Healthcare and the failure of the Church

Without seeming to be bitter of jaded, I believe God intended for the Church to be the primary institution that takes care of the poor, sick, and needy, and that the church has failed in this mandate, and it is only because of the failure of the church to be what God intended that the Government has had to step in and take up this mandate.

Granted this failure of the church is not universal, many denominations build hospitals etc... that provide free or low cost care to those in need, but as a general rule the church has stopped being a place even members can go to have their needs met.

I hope your church is different than those I have experienced but honestly I doubt it. Here is a simple question to test this: Does your your church offer health insurance to its part time employees that have no other source of health insurance? The last church I attended and worked for did NOT. Your church may not have part time employees so this may not apply, but you can still ask if they WOULD offer this insurance if they did have part time employees.

If the church is not even willing to take care of the health care needs of those who work for it, you can be sure they are not going to be willing to pay the medical bills of members who cannot afford to pay them, not to mention people who are not even part of that particular church.

If the Church will not take care of the poor and needy as God intended by providing for their physical health care needs than someone else is going to have to. In this case the Government has decided that they are willing.

I think it is nothing less than immoral to first refuse as a church to do our duty by the poor and oppressed by providing for their health care and then add insult to injury by opposing those who are willing to take up that duty for us.

Odd Thoughts

I have been wondering today if in some "odd" (coming from a Pro-Life background) way Dr. George Tiller could be considered a "Hero"? I am so used to thinking of him as "the bad guy" that this is a very odd thought for me. I know for sure that his murder was wrong no matter what a person may think of his occupation! NO ONE should be murdered at their place of worship! I am wondering today if he chose to keep being an abortion provider because he believed that this was important, rather than because it was profitable as the pro-life side always claimed. There are just as lucrative ways to make money that don't involve putting your life in danger. So maybe if a hero is someone who stands up for what they believe in despite trials, toil, persecution, and danger then Dr. George Tiller WAS a hero.

There is a veggie tales song "Stand Up For What You Believe In" with what I am thinking of today as the un-acknowledged sub text "if you believe in what we believe in". We as Christians are so quick to encourage our young people to stand up for what they believe in, and at the same time to demonize people who stand up for what THEY believe in IF we don't agree with them. We demonize those who stand up for a woman's right to control what happens in her own body, or those who strongly believe in equal marriage rights for homosexual couples, and at the same time consider people who stand up for things we believe in to be hero's.

Maybe it is time for an end to this double standard.