Where is the Church?

Politics. Nothing can fire people up more than a good ole convo about politics. Most people have opinions - very strong ones. I have opinions too, but even though I try to educate myself, I feel that I fall into the ignorant category. That being said, I'm about to delve deep - for me anyway. This post is more about the heart of the Christians and less about politics, but somehow I don't think it will be viewed as that.

Ben graduated from preschool last Thursday. It was a cute program and Momma even teared up a bit. One of the mom's had all the graduates over today for a playdate. While the kids were playing, the mom's were talking. The director of the preschool and I share heartbreak for the poor and somehow we started talking about that. Here's the rest of the story:

She - the director - mentioned that her father kept reminding her that the Bible tells us there would always be poor in the world. Yes, truth. The Bible does say that. One of the women said, I kid you not, "then if there will always be poor in the world then the government should quit taking our money and giving it to them." And all the other women might as well have stood up and shouted AMEN! Keep. Your. Mouth. Shut. Bethany. No. Don't say it, don't say...

My mouth formed the words - "You really don't want my opinion, but, if the church was doing its job the government wouldn't have to take care of the poor." Yep. I went there. I was among fellow Christians, who all belong to the same fine evangelical church (that I happen not to be a member of, so I'm already somewhat of an outsider), and obviously didn't share my sentiments.

So, what's political about that? The underlying message - curse you Obama and all you Democrats who want to share MY wealth. I'm going to go ahead and make the assumption that none of them have "O" stickers on their cars and they probably voted for the other guy.

I was struck for the first time by something. Why do evangelicals vote the way they do? Is it really because we "care" about unborn babies? Do we care about preserving marriage between a man and a woman? OR is it because we want what is "ours." If our taxes were considerably less would we help those who are in need with extra? OR would we pad our bank accounts or buy a new car, or save for a bigger house.

I really don't know anyone's heart, but, I don't believe for a second that we (me) are concerned about decreasing our tax burdens so that we can give that money to the least of these. I mean, I sure didn't run to my favorite charitable organization with my tax refund - and after all, the Bible says it (twice I think)... there will always be poor among us, so why help?

Because the Bible also says MORE THAN 100 TIMES that we should. Twice it says the poor will be among us, and more than 100 times it tells us we are responsible to help them.

But, we want to keep OUR money. We want to keep what is OURS. Funny to me. All that we have is God's right? And if that's the case and we truly believe that, then aren't we reaping what we essentially didn't sow?

So, do I agree with how the government spends the money that I am forced to pay them? Nope. I would have voted my husband's now defunct company get a bailout. Do I think that the whole "redistribution of wealth" is right? Nope. But I do tend to laugh at this notion. I would love for someone to show me anyone who got to the middle class solely on welfare. Are there problems with our system? Absolutely. Who did I vote for? Not that its anyone's business, but I voted for McCain (even though I couldn't care less for Sarah, she actually makes my skin crawl.) And my reasons for doing so would surprise many of my friends because they aren't because he's pro-life and anti-homosexual - I couldn't care less about that when it comes to politics, but that's for another post that you will probably never see.

I just wonder if we quit worrying about getting "ours" and gave to Jesus through churches and other organizations, if the poor would need our government's help.

Off my soapbox. I feel better. I'm going to post cute pics of my precious kids next time.