Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 02/12/2010 - 12:40pm.
We've recently wrestled with this issue. My husband was laid-off from his engineering job three years ago, and now works as a self-employed carpenter. I was laid off in May, and have not been able to get hired, not even in a temporary position. My job was the one that provided health insurance, and we can't afford COBRA so we've been uninsured.
When I talked to our church's financial advisor, he recommended we apply for gov't assistance (yes, the church is helping us, too), specifically for Medicaid coverage of our kids. I was really really unhappy at that idea, but he reminded me that my husband and I have been paying into the system (taxes) for twenty-some years, and we'll be paying into it again once we get back up on our feet, so we're still net contributors. He referred to it as "getting God's money away from the government and back into His kingdom."
In general I'm opposed to people living their lives on welfare. I agree that the church needs to not abandon its responsibilities to the gov't. Christians are not called to sit on our butts and siphon money away from other people; however, when the need is there, and the assistance is available, well, take advantage of it. It's nothing to be proud of and something to be gotten away from as soon as possible, but still.
And I'm pretty sure I can spend that money more wisely than the government can, left to its own devices.
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Another way of looking at it
We've recently wrestled with this issue. My husband was laid-off from his engineering job three years ago, and now works as a self-employed carpenter. I was laid off in May, and have not been able to get hired, not even in a temporary position. My job was the one that provided health insurance, and we can't afford COBRA so we've been uninsured.
When I talked to our church's financial advisor, he recommended we apply for gov't assistance (yes, the church is helping us, too), specifically for Medicaid coverage of our kids. I was really really unhappy at that idea, but he reminded me that my husband and I have been paying into the system (taxes) for twenty-some years, and we'll be paying into it again once we get back up on our feet, so we're still net contributors. He referred to it as "getting God's money away from the government and back into His kingdom."
In general I'm opposed to people living their lives on welfare. I agree that the church needs to not abandon its responsibilities to the gov't. Christians are not called to sit on our butts and siphon money away from other people; however, when the need is there, and the assistance is available, well, take advantage of it. It's nothing to be proud of and something to be gotten away from as soon as possible, but still.
And I'm pretty sure I can spend that money more wisely than the government can, left to its own devices.