican candidates, you are supporting the anti-Biblical attack on the welfare of the poor, and widows and children, because, overwhelmingly, Republicans have supported and voted for forcing women, children, the elderly, and the disabled into the job market by cutting the funding to programs providing food and shelter to them.
Let’s look at a choice to support “choice.” I will set aside my own personal convictions and beliefs about abortion. When I support a Democrat, who belongs to the party supporting ‘choice,’ what am I saying? Am I saying I support abortion? No. I am supporting everyone's right to make the decision which is best for them. I can cite numerous Bible references stating this is the proper Christian stance on allowing each of us to choose to serve God or not. This, notwithstanding, is a decision which affects one person. We can discuss forever when the Bible says life begins and we will probably still hold to our own personal biases.
However, when one supports a candidate who chooses to unilaterally take food and shelter from the poor, it is a decision affecting millions of people. Yes, yes, I know. You will claim you don’t support that part of the platform (in spite of the fact your social media posts declare otherwise.)
My question would be: How is it you can pick one or two Republican hot points and cast your support completely to them, and yet when others support the Democratic platform because of their humanitarian outreach to the disenfranchised poor of our country, they are held accountable to the full platform, including ‘choice’?
Beyond this are the many Bible references as to how we are to take in the refugee and the immigrant. In Mathew 25.35 references above, the word ‘stranger’ means ‘foreigner’. Jesus’ commendation to those believers engaged in the right behaviors included the attitude and actions towards foreigners, whether visitors, displaced citizens, refugees, migrants, immigrants, asylum seekers, or stateless persons. This is just one of many scriptural references demanding how we are to treat foreigners. Exodus 23.9 tells us we are not to oppress a foreigner. Leviticus 19.4 tells us we are to treat them as native-born and to love them as we love ourselves. Cities of refuge set up in Numbers 35.15 were to be open to foreigners as well as citizens. In Deuteronomy, foreigners were to be included in festivals and celebrations mandated by the Law. Also in Deuteronomy, the tithe collected by the priests was to be used to feed the foreigner and their families as well as the widows. In Leviticus, farmers were instructed to leave the gleanings of the field for the widow and the foreigner. Hebrews tells us we are to show hospitality to foreigners. There are numerous other references throughout scripture.
Yet, it is repeatedly a staple of the Republican Party and its members to castigate foreigners and make them the scapegoat for domestic problems. Your joblessness is not due to the immigrant (documented or undocumented).
A popular view is that immigrants are taking jobs from American citizens. However, although immigrants increase the supply of labor, they also spend their wages on homes, food, TVs and other goods and services and expand domestic economic demand. This increased demand, in turn, generates more jobs to build those homes, make and sell food, and transport TVs. (Penn Wharton, The effects of immigration on the United States economy.) Joblessness is due in part to a closed border policy and to the decisions by greedy business owners.
Domestic terrorism numbers far exceed terrorism from foreign sources. In his testimony before a Senate Selection Committee, Dale Watson, Executive Assistant Director, Counterterrorism/Counterintelligence Division of the FBI, stated ”Between 1980 and 2000, the FBI recorded 335 incidents or suspected incidents of terrorism in this country. Of these, 247 were attributed to domestic terrorists, while 88 were determined to be international in nature.” Foreigners are not the root cause of terrorism or violence in our country, despite of how many times one party claims.
Penn Wharton at the University of Pennsylvania reported: “The available evidence suggests that immigration leads to more innovation, a better educated workforce, greater occupational specialization, better matching of skills with jobs, and higher overall economic productivity. Immigration also has a net positive effect on combined federal, state, and local budgets.” Jun 27, 2016
All of that being said, the term “open borders” purposely implies a great misconception. As a Democrat, I support a path to citizenship and a proper asylum program, which will in turn strengthen our nation and our economy.
The identifying characteristics of those Jesus would call ‘disciples’ was in the ways they responded to the poor, the foreigner, the destitute, the sick, and the prisoner.
The actions and attitudes of the current conservative nationalistic Republican Party are an abysmal failure in this Christ mandated checklist.
This is just a partial list. However, you asked me why I am a Democrat. Well, I’m a Democrat because the Bible tells me to be one.
