But for those in the picket-lines or town-halls who are Christ-followers, which some of the recent meeting-busters just might be, I have a suggestion: if we all spent less time with Rush & Coulter and more time with Holy Scripture, we might just have a change of heart.
My family and I have decent health care insurance, thanks to the good people of Kaw Prairie who pay my salary and benefits. It has a moderate co-pay and pretty high deductible—-but it’s way better than nothing, and I’m grateful for it. So from a purely self-interested perspective, I’d be fine keeping the current high-cost, medium-results health care system in place. And because I’m self-satisfied and selfish, I don’t want to have to pay more taxes to help the less fortunate people in our country get insurance, or keep it after they get sick. I got what’s mine, after all.
But my problem is: I made a commitment about my priorities years ago when I confessed my faith in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. In thanksgiving for the gift of forgiveness and new life Jesus offered me, I committed to follow Him as the Lord of my life, to let Him be the determiner of my priorities. And I promised to let God's Word be my guide to best of my ability. And like it or not (and I'm not sure I do), that means I'm morally obligated to be dissatisfied with our current American health care system.
It’s not a matter of liking President Obama or not. It’s not a matter of being a Democrat or Republican. It's not a matter of fearing single-payer systems more than market-incentivized, or vice-versa. It’s simply a question of honoring God’s Word—-or not. And nowadays a crazy health-care-rationing situation exists that would make any of God’s prophets shake an angry finger at us—and our flawed but self-serving system:
o Ezekiel 34:4 You have not taken care of the weak. You have not tended the sick or bound up the injured…Instead, you have ruled them with harshness and cruelty.
o Ezekiel 34:21 For you fat sheep pushed and butted and crowded my sick and hungry flock until you scattered them to distant lands. 22 So I will rescue my flock, and they will no longer be abused.
o Jeremiah 22:3 This is what the Lord says: Be fair-minded and just. Do what is right! …Do not mistreat foreigners, orphans, and widows (or those who’ve been laid off, whose COBRA has run out, or who have pre-existing conditions, etc)
Granted, these passages may be obscure and surprising to some of our more frightened fear-mongers. But my guess is even the least Biblical meeting-mugger has probably heard this famous Jesus-teaching:
Matthew 25:37 “Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you?… 39 When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40 “And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!'
So to those folks whose hysterics and heckling are preventing legitimate debate and progress on an issue very close to the heart of God—-consider yourselves warned. And to those of us protected by good insurance who believe God is indifferent to those who aren't—-I’d humbly suggest you take another look at what God pays attention to:
Amos 4:1 Listen to me, you fat cows living in Samaria, you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy, and who are always calling to your husbands, “Bring us another drink!” 2 The Sovereign Lord has sworn this by his holiness: “The time will come when you will be led away with hooks in your noses. Every last one of you will be dragged away like a fish on a hook! 3 You will be led out through the ruins of the wall; you will be thrown from your fortresses,” says the Lord.
7 comments:
And apparently, made a committment to begin lots of sentences with prepositions. I wonder though if Jesus wanted his people to care for the sick and the weak or if he wanted the government to do it for the people and Jesus's people could just sit back, pay a few extra dollars and let someone else take care of it for them. Maybe that's what the protest is really about, wanting to care for themselves and not wanting others to have to do it for them.
PD,
Well said, as usual. We've had the unfortunate experience of being between a rock and a hard place in the area of health care expenses / insurance. Thankfully the Lord blessed us with a combination of government assistance, private insurance and the generosity of the community of believers that surrounded us at the time.
Sadly, both sides of the healthcare reform debate have engaged in fear-mongering which has clouded the issue. Healthcare is too important to be a political issue. But, the system certainly needs improvement, and it seems impossible to fix the system without involving the political process. So that puts us all between a rock and a hard place :)
The social gospel is deeply embedded in churches of late. Isn't it incredible just how far away from God we will walk to give us good feelings? First abortion, then gay marriage, now the care for the sick. What's next? When are ministers going to support the use of marijuana before services, and will there be sex workers that will volunteer their services to congregation members that are sex addicts? The term, "slippery slope" should become part of our dialogue.
I realize there are no clear lines here, but did you really just put abortion and "care for the sick" on the same level?
Interesting debate that's for sure. Abortion, too important of an issue to be political, really? Health care too? Too important to be part of the democratic process that makes America great? For what my friends and relatives have fought and died for, too important for that? Too important to have discussion about, to demand both sides be heard (or however many sides there are), and that we worry about what is good political manners rather than the truth? Someone needs to inform our president that the campaign is over and we don't need rheortic anymore. Leadership requires tough decision making ability not great speech making ability and freedom requires that everything important is political and the political process involves everyone and applies to everything important.
Yes the comment is from, the pro-choice, pro-gay marriage, Prius driving, Republican, small business owner pastor's daughter.
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