Healthcare

When I think about healthcare, I'll admit that I don't know everything about what Jesus would say if He were here in the flesh. But I have been doing a lot of thinking about this, and even praying about this. Would Jesus (and consequently, the Bible which is His Word) tell us that we should use the government to provide for our healthcare and society pay for this via our tax dollars?

First, we must assume that people in general care about what Jesus says in this matter? Is the United States a Christian nation or, at the very least, a nation that would base its principles upon the Judeo-Christian principles of the Bible. According the Jeremiah Project website, this is what it says:

The facts nonetheless reveal the true convictions of our founders. Without question, they believed that although no one Christian denomination should dominate the nation, the principles of the Bible and Christianity should underlie our government and American education as well.

"It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists but by Christians, not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ." - Patrick Henry

"Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers and it is the duty as well as the privilege and interest of a Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers." - U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice, John Jay

These definitely are facts that are not brought up in our society today. But what about today? Would we think or believe the same as our founders? Zogby polls show this about what Americans think of our values, albeit this is about television viewing:

The Bible Society and Zogby conducted a poll testing the hypotheses of the demand for decency in America. The results indicate that more religious values, references to the Bible, and less sex and violence shown on television is desired by 85% of American viewers, contrary to what most television networks and ad executives relay. http://www.americanbible.org/absport/news/item.php?id=188

Despite this statistic, there are various websites that tend to report surveys that are difficult to understand where people's values lie. The Center for American Values proves this point by showing the contrast of American religious values depending on traditionalist, centrist, modernist, or secular positions(http://media.pfaw.org/pdf/cav/AVSReport.pdf). Even with a brief overlook of this survey, there's a common thread that seems to appear. People hold on to the values that they tend to believe. Take or leave my what I think about this, but what people believe as far as their understanding of God, right or wrong, they want to do the right thing. So there is this sense that we do care about what Jesus says regarding our values. What differs is our understanding of what Jesus would have us to do.

Next, the question has to be "What would Jesus say?" At first thought, it would be tempting to say that we all should chip in. Doesn't the Bible say that we should care for the poor, the widow and the orphan? Well, yes, but I believe that command has more to do with the church than it does our government. The church has the responsibility to look out for these people and we shouldn't deligate it to the government. This, to some extent, would put this responsibility then on the shoulders of non-believers. James 1:27 says this:

²⁷Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Aside from this, what would Christ think about the healthcare bill that Barack Obama and the Democratic controlled congress and house are proposing? The way that this bill opposes many Biblical principles (i.e. policies that would promote euthanasia and abortion), I would find it impossible to believe that Jesus would think more about people receiving healthcare than going against His principles. It goes against His nature. Granted, some may read the proposed bill differently. Here are those that I tend to trust and examples from what they provided and what is in it:

• Page 427: Government mandates program that orders end-of-life treatment; government dictates how your life ends.
• Page 429: Advance Care Planning Consult will be used to dictate treatment as patient's health deteriorates. This can include an ORDER for end-of-life plans. An ORDER from the GOVERNMENT.

• Sec. 1713, Pg. 768, Lines 3-5 - Nurse Home Visit Services – Service #1: “Improving maternal or child health and pregnancy outcomes or increasing birth intervals between pregnancies.” Compulsory ABORTIONS?

It really is up to each person to evaluate what they believe. I would find it unconscionable

personally to go against what Jesus taught though. Obviously, many of these issues need to be addressed and the healthcare system isn't perfect. But as I look at what is proposed as it is now, it is a very bad idea. There are many other alternatives to healthcare reform, and we must look at them without letting the government get in control. Don't you want to be in control of your own healthcare? I do.