#019 Is Welfare Moral? If So, In What Context Is It Moral? -Further. Every. Day.

Is Welfare Moral? If so, in what context?

First, what is “Welfare”?

In Webster's 1828 Dictionary Welfare meant: “Exemption from any unusual evil or calamity; the enjoyment of peace and prosperity, or the ordinary blessings of society and civil government; applied to states.”

In 2021 Merriam-Webster will define Welfare as: “Aid in the form of money or necessities for those in need or : an agency or program through which such aid is distributed”

Do you see what happened here? We have changed the definition from the ordinary form of blessings from SOCIETY and civil government, to a government program.

Before we get too far into the weeds, we need to understand just what money is. It is an IOU. The fibrous paper with watermarks is simply an IOU that is being passed around person to person. The Federal Bank, a group of wealthy elites, are responsible for that IOU. In 1849, a $20 gold piece was worth about $20, as of this podcast it is worth $1139. We won't go into the horrendous FDR Policy of 1933 and the effects he had on the Great Depression today, but suffice it to say, in 1933, gold was also, artificially, $20 an ounce then. This sky rocketing cost is largely due to inflation and the detachment of the Dollar from the Gold Standard in the 1970s. What this means is if Grandpa had a savings account locked away in 1933 of $10,000, today it is worth $10,000. When it was stored in the bank in 1933, however, he could have bought a home roughly equivalent to today's $600,000 homes, or a Ford GT Supercar, or bought a yacht. Where did his wealth go? To the politicians and bankers. Robert Kiyosaki of “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” fame, wrote in an article in 2016 that a Pew Research Study saw the Middle class had shrunk from 1971 to 2015 by 11% with the lower class growing by 4% and the Highest Class growing by 5% and Upper Middle by 2%.

https://www.richdad.com/4-wealth-stealing-forces-make-you-poorer

What is the primary cause of this? Printing money for Welfare Programs and other government spending. But if it helps the lower class, shouldn't we do it? Does it help the lower class? Or has it simply stolen from those who had and placed them into the lower class?

In an article from the Hill, we see that the current administration plans to give to families, by way of printing more money, “Tax Credits” for each child. Why don't they simply tax less instead of more? Because they can more easily print the money and still tax you. Who actually wins here?

https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/559900-democrats-newest-scheme-to-hook-the-middle-class-on-government-cash

Time states in this article that the Top 1% have taken $50 Trillion from the Bottom 90% during Covid.

https://time.com/5888024/50-trillion-income-inequality-america/

Now, I may not agree with the Time's conclusions concerning the redistribution of wealth and how we got here, but there is chicanery afoot. The policies and rampant spending on special interests have sucked the wealth from the poor and middle class, just like Grandpa's $10,000 saved in the bank in 1933. We just haven't seen the incredible impact on the middle class and poor from this most recent Covid Debacle, yet. It is coming.

But what of the poor? How did we used to take care of these people? Is there an organization and structure with the capacity, the mandate even, to take care of the poor?

In America in the early 1800s, a French Philosopher named Alexis de Tocqueville noted that government programs were not compatible with and were virtually non-existant in free societies. He concluded: “Thus, they have to be created artificially, which is what associations alone can achieve” (Tocqueville 1840, 598).
Associations like the Church. De Tocqueville noted that the poor in America were taken care of by the middle class and rich through the Church Structure and other Social Fabrics.

What does the Bible say about Welfare?

Deuteronomy 15:7-11

If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren within any of thy gates in thy land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother:

Acts 20:35

I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.

Proverbs 28:27

He that giveth unto the poor shall not lack: but he that hideth his eyes shall have many a curse.

James 2:14-24

What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?

Are there conditions? Of course there are. 1 Timothy 5: 3-19 lays out conditions for widowhood status. This was a special type of welfare for a specific concern. We are to hold people accountable so that they may grow. We also are to be wise when giving. While we are not to allow someone to starve when we can otherwise help them, we are also not to provide someone with so much welfare that they become dependent. A leg up, and not a continual hand out so to speak.

So, is Welfare a Biblical Mandate? Yes. But we've seen how the Government handles Welfare and ultimately robs from those it is “serving”. If the church was not so focused on the next building project and perhaps more focused on providing for the Welfare of those around, we might see revival.