It's not an original line, but here's MY dream:The Church puts the government out of the compassion business
Crazy? Maybe just crazy enough to work. Here are the dollars allocated to social programs in the current federal budget(these numbers are from the Congressional Budget Office):
$78.7 billion - Dept. of Health & Human Services
$47.5 billion - Dept. of Housing and Urban Development
$9.7 billion - Social Security Administration
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$135.9 billion
Now, here's another number:
$168 billion - Amount available if U.S. churchgoers tithe (the minimum biblical amount, 10% of all God-given income).
Hmmmm...
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Mac,
ReplyDeleteThat's a neat assessment and no doubt the Church could and should play a larger role in the social safety net, but I think the number you quoted for the Social Security Administration is just their operating budget, not the benefits they pay out.
According the the latest SSA Trustees Report (found at http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/TR/2009/tr09.pdf), $619 Billion in benefits were paid out to retirees in 2008.
Love it Mac. Have thought the same for a long time. In fact, if everyone gave 10%, then it would only take ten wage earning members to support a pastor.
ReplyDeleteIf your dream became a reality, we'd have control over those "compassion dollars" too. So we'd know we were not contributing to things that we object to.
But alas, if it came to fruition, I think the Government woud refuse to acknowledge it because it would take away their power to dictate social agendas.
Jeff, point taken--thanks for the correction. That one may take a little longer--but I don't think it's out of reach, especially if we really EQUIP people who can take responsibility for themselves.
ReplyDeleteWe can always start with adoption and foster care! Churches across the US are taking the approach of reaching one child at a time and loving them out of the uncertainty of the social system and placing them in forever families. For the 5k kids in Texas ready for a new home today, that would be AWESOME news!
ReplyDeleteFrom a dad who loves his four kids God provided through adoption...
Not out of reach at all... we just need more churchgoers!
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