{"id":1109,"date":"2011-07-28T05:56:08","date_gmt":"2011-07-28T09:56:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/godonomics\/?p=1109"},"modified":"2011-07-28T15:08:38","modified_gmt":"2011-07-28T19:08:38","slug":"jesus-would-have-alot-to-say-about-the-debt-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/2011\/07\/jesus-would-have-alot-to-say-about-the-debt-debate.html","title":{"rendered":"Jesus Would Have A Lot to Say About the Debt Debate"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fox News had an article suggesting that Jesus would have strong words to say about the debt debate. Since the article was shot, I’ll quote it<\/a> before I respond.<\/p>\n

Congressman Charles Rangel , D-NY, doesn’t know exactly what Jesus would say about the debt crisis, but he thinks religious leaders should be a part of the conversation.<\/em> “It is a moral question. So I am surprised that we don’t hear from the rabbis and the priests and the ministers and the imams. This is their business, not just politicians’,” he told Fox News on Sunday.<\/em> Two days earlier,\u00a0Congressman Rangel<\/a>\u00a0held a news conference where he asked “What would Jesus do about the debt problem?”\u00a0 He called on religious leaders to speak up on the\u00a0Medicare<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Social Security<\/a>\u00a0cuts Republicans want to make, which would hit the elderly and the poor the hardest.\u00a0<\/em>Rangel insists, “If the sky, the economic sky, was to fall, the very rich in this country would not feel any pain at all.”\u00a0 <\/em>But when pressed on exactly what that higher power would say about America’s money problems, he replied “I don’t know what Jesus or Moses or anyone would say. But, the issues are so morally clear…we are our brothers’ keepers.”<\/em> Rangel summed up his argument by saying, “You know all of this is biblical… If you read your Bibles and you read the spiritual scriptures you will see that clearly that Jesus would have something to say about this debate.”<\/em><\/p>\n

So, we are left with Jesus in a bind.\u00a0 Does Jesus and Moses love the rich or love the poor? \u00a0 Jesus was always brilliant at getting out of questions devised to paint him into a corner. \u00a0 Jesus has a lot to say.\u00a0 As a brilliant scholar of the Old Testament, Jesus quoted the Psalms and Deuteronomy more than anything in his ministry. \u00a0 What principles would he give us to think about this debt debate?<\/p>\n

Jesus tells us to care for the poor.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mark 10:21.\u00a0 Jesus tells the rich man that he lacks one thing…to give extremely generously to the poor. \u00a0Ezekiel tells us that Sodom and Gomorrah were judged for their inability to help the poor. \u00a0Ez 16:49\u00a0“Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Jesus would teach individuals to help the poor rather than outsourcing it to someone or something else.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Luke 10:30-37. The account of the Good Samaritan clearly shows the call for individuals to give generously to the poor, the hurting, and the marginalized. It even calls us to give generously to our enemies. Perhaps the Democrats and Republicans might give to each other’s political coffers. \ud83d\ude42 \u00a0 The Bible calls us as individuals to assess, give, and help those in need. It does not ever promote hiring a government\u00a0mercenary\u00a0to do the giving for you.<\/p>\n

Jesus would warn us that God warned us about Intrusive Government: In 1 Samuel 8, God said we must stay away from a large intrusive government. God clearly told us not to trade liberty for perceived security. He warned us that government takes and takes what was “ours” and makes it “his.”<\/strong><\/p>\n