The Biblical Solution to Poverty in America

The Bible is clear that Christians should care for the poor (Prov 14:31).  But how?  The good news is that poverty is not a new problem.  It's been around since the beginning of human history, and it will continue to exist until the parousia (Deut 15:11; Mt 26:11).  The Bible has a lot of wisdom and instruction about poverty.  If we want to help the poor, then we must align our efforts with the wisdom of Scripture.  Here are five Biblical principles to guide poverty aid.  These apply to anyone attempting to help the poor -- individuals, families, churches, charities, and the government.

First, the goal of poverty aid must be to lift people out of poverty to self-sufficiency.  The goal of poverty aid is not to reduce income inequality.  Income inequality is neither a problem nor an injustice.  What matters is not income, but consumption.  True poverty is not determined by income, but by deprivation.  As well, the goal of poverty aid is not simply to relieve the symptoms of poverty.  The ultimate aim of poverty aid is not to make the poor more comfortable in their poverty, but to lift them out of poverty to self-sufficiency.  The Bible is clear that able-bodied individuals must learn to provide for themselves rather than mooching off of others (1 Thess 4:11-12; 2 Thess 3:10; 2 Thess 3:12).  We must not measure our poverty aid in terms of hand-outs, but hand-ups.  It's not about how many we have fed, but how many we have empowered to feed themselves.

Second, the government must gradually phase out all aid to the poor.  This is where I'll lose most of you.  Americans are so used to the government taking responsibility for the poor that they don't even consider the idea that poverty care is not the government's responsibility in the first place.  I'll give you two reasons.  First, it's immoral.  The only way the government can help one person is by stealing from another, and stealing another's property is immoral (Ex 20:15).  This is called socialism, or it is a form of socialism (big-government European-style socialism), that sees the government as the solution to every problem through the redistribution of wealth.  The fact that socialism is sometimes enacted democratically makes it no less immoral.  If the majority vote for slavery, that doesn't make it right.  As well, the government must get out of poverty care because it is no good at it.  After more than 50 years of spending more than $20 trillion on more than 80 welfare programs, the poverty rate in America has not budged.  The government needs to gradually back out of every form of poverty care -- Social Security, welfare, Medicare, Medicaid, Obamacare, etc.

Third, poverty aid must be left in the hands of civil society.  Think of society in terms of three sectors:  Government, business, and civil society.  Civil society includes all of the institutions other than government and business -- families, churches, charities, private schools, hospitals, etc.  As the government steps out of the business of poverty aid, civil society must and will take over, just as it did in America before Roosevelt's New Deal in the 1930s.  The responsibility for the poor begins with the poor (1 Thess 4:11-12); if they can work, then they need to provide for themselves.  Next, poverty care falls on families (1 Tim 5:8).  Third, poverty aid then falls into the hands of churches and private organizations (Acts 4:34-35).  As Christians cast their vote for the government to abandon all poverty aid, we must prepare ourselves to fill in the gap.

Fourth, poverty aid must be reserved for the worthy poor.  This sounds cruel, but the Bible very clearly distinguishes between the worthy poor and the unworthy poor (2 Thess 3:6-12; 1 Tim 5:3-16).  Pain is the best teacher in life.  As John Maxwell said, "People change when they hurt enough that they have to."  When we step in and help the unworthy poor, we reduce the pain of poverty and prevent them from growing to self-sufficiency.  Those who would seek to help the poor must use discernment to distinguish the worthy poor from the unworthy poor, and to determine the most helpful method of aid.  This helps the unworthy poor to become self-sufficient, and it frees up more resources for those who are truly in need.

Fifth, the government and civil society must work together to teach the poor and the young generation the poverty-defeating virtues that will increase their chances of avoiding poverty.  America is the land of opportunity.  Rarely is poverty an economic problem; it is usually a behavioral problem.  Most poverty in America stems from poor choices.  On the flip side, most poverty can be alleviated if the poor and the next generation will adopt the behaviors that are the antidote to poverty.  The Bible speaks much about these virtues (Prov 10:4; 19:15; 13:7; 23:21).  The Brookings  Institution has concluded after extensive research on America's poor that if people will just do these three things they can decrease their risk of poverty from 12 percent to 2 percent:  Get an education (at least graduate from high school), get a full-time job, and wait until marriage before having kids.  These are Biblical virtues -- behaviors that the church can and should teach, along with the government, schools, parents, and everyone else.  In short, America has a choice:  It can continue to embrace the sexual and moral revolution that began in the 1960s, or it can return to the Judeo-Christian values of our founding.  The former will mean more poverty; the latter will lead to prosperity for all.

The poor deserve our care and concern.  Self-worth is not determined by net-worth.  But the solution to poverty is not more government, nor is it just more hand-outs.  Indeed, this only makes the problem worse.  It's time to stop simply loving the poor with our hearts, and begin loving them with our minds -- with the wisdom God has provided in His word.