I saw a pastor on threads railing against people who were on SNAP benefits. He said if they are able bodied enough to be on TikTok, they can get a job. Clearly, he doesn’t understand that 86% of households receiving SNAP benefits include a child, elderly, or disabled person. I am not sure where the stereotypes came from, but there is this image that people on SNAP are lazy and cheating the system.
Fraud rates for SNAP are estimated around 11%, but fraud by the people using them is probably less than 1%. The other fraud that is occurring is people skimming and cloning EBT cards, not people lying about needing them. If your SNAP benefits get stolen in Pa, they do not get replaced by the government. You just lose out. Furthermore, the largest group by race receiving SNAP benefits are actually white folks, coming in at 37%.
So-called Christian creators are using 2 Thess. 3:10 to say the government shouldn’t provide for you if you aren’t working:, “For even when we were with you, we gave you this command: If anyone is unwilling to work, let him not eat”. This is wrong on a number of levels. First, that verse was directed at Christians who were sitting around doing nothing because they expected Jesus to return any minute. Second, that verse has nothing to do with people who are poor, sick, children, disabled, or can’t make a living wage. 3. The constitution isn’t actually based on the Bible, and definitely not on that verse (however, Russia may have used it in their government reform to reinforce communism).
The Bible says to care for the poor over 2000 times yet Christians keep taking specific verses out of context to shame and bully people who need help. But Jesus never asked people if they had a job before he fed them… he just fed them. He didn’t ask if they paid for their health insurance, he just healed them.
Jesus was against people that shamed others or that used Scripture as a weapon to bully others (Ie the Pharisees). Instead, he championed the poor, the widow, the orphan, the disabled… you get the idea. He never showed disdain for someone who society deemed as less, he actually invited them to dinner.
The reality is that Jesus called Christians into action. James 2:15-16: “If a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?”
That means that sending ‘thoughts and prayers’ are not enough – believers are supposed to be in the trenches, handing out the coats and food. Thoughts and prayers are not good enough!
The Old Testament said in Deuteronomy and Leviticus that farmers were to leave food in the fields so that poor folks could come along behind and get themselves food to eat.
Honestly, if you follow Jesus, you probably should be thankful that the government has programs to care for the poor in your neglect. When the rich young ruler asked Jesus what he needed to do to be saved, Jesus told him to sell everything he owned and give the money to the poor. I’m pretty sure if you have a nice home and plenty of food, Jesus would expect you to bring some homeless people over for dinner, give them some of the best clothes from your closet, and let them sleep in your guest room. Oh, yeah, and he would have washed their stinky feet first.
So if you’re a Christian my question for you is, which kind of Christian are you? The kind that prooftexts Bible verses to reinforce their petty biases or the kind that follows the example of Jesus?
-sincerely, a doctoral student of Biblical exegesis.