Reflections on Healthcare

3/21/2010

So...since no one else will be blogging about this subject, I thought I'd step up and fill the gap.*

As I reflect on the passage of the historic healthcare reform bill, I wonder how America's Christians are reacting. Some thoughts...

To my brothers and sisters on the Left who are rejoicing at the passage of the healthcare reform bill, a gentle reminder: This bill does nothing to eliminate Christ's mandate for us to personally care for the poor. If history is any judge, the government will struggle to oversee the massive task they've just voted to put on their own plate. Bureaucracy, inefficiency, and corruption may well swallow up their good intentions. We Christians must stand in the gap that's left.

To my brothers and sisters on the Right who are lamenting the passage of this bill, may I gently suggest the possibility that we (I) have failed to live out Christ's directive to care for those less fortunate than us? Perhaps if we as the Church cared for the poor, marginalized, needy folks in the world as our founder did...then maybe, just maybe...Congress wouldn't have had to step up and do what we were capable of, but refused to do.

I recently read Shane Claiborne's Irresistible Revolution (which I highly recommend) and I thought this excerpt was striking (and applicable to those on both ends of the political spectrum).

It is much more comfortable to depersonalize the poor so we don't feel responsible for the catastrophic human failure that results in someone sleeping on the street while people have spare bedrooms in their homes. We can volunteer in a social program or distribute excess food and clothing through organizations and never have to open up our homes, our beds, our dinner tables. When we get to heaven, we will be separated into those sheep and goats Jesus talks about in Matthew 25 based on how we cared for the least among us. I'm just not convinced that Jesus is going to say, "When I was hungry, you gave a check to the United Way and they fed me," or, "When I was naked, you donated clothes to the Salvation Army and they clothed me." Jesus is not seeking distant acts of charity. He seeks concrete acts of love: "you fed me...you visited me in prison...you welcomed me into your home...you clothed me."

My life has seldom lived up to Christ's words. May God have mercy on me and grant me strength to do better.

*That was sarcasm, just in case you didn't catch it.

8 Comments

3/21/2010 02:52:50 pm

Yeah God is in control of it all anyway. Maybe he is trying to get us to wake up. This bill will have many horrible ramifications on our deteriorating nation. "Were rollin downhill like a snowball headed for hell"

3/22/2010 12:18:01 am

LJ,
I believe the correct statement is "*may* have *some* horrible ramifications."

3/29/2010 12:23:39 am

SK,
Well if we look at history alone, it WILL have horrible ramifications. If we look at other countries that have adopted universal healthcare, its a disaster. In a free country you shouldn't have to be made to buy healthcare. You should have the choice. Personally I have private health ins. and it works wonderfully. The government has no clue what is best. As Reagan said, the best minds are not in government, if so companies would have already hired them. I have to give it to God tho, if he didn't want the healthcare bill to pass he wouldn't have let it. Its all in Gods hands. If its good for our country then so be it, if its bad then so be it. God is the only one that truly knows.

3/29/2010 12:26:31 am

Liberalism is a mental disorder!

Boyd Allen

3/29/2010 12:30:45 am

SA, open, honest debate is very much encouraged here. I would be appreciative if you would please try to refrain from name-calling though. Thank you! Seriously...thanks, I appreciate it.

3/30/2010 05:25:33 am

Prove to me that liberalism isn't a mental disorder. When i say liberalism i don't mean just liberal democrats I mean most republicans too. You can't say that "D.C." (making some of the decisions that they have made) can still be considered mentally stable. Its a disease. Liberals try to undermine the basic tenets of American principles and living. Whether intentionally or unintentionally its happening. Some call it just another agenda, some call it more appropriately psychological confusion.

3/30/2010 07:04:10 am

You're asking me to prove a negative, which is widely regarded as bad logic.

When a person makes sweeping statements condemning a whole group of people, then usually the responsibility lies with THAT person to "prove" his/her viewpoint.

I am not saying I agree with all liberal thought. But just because I disagree with someone doesn't automatically mean that person is evil, out to destroy America, or suffers from a "mental disorder".

Isn't it possible (maybe even probable) that "they"--meaning those who disagree with your viewpoint--may just hold a different opinion than you (and that's all)? Maybe they too love God, their family, and their country...and they just happen to disagree with you on how to keep the American dream alive.

If so, then it seems a tragedy to dismiss them as mental patients simply because they don't agree with me.

3/31/2010 06:03:57 am

I never said they didn't love God thats between them and God. I also said that "intentional" or "unintentional" it is a flawed way of thinking. Everyone's thinking is flawed to some extent, some worse than others. I'd be the first to say that I have many flawed thoughts or thinking habits, but when liberalism has proven itself not to work for hundreds of years, and people still support it, it makes me wonder if it is a mental disorder.

I didn't condem a whole "group" of people I just said that "Liberalism is a mental disorder". While i can't necessarily prove that, I can't disprove it either.

I have many liberal friends and yes we disagree much of the time. Many of them might say that conservatism is a mental disorder. Thats their right and i'll defend their right to say whatever they like. In the end everyone disagrees to some level or another, but the fact is there won't be an "American dream" if we leave it up to the liberals. The American dream is based of Life, Liberty, and The Pursuit of Happiness. National healthcare alone takes a big whack at the first two, and without life and liberty the pursuit of happiness quite impossible.

Reflections on Healthcare

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Boyd Allen

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