In 1984, Dr. Adrien Rogers said this and was recently posted in the congressional record by Steve King of Iowa;
“Friend, you cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. And what one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government can’t give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody. And when half of the people get the idea they don’t have to work because the other half’s going to take care of them, and when the other half get the idea it does no good to work because somebody’s going to get what I work for. That, dear friend, is about the end of any nation.”
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- Rediscovering the Missing Jewel; A Study in Worship by Robert E. Webber
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- Deadly Viper by Mike Foster and Jud Wilhite
- Seizing Your Divine Moment by Erwin R McManus
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2 comments:
Adrian Rogers was obviously playing to his own white, upper middle-class audience with these oversimplified remarks. He links freedom with economics, as though freedom and wealth are the same thing. They are not. He also assumes that work is available to all -- it is not as these difficult economic times with rising unemployment rates signify.
I prefer the words of Jesus who said when we did not give food to the hungry, or clothes to the naked, or minister to the sick, or care for those in prison, we did not do it to Him. Those who failed to care for the weakest members of society, Jesus said, would be cast out into outer darkness. I prefer to follow the words of Jesus to the highly-politicized speech of a fellow pastor, dead or living.
Chuck, thanks for your comments. I loved your comments on the 5 lessons a church needs to survive.
The difference between Jesus' words and Rogers' is that Jesus' words were directed to his followers; We, as the church are to take care of one another. the problem is that we, as a church, have failed that mission. It has never been the government's responsibility, according to the constitution, to be a welfare state which we are very quickly becoming. If the church would focus on the task of "feeding his sheep" both figuratively and literally, rather than on building multi million dollar buildings and driving Bentley's and having personal private jets, the task of "pure religion" according to James would not have to be pawned off to the state which does a horribly inefficient job at most everything anyways as demonstrated by the recent omnibus bill signed by the President.
Also, I believe the focus is not in those that can't work, it's the ones that won't work. Not finding work because it's not available is one thing; not looking for it is quite another. Paul warns the Thessalonians against idleness suggesting that those who don't work, don't eat.
We, as the church must make sure we are taking care of each other as demonstrated by Jesus without creating the lazy dependence that can occur when people are not encouraged to work when able.
Thank you Chuck!
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