There are a few things to be said about this. The first is that this is not a prophet giving advice to individuals, it is a prophet and leader commanding a nation. The second is that we are all taxed, so the burden should not be more than one can bear. So is the government stealing from us? Not according to the Bible , not according to the words of Jesus Christ. Is it a sin for a government to spread wealth to others insuring the poor and needy are cared for? Not in a Christian society. Not according to both the Bible and the Book of Mormon. Christians should be fine with the idea of the distribution of wealth, as it is what we have been commanded to do.
Another point made here is that it is not our right to judge others. We are all beggars in the eyes of God. We must strive to do good always and let the Lord judge.
"For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; he will save us" (Isaiah 33: 22)
"Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye." (Matthew 7: 1-5)
Clearly, it is not our place to judge others.
There may be two reasons some fall for the idea that we should fight the health care bill, one being self interest, the other being self preservation. As to the matter of self interest, there are two great powers fighting in this world, one is greed/pride the natural man. The other is love/compassion the power for Jesus Christ to help us overcome the natural man. To fight simply to hoard what we have is not Christ-like. This point should have been made throughout this document. As King Benjamin said,
"For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father. " (Mosiah 3: 19)
God will give us no challenges we cannot overcome. This is the point those looking to self preservation should understand. We need not live in fear of what the future may hold. God will always prepare a way.
"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." (2 Timothy 1: 7)
If you are a Christian who has doubted, please take hold of these words and lets try to make a better America for our fellow citizens by helping each other, fellow Christian and those of other faiths, as Christ would have us do.
The last argument to discuss here is that of socialism. Socialism is a branch of Marxism. It is an attempt at Christ-like living without Jesus Christ. This is, of course, impossible. The idea of the natural man putting himself to the side has been proven unlikely, if not impossible, by the former U.S.S.R. The lack of divinity is the reason for the failure of all communist countries thus far. However, we are not a godless nation. We are free to worship, and more over we are a Christian nation. This health care bill is not to oppress the poor by taking health care away and giving it to the godless rich as we have seen happen in Marxist nations. It is to bless the lives of all citizens by taking collectively from all (though at this point mostly the rich) to give to not only the poor - but to the middle class as well. That is how a Christian nation works, as we have seen by the Holy Words of God in the book of Acts and the book of Mosiah.
Socialism and, as Glenn Beck puts it "social justice" are defined by the intent, and the end result - not by the words used to describe them. How many would call Simon Peter a Marxist? Socialism and other Marxist programs in their pure form give more to the rich, and hinder the lives of the poor. We have yet to see the end results, but if this bill does what it intends to do - life the burden allowing us to be more of a Christian nation - one that helps with no thought to ourselves, this is the power of God in our lives. Our "socialist" roads get us to work on time, they are not evil. Our "socialist " parks bring joy and beauty into our lives and enrich the lives of our families. Where is the godlessness in these? We cannot live our live in fear - fear of helping others, fear of losing what we have. True Christians know that God will provide, regardless of of how we give - be it tithes or taxes. What maters is the intent of our hearts when we give.
Is this the right health care bill? No. However, it is the best one we have. We should keep working towards a better bill, one that eliminates the need for insurance companies and brings about universal health care - one that we all pay in to as best we can at our income level and all get equal treatment. That seems to be what Jesus would have us do.
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