[Vision2020] Republican Christians:

Fri Mar 25 07:03:35 PDT 2011

Apparently most of the U.S. House and Senate Republicans who vociferously trumpet that they are Christians haven't read Matthew 25:31 et seq, or else they do not have the wit to understand that in Jesus' view they are goats.

March 24, 2011
Let Them Eat Cutbacks
Food stamps are part of the social safety net, but they work more as the ultimate ground-level crutch for Americans staggering against poverty. During the recession, food stamps were an important factor in helping an estimated 4.5 million Americans stave off the official poverty (no more than $21,756 annually for a family of four) that engulfed nearly 16 percent of the nation. The stamps are win-win: $9 in fast economic stimulus for every $5 spent on food for a hungry family. 

Sad wonder, then, that cuts in food stamps are the latest proposal heading for the House Republicans' budgetary chopping block. An attempt to set them back at the levels of 2007 - and cost a family of four $59 out of their $294 monthly allotment - is part of welfare "reform" legislation being proposed by leaders of the powerful Republican Study Committee. This group, embraced by two-thirds of the House majority, is the conservative engine driving much of the deficit-slashing mania to extremes. 

Even last year, when the Democrats controlled the House, the political vulnerability of food stamps was clear as sleazy budget deals were attempted to tap the program to protect farm subsidies and other power blocks. Now the threat is worse as Republicans wildly estimate that they could save $1.4 trillion across a decade in cutting the full array of welfare programs - yet still help down-and-out families. 

Vicious politics is already in the mix, including a surly provision to deny food stamps to any family that includes a worker on strike. 

Surely hard times should find public servants protecting the neediest first, not targeting them for crumbs from a program more vital to society than another tired round of antiwelfare politicking. 

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Matthew 25:31 et seq  Young's Literal Translation of the Bible

[The Words of Christ:]

31   'And whenever the Son of Man may come in his glory, and all the holy messengers with him, then he shall sit upon a throne of his glory;

32   and gathered together before him shall be all the nations, and he shall separate them from one another, as the shepherd doth separate the sheep from the goats,

33   and he shall set the sheep indeed on his right hand, and the goats on the left.

34   'Then shall the king say to those on his right hand, Come ye, the blessed of my Father, inherit the reign that hath been prepared for you from the foundation of the world;

35   for I did hunger, and ye gave me to eat; I did thirst, and ye gave me to drink; I was a stranger, and ye received me;

36   naked, and ye put around me; I was infirm, and ye looked after me; in prison I was, and ye came unto me.

37   'Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when did we see thee hungering, and we nourished? or thirsting, and we gave to drink?

38   and when did we see thee a stranger, and we received? or naked, and we put around?

39   and when did we see thee infirm, or in prison, and we came unto thee?

40   'And the king answering, shall say to them, Verily I say to you, Inasmuch as ye did it to one of these my brethren-the least-to me ye did it.

41   Then shall he say also to those on the left hand, Go ye from me, the cursed, to the fire, the age-during, that hath been prepared for the Devil and his messengers;

42   for I did hunger, and ye gave me not to eat; I did thirst, and ye gave me not to drink;

43   a stranger I was, and ye did not receive me; naked, and ye put not around me; infirm, and in prison, and ye did not look after me.

44   'Then shall they answer, they also, saying, Lord, when did we see thee hungering, or thirsting, or a stranger, or naked, or infirm, or in prison, and we did not minister to thee?

45   'Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say to you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of these, the least, ye did it not to me.

46   And these shall go away to punishment age-during, but the righteous to life age-during.'

___________________________________________________

Wayne A. Fox
1009 Karen Lane
PO Box 9421
Moscow, ID  83843

waf at moscow.com
208 882-7975
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