Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Rattle Rattle Rattle

That's the sound of things rolling around in my head.

I'm taking a break from annoying my conservative friends on FB to blog. :) Actually, I hope I'm not annoying anyone. I'm trying not to. I do try to be respectful (and I generally just keep my mouth shut altogether because nobody I know agrees with me anyway), but when I see things rolling so briskly downhill (statements like "Obama is going to force everyone to have mandatory abortions!"), I really, really can't risk chewing my tongue off in order to bite my tongue. :)

Anyway, jumping off that topic and onto another one. Or as they say, "Out of the frying pan and into the fire!"

This is mainly for my own benefit because I keep coming back to these two ideas and as soon as I think about them, I start thinking about something else. I thought it would help if I wrote them down.

1. Matthew 25:31-46

31"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

37"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

40"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

41"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'

44"They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'

45"He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'

46"Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."


AGAIN -- I am not writing this to preach to anyone else. I am writing this for myself because this keeps coming to my mind and I can't let go of it.

* In a perfect world The Church would take care of people. We would love people seven days a week. Even the ones that slip out unnoticed on Sundays after the service. Or don't come to church at all. We would love them even if they didn't love Jesus. We would feed the hungry even if they weren't hungry for what we wanted to feed their soul. We would care for the sick even if it might cause us to examine our Christmas shopping budgets and cut some things out in order to fund it. But we aren't. Or we can't. Or something. I don't know. And we aren't going to. That's the long and the short of it.

* And so here we are. And so many people are angry about it? Really?

2. Why I'm not angry:

* Things can't stay the way they are. Most people have pretty craptacular insurance and the way it's trending is not pretty. I have a pretty dang good job, but when I go to a new doctor's office and hand them my insurance card, the receptionists give me a look of pity. Seriously. And my insurance isn't as bad as a lot of people's. I mean I pay for EVERYTHING out of pocket even with insurance unless something catastrophic happens, but at least there's a safety net in case I end up in the hospital. A lot of people don't have a safety net.

* I do not have to answer for people who take advantage of the system. Period. I do have to answer for not helping people who have less than I do.

* A lot of it sounds a whole lot like, "But they're getting a better deal than IIIIIII am. And I deserve health care more because I work harder, or XYZ.." /whining nasal voice. Waa Waa-waa-waa-waa. :)

* I feel peace that things will be hashed out.

5 comments:

Lisa said...

Facebook makes me want to claw my eyes out sometimes. It is all I can do not to reply to those same people. (Well, my version of them anyway.)

sol92258 said...

great thoughts, however (as I'm sure you know):

- those commands/teachings were aimed at believers, not governments

- how can a government that denies God do Godly things?

just my thoughts, not trying to nix yours, but offering another viewpoint

Not saying God can't use our increasingly atheistic government to do mighty things - He does it all the time, all through history - but that doesn't put the responsibility such commands on that government.

If a person helps another person as a result of personal compassion and conviction, then that is Spirit led.
If a person "helps" another person as a result of a statute in law or government program, it's no more Spirit led than farting in a bath tub

Mercy's Maid said...

I don't think it has anything to do with being Spirit led anymore. That's my point. That's why I said "in a perfect world, The Church would..." but that hasn't happened. And in the meantime there are lots of sick people who aren't being taken care of. And now people are aghast that their money might be used to help those people anyway. It's just kind of funny to me.

sol92258 said...

A) I would like to apologize, first of all, for spitting on your bus :)
I realize this was just a vent for you, so counter-pointing was incorrect of me

B) That's still the problem, forcing people - like me, who they and their spouse work their ass off and can only afford insurance for their family because it's a bit discounted through their employer, but still can only afford the bottom, barely there tier - to pay someone else's bill.

Nuh-uh. I don't mind giving, and do so gladly. It is a burden to those suffering and hurting, but I can do no more than I feel Spirit led to do. My first priority is my family. By forcing me to pick up MORE slack for those who wont work to take care of themselves, just might push my budget to where I have to drop my family.
Negatory.

I won't even go into the abortion problem of it.

Sorry, I need to vent too. Both sides are so blantantly blind to each other because of themselves it's ridiculous.

Unknown said...

you said: "I do not have to answer for people who take advantage of the system. Period. I do have to answer for not helping people who have less than I do."

To me, this statement makes the difference between "govt. forcing us to" and "doing it with own free will" irrelevant. The truth is that we do, as individuals (and not necessarily as part of an entire country) have to answer for not helping people who have less than we do. If we see a need and have the means to meet it, we have a responsibility to do so. If we don't have the means to meet it, we have a responsibility to pray that it will be met.