Government Aid: When to Give it and When Not to Give It

By Richard Snowden
Under a godly government there should be no government handouts but there are certain times
when this is necessary.
When I speak about government aid, Im talking about unemployment, wel!are and any other
payments to cover the cost o! living.
Under todays system it is necessarily that people are paid government aid o! one kind or another
because this system is not a biblical one.
"ets say a godly government comes into o!!ice where there are millions o! people who are
unemployed, too old to work or are handicapped in some way. #hese people need assistance and
they need money to pay !or !ood, clothing, housing, transportation and other necessities o! li!e.
#hough I $ust said that a biblical system would not have a government that hands out ta%&payers
money, there is a time when it is needed. #hat time is when a good government inherits all the evils
that the previous government le!t behind.
''''''''''
In the ()*+s, in ,ongress, a bill was proposed to give money to a widow o! some general in order to
live on. #his was the very !irst time that a law was proposed to support someone on wel!are !rom
the ta%&payers money. -any members o! ,ongress thought this was a good idea. A!ter all, this
many served his country and this is a way to pay him back. Well, .avy ,rockett didnt think so.
.avy ,rockett said /Im paraphrasing0 that it is not right !or the government to give ta%&payers
money to anyone, no matter how good the cause. I! you want to help this woman on your own, than
reach into your own pockets and do so.
As a result o! ,orcketts short speech, the widow did not get her money !rom the ta%&payers.
1erhaps she got i! !rom individual members o! ,ongress but not !rom the government co!!ers.
''''''''''
"ets say that 2bama and his administration is out o! o!!ice. In comes a party that advocates
,hristian laws 3 as e%plained in the 4ible. #he citi5ens still need to be !ed, they still need to be
housed and taken care !or. 6o, there is no alternative but to pay these people. A!ter all, $ust because
a good government came to o!!ice doesnt mean that there will be !ull employment. It doest mean
that the handicapped are made well and it doesnt mean that the old will be young and !ull o! energy
and ready to work. 6o, these people still have to be taken care o!.
#hese people were robbed all their lives under previous administrations, so, they are really getting
the money back that the government had stolen !rom them.
Under a ,hristian government, like we had in the (7
th
, ()
th
and (8
th
century, we gave out no wel!are.
It was not until 1resident 9oosevelt in (8*+s started what was called 6ocial 6ecurity. #he reason
why it was needed at that time was that the U6 was in a .epression /that Wall 6treet started0 and
they were thrown out o! work.
1revious to this, the government did not have unemployment bene!its, !ood stamps or wel!are o!
any kind. :ou might ask how the people took care o! themselves. ;asy. When people, as a whole,
was prosperous, there were neighbors, churches and some charities that helped those who were truly
in need. When people are not ta%ed to death, they have more money to give. When society is
prosperous, more people had businesses and made more money. When people lived by the teachings
o! ,hrist, they paid their tithe and o!!erings to the church. 6o, the church had more money to help
the needy.
:es, we had poor people <++ hundred years ago, but they were much !ewer in number. We had
elderly and we had the disabled but they got help !rom private sources. #he !amilies o! many o!
those who could not work, !or whatever reason, we able to help as they had more income.
#hose that retired, i! they stopped working at all, were able to save their money and had more
money to save. 6o, when they couldnt work or couldnt work enough to make what they used to,
they had the money saved to see them through li!e. #hus, there were !ewer retired people who did
not need any outside !inancial help at all.
:ou o!ten here /i! you are !rom the U6 or the U=, !or e%ample0 >#hat no one starves in our
country,? with in!erence that people were able to get wel!are o! some kind to buy !ood. #hey also
in!er, that be!ore the time o! the wel!are state that people did go hungry. I agree, that in some
countries and some point in their history, they went hungry, such as in the U= in the mid (8
th

,entury. @owever, this is not true o! the U6.
In the U6, be!ore 9oosevelt and his mar%ist&socialist programs, people did not go hungry here,
either. And this was the case since ,olonial times.
When 4en$amin Aranklin was in 4ritain he was asked by some in!luential people i! there were any
>poor houses? in America. @e asked, >What are theyB? #hey e%plained that this is where the poor
people lived. Aranklin responded and said, >We dont have any poor houses. And even i! we did,
there would be no one to !ill them up.?
In other words, even in the (7++s there was prosperity in the ,olonies. Wasnt that wonder!ulC We
can have that today IA we had the same laws, statutes and $udgements as :ahweh, God, told us to
have.
#hat is the key to prosperity, prosperity !or !amilies, businesses and government IA we obey and
.2 what God tells us.