Why do so many Christians oppose social programs that help the poor- when Jesus advocated helping the poor?

Question

I notice many right wing Christians in the US condemn liberals of being 'bleeding hearts', and the righties oppose programs that help the poor-
So why do these right wingers worship Jesus? Jesus was a liberal- he spent all his time challenging authority, and helping people, feeding the poor, healing the sick- Yet the radical right have nothing but distain for the poor...So why do they worship jesus, when the righties hate everything Jesus stood for?

Jesus was very much a liberal- he challenged the authorities, and wanted to improve the situation for those around him, hence his healing the sick and helping the poor..
The cons don't care about people- they care only about their own wallets...
So it's a irony a right wingers claim to worship Jesus, when Jesus is the antistesis of everything the repugs stand for..

Answer 1

We dislike how the funds are used and why they are used in such manner. Much like I don't give a guy on the sidewalk a buck because I know he will probably buy a pint with it. I have offered about 23 times to buy them food, I have yet to be taken up on the offer.

We are not blind in our faith, nor are we in our giving. We give to programs and institutions that will administer the funds in a way that agrees with our theology.

Ath

Answer 2

Money to fund these program have to come from somewhere, for government program that means our pockets, there is no way that the money taken out of my paycheck is going to travel all the way to Washington go through the political system and then come back and be more than what left.
The government is very wasteful and incompetent and yet many wish to give them more authority and more money to help the needed.
The more the government helps the needed the more needed you will have.
I fact of life is that most people can take better care of themselves than a politican can take care of them, for the biggest concern for the politician is how do I keep his job and get reelected.
The wealth and greatness of this nation does not come from the government but the people. "excluding Paris Hilton" The people that get up every morning and works to feed, cloth, and put a roof over there families heads, these are the people that make the country work. If all of Congress was taken out we would still get up the next day and go to work.
We know that the government is corrupt, over-bloated and detached from reality and yet we continue to give them more and more money and power, to help us out.
When ever we encounter a problem people scream the government needs to do this, do that, do something, we need to make a law. We have laws upon laws, we need allot less laws, allot less lawyers.
People do not need more social programs they need a hand up not a hand out.
You have Christian schools educatio childern, Christian Hospitals caring for the sick, Christian Senior Citizens homes caring for the elderly. Believe me the Christians are far more effective than the governmant at making a real change in ones life.

Answer 3

There is an old saying, "If you give a man a fish, he will be hungry again tomorrow. If you teach him to fish, he will be feed for life".

Unfortunately, the way most of the social welfare programs are designed, the only give people a fish. They receive little to no real help to be able to get out of the situation that makes the welfare necessary for them. Rather it too often encourages people to stay in that situation.

For example, I was in a car accident in the late 80s and unable to work for a couple years. We received welfare and food stamps. They help me to get the family through a difficult time. But as I began to recover, I was physically able to work part time. But if I did, every dollar that I made was taken from my welfare. That was fine, because it left as exactly were we were. But then, it was also taken from the food stamps and from our medical aid, which I needed to complete my recovery. So every time I made one dollar, I lost over $2.50 from my benefits. The system was paying me more to NOT work.

If you look at the system, a woman can get more money if the man deserts her. A person can get more money by having additional children. And many other situations like that which make the system a "give a fish" rather then a "teach to fish" situation.

That is not "charity", compassion or love. It is too often a doorway to bondage and additional poverty.

Until a system can be developed which "teaches to fish" those who are able, it will not be in line with Christian ideals.

Answer 4

I give you a standing ovation for that question. I've also noticed that many of the ones who DO give to the poor give to the "poor" overseas. These folks tend to walk right past the sick, homeless veteran sitting on their own streets and won't even make eye contact with that person, let alone help him out.

I think they read the passage that "the poor are always with us" and subconsciously see it as "the poor SHOULD always be with us". They wouldn't go out of their way to truly HELP a poor person, or visit the sick, help the lame, or do anything that Jesus would do without even thinking about it. They are what is known as, Hypocrites. we DO have to keep in mind that NOT ALL are like that, just enough to make the entire religion look bad, and that's a shame too. We SHOULD acknowledge the ones who DO act properly to those less fortunate, as well.

Raji the Green Witch

Answer 5

Many individual Christians, local churches, and responsible relgious organizations are caring, loving and giving, following Jesus' teachings to help the needy. Many wealthy people are good people. But many people, wealthy or Christian or otherwise, will not help the poor unless they are forced to through taxation. And they don't like that. (How much do you think Dick Cheney gives to the hungry and homeless?)

Many fundamentalist evangelicals (but not all Christians) are by definition extremely gullible, listening to and obeying their leaders without question or doubt. With the creation of televangelism, their leaders have found large audiences, a reliable and profuse source of funds, and great political power. Their leaders want to protect their wealth and political power, and Republicans, with their tax cuts for the wealthy, allow them and help them to do just that.

So, they tell their followers it is God's will for them to vote Republican, support tax cuts for the wealthy (ie, themselves) and do away with the estate tax (which only the very wealthy pay). And like lemmings, their followers fall into lock step and do as they are told.

Despite token gestures, the modern mega-evangelists don't want to feed the poor as much as they want to feed their own lust for power and wealth.

(Note: This is not an attack on all Christians, many are very loving and caring people. It is an indictment against those leaders of huge pseudo-Christian organizations and a sorry statement about those who follow them blindly.)

Answer 6

Do politicians tell lies to get people to vote for them?

Maybe the right wing is ruled by the same class of people as the left (the rich). The right's leaders pretend to be Christian to get votes and control that part of the population. The left's leaders pretend to be everything else to control the other parts of the population. The rich have us fight amongst one another while they use their power in both parties to set up ther fascist globalist system (the beast of Revelation).

Answer 7

I am not sure were you got your information. This is a serious answer not a put down. All the Christian people I know would go out of their way to help someone in need. I oppose so called social programs that say they are helping the needy, but most of the money goes in their pockets. I am not sure if that is what you are talking about or not.

Answer 8

I don't oppose helping the poor. I oppose FORCING people to help the poor with their tax dollars. Helping the poor is something we should do willingly, as we are able. Not something that we should be forced to do. And we especially should not be forced to help the poor who are enjoying living off of our taxes. There are soooo many people who lie, cheat, and wiggle their way around the regulations just so they will get free money. They don't deserve our help. We should have a choice whether we want to waste our money on those people or not. Churches, individuals, and charitable organizations would do much better if the richer people didn't know that so much of their money was already going to the poor......whether they are deserving of it or not. And those churches, individuals, and charitable organizations would be better able to recognize TRUE need, than the government bureaucrats thousands of miles away.

Answer 9

Because it is the place of the individual to help the poor, not the government. Governments only responsibility is toward national security, not social programs. Im not against helping the poor, I encourage it. Social welfare is a crutch that hurts people. It enables drug addicted and alcoholics to live without concequences. There are very few poor people in the united states. Poor people starve and are homeless. That is extremely rare in america.

Answer 10

Most churches support some program for the poor or missions.