From twitter and various discussions:

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It's not my place to judge a man's heart, but the US is much better off without a Kennedy wielding the power of govt.

To which a fellow Christian responded:

"I bet the American Church would be drastically different if we loved and served the poor with the fervor of Kennedy.

Also, when I die, I hope there aren't followers of Christ who post publicly that the world is better off without me."

And this displays a problem with a liberal Christian mindset: it seems to make no distinction between Christian charity that flows out of an individual's own desire to be like Christ, and the abuse of govt authority that takes the fruit of man's labor and gives it another BY FORCE.

Which one is love and which one is evil? Giving 30% of your hard-earned wealth to any charity you wish, by your own will, or having 30% taken out of your hands before you see it and having it given to those who you would not have given it otherwise. And it's not just money here - keep in mind that wealth is representative of our time, our LIFE. (See Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand)

What would be our opinion of God if He didn't give man a choice to love Him? Is love true if we had no choice in the matter?

Do we really want the church to look like Ted Kennedy ran the government? Then have the church enforce a 30% tithe on its entire congregation. Give funds to any people groups that will join the church and vote you back into office year after year. These people won't believe in Christ, but they don't care as long as you're giving them free stuff. Have snoops look into every single member's balance sheet to determine if they're telling the truth and properly tithing. If people refuse to pay, go into their house with guns, kidnap them, throw them in the janitor's closet for a couple years, and garnish his wages (or his family's) for the amount due plus interest. Increase tithe amount by 3-5% every year. Lather, rinse, repeat.

I make no judgment calls on the person of Ted Kennedy - the power to look into the hearts of men is beyond me.

But I can see his actions - and as a legislator he did a lot of evil.

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Is forced charity the same thing as charity? How can fellow Christians justify politics that force charity at gunpoint and call that good?

To which a fellow Christian responded:

"the real question to ask is why aren't Christians being charitable without being forced?"

A Christian who chooses to be uncharitable is sinning - but forcing that believer to be charitable and removing their choice doesn't mean that they aren't sinning.

Government is not a tool for making men holy.

My issue is with Christians who confuse God's command to help others in need with a mandate for the government to tax me and give handouts to special interest groups, who would probably be much better off without it.

I do not believe it is godly to elect a government that passes laws to confiscate the fruit of my labors in order to distribute it to the shiftless and self-proclaimed needy and do so under the guise of charity.

Heck, even if the handout recipient is worthy of charity, I still don't believe that makes it a concern of the gov'ts - this is where the Church needs to step in - and amazingly, before the gov't got involved, it very much was.

It's not at all surprising that when the gov't starts doing charity that people abdicate their own responsibility to be charitable.

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I can say this about Ted Kennedy, he never killed a man.

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Ted K was the epitome of lib pols: life of privilege, above the law, unaccountable, shameless, charming, amoral, abuser of power

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RT @IMAO_ Maybe we should name a term limits bill in honor of Ted Kennedy.

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"It’s safe to say that there is not a single outrageous anti-gun position TedK has failed to support in his long career." [link]

Labels: politics