Skip to content Well Versed - Chapter 16 - Welfare and Workfare Jun 9 · 8 min ...more
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Dr. Jim Garlow is a lifelong pastor who most recently served in San Diego, California, and now leads Well Versed, a ministry dedicated to bringing biblical
13.6K followers
0:00 This is chapter 16 on welfare and workfare in the Well versed small group series.0:07 Does your Bible the Bible that you read, the Bible that you love, does your Bible have anything to say, for example, to the issue of welfare? Does it have anything instructive to present day0:19 governments? Every everybody I know cares about people in need. We all care about someone who's down and out. We care about widows. We care about orphans. We care about the disenfranchised.0:31 We care about the poor. I know I don't I'm not around people who don't care for people who really need help. But the challenge we have in our country is way beyond that. We have the problem of0:43 of, for example, freeloaders or abuses or waste and fraud in the system. So does the scripture have any help to us at all about this whole welfare issue? In0:55 the scripture, it emphasizes the importance of work, so the value of work. So we have in our government, sometimes, we've had programs of workfare, but what about welfare? Well, let's talk about welfare right1:07 now. First of all, the war on poverty began all the way back when I was in high school and I was in college. There was the famous phrase, war on poverty, done by president Johnson.1:19 We have spent enormous sums of money since that time, enormous sums. And we have about the same number in poverty. In fact, in some ways, it's increasing the number of people on food stamps. It's1:31 shooting up. We have not resolved the poverty issue at all. What's wrong? Well, we haven't addressed some of the most basic foundational issues of poverty.1:43 First of all, let me just list on some of the issues that we can when we speak about poverty. And again, I wanna underscore, everybody cares about the poor that that I run with, that I know of, whether people are left or1:54 right or whatever. People tend to care about the poor, the disenfranchised. They want people to have some of the benefits of life. And so how do we address the poverty question? Number 1, the issue of the family.2:06 The number 1 predictor of economic success for people is if a a man and a woman get a high school degree before they get married, then they get married, and then they have children, and they stay2:18 married, and they raise those kids. The chance of those children economically is increased many times over. The number 1 indicator of at risk children is a family that's2:30 blown away or where there's no dad present or maybe in some cases, no mom. The kids kind of on their own or floating around or in some other system. The family is the most incredible,2:42 spectacular safeguard that protects your child in every way, including economically. We have a family problem more than we have a poverty problem.2:54 If we would address this, then the number of people in poverty would just plummet. Now remember the formula again? If the guy and the gal would get the high school degree first,3:06 get married second, have babies then, and stay together, the guy who contributes the sperm, the woman who contributes the egg is best in the posture to care for those offspring. And when the family3:18 unit is there, we have economic success overwhelmingly. So the number 1 problem in America when we talk about poverty is a family issue. Number 2, the power the power of Christian3:30 conversion. And by that, I mean, fundamentally, the human heart is very sinful. Jeremiah warns us that there's there's a there's a predilection for every 1 of us to turn towards evil. And when the when when the gospel of3:42 Jesus Christ touches a life and transforms a life, that life can go from simply wanting to milk off of everybody else and take advantage of everybody else, because they realize I3:53 gotta apply my god given ability. I gotta do what I do under the glory of god. And as I do what I do under the glory of god, guess what? I have a job. I'm not spinning it all up on4:05 substance abuse, on alcohol. I'm not carousing all the time. I'm living my life like I want to. This is highly transformational to the human heart. So we have a family problem. We have a lack of conversion4:17 problem as well. And then the third thing, the view of work. Work is valuable. Work work is is is a precious gift. Work is not something you try to get out of when you turn4:28 65. Work is something that if it's done properly under the glory of God, it should energize a person. It's the occupational calling that's on each person to contribute to society, to the4:40 we use the word, the commonwealth. The commonwealth, the common beneficiary to the entire society. What every 1 of you do is extremely important. And if so, we can4:52 transfer people from welfare to workfare, they re they gain a a dignity they otherwise would would not help have it. And when this happens right5:04 here, the the transition in a person's sense of, self worth and well-being is absolutely phenomenal. Now even in the Old Testament, it talked about caring for5:16 the poor. And guess what it told you to do? It said, leave the corners of your field unharvest it. And those corners corners, that would mean the poor were to go out and harvest the grain so they would have5:28 some food to eat. But you know what? You weren't to haul it to them. You were to leave the corners unharvested, and so they would go out and get it. They would work for it. They would, in a sense, earn it.5:40 It said in the Old Testament, don't harvest all the grapes. Leave the ones that have fallen to the ground so the poor can come through and gather them up and have food and be able to sell these.5:52 In other words, now we're moving from welfare to workfare. They're actually earning a part of it. And then I would add in another dimension. The church could address the poverty on an issue if we would6:04 here I go again talking about taxation like I talked to you in another video. If we would reinstitute the ancient Israeli practice in ancient Israel of 3 and a third percent taxation6:16 and just make it for the poor and administer as it was originally intended through the faith communities. I know some of you say, oh, separation of church and state, and I wanna contend again. This6:28 is the right kind of separation of church and state. Keep the state in their lane. Keep the church in its lane. The church could make a difference. You say, would it work? Well, I'd sure love to experiment and try out. I6:40 would contend that if we would follow what I've just laid out here, and with the and when I talked to you in the video on taxation, we we could address poverty in in our culture, and the6:52 need for welfare would plummet because people would define the delight in providing for themselves. It would be a mountain worth trying to climb.7:05 2 things stood out to me in this chapter, guys. Second Thessalonians 3 10.7:09 Mhmm.7:09 If you don't work, you don't eat. And I don't know about y'all, but I love me some food. I gotta eat. Don't let the sides fool you, please. You know? And when it comes to dealing with the proper order of things when it7:20 comes to poverty, first, you gotta have a high school diploma. Second, you have to have get married.7:25 Mhmm.7:26 Then you gotta have kids.7:27 Yep.7:27 Then you stay together, and that vastly reduces poverty, you know. And it's not that we have a poverty issue per se, it's more that we have a family issue.7:37 Absolutely. That's so good. And, another concept from the chapter was this this concept of gleaning. Ancient Israel, the landowners would set aside a a corner of their field, where the grapes would fall to the ground7:48 and, there'd be wheat and the poor would actually have to come and either stoop down to grab the grapes or harvest harvest the wheat. This wasn't welfare because the poor still had to come and work for work for this7:59 harvest. Mhmm. This was proper work there.8:01 Absolutely. And the reality is we wanna help anyone in real need but we don't want entitlement thinking. And entitlement thinking is you owe me. We wanna help people in need, not a hand out, but a hand up8:13 Yeah.8:14 To get people back on their feet again. And that is proper welfare.
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