Dave’s Christian Take on Taxes
Jan 4, 2013, 9:09 PM | Updated: 10:22 pm
QUESTION: Michelle wants to know if Dave has been accused of being a non-Christian because of his views on taxes. Dave shares his opinion based on Scripture..
ANSWER: There are two possible responses to that if you are accused. One is that you’re dealing with such an idiot that you don’t bother to respond. It’s a moron who doesn’t know anything about Scripture and you don’t really care what they think, so you just roll your eyes and walk away because they are an idiot.
The other possibility is that this is a person who actually wants to learn something and might be open to actually learning about what the Bible says. There is nothing un-Christian about not wanting your taxes raised. Higher taxes are not an indication of spirituality. Excitement about higher taxes is not an indication of spirituality.
What has happened is that liberals have invaded the church. When you have a liberal in the church, they think the government is supposed to be God. They think the government is supposed to provide for the poor. There is nowhere in the Bible that says the government is supposed to provide for the poor. It says that you and I are supposed to do that.
Certainly a lot of hospitals and homeless shelters have been built and a lot of programs have been put together by Christians all around the world for centuries to serve the poor because there is an obvious Scriptural mandate for people of the Christian faith to serve the poor. You can qualify and quantify what serve the poor means, but there is no question that we are called to do that.
There is nowhere in the Bible where it says we are supposed to use the government as the vehicle to do that. This is just liberalism trying to thump the Bible, and honestly, it just shows their Biblical illiteracy. You just can’t find it in there. I’ve studied the Bible, particularly on money issues, for more than 20 years.
If you say to render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, I say absolutely. But that is an indication of taxes to Caesar. Jesus didn’t say that’s how you serve the poor, to give your money to Obama and he gets the credit. Liberals are people who try to be righteous with other people’s money. When you try to be righteous with other people’s money, that is not a Christian act.
When you are righteous with other people’s money by using the government to take money away from people so that you can do righteous acts, that’s an act of liberal socialism. That is not a Christian act. There is nothing in Scripture that says that.
If you start to talk about the gap widening between the haves and the have-nots and doesn’t the Bible call for everyone to be equal, it absolutely does not call for everyone to be equal. There are a couple of times where equality is mentioned, but about 90% of the financial Scriptures are all about reaping what you sow. When you are faithful with the little things, you are given more to manage. The diligent prosper.
The parable of the talents clearly said that one guy had one talent, another guy was given five, and another guy was given ten. How is that equal? Then when they made more money, he took the money away from the little guy and gave it to the big guy! That’s reverse taxation from the way we think of it today.
Why did Jesus do that? Because the little guy was unfaithful and a bad steward with the money. He didn’t manage the money well. No one, including God, gives people who don’t manage money well more money. If you can’t drive a car, we don’t give you cars.
It’s absolutely not a Christian act to enjoy higher taxation or to believe higher taxation and utilizing the government to take care of the poor is somehow a representation of a Christian nation or your Christian faith. It’s simply not in the Bible. If you want to believe that, you can believe that. But you would be wrong.
That’s how I respond to people who actually listen. But what will I get for this little talk right here? Hate mail for days from idiot liberals who don’t read the Bible well. It’s that simple. If you think I’m judging, you bet I’m judging. I’m called to judge, and when I see someone who is an idiot, I call them an idiot. If you don’t like that, you can turn the channel.
