Thomas Jefferson warned us that the government that gives us everything is the government that can take it all away.
I’d argue that your idea of keeping the SNAP system going as it is, is oppressive to the poor.
Think about it. In what era have the poor ever been fat and grossly overweight, thus very unhealthy? This is an American phenomenon. The poor have traditionally been skinny as a result of not having enough to eat, thus malnourished. In America, they are still malnourished, but incredibly fat now. WTH?
What poor people need is hope and drive to earn a better living. The federal government should not be responsible for feeding the poor, but since we are, we could at least reform the system until we can wean the poor from dependency on the government through a warehouse type food distribution of HEALTHY food.
I was poor myself, working in all aspects of restaurants and catering (thus never starved, but when the restaurant was closed on Mondays, I had to eat a bagel to keep hunger at bay) so I don’t want hear the victim stories. Furthermore, I’ve seen too many EBT transactions made with people with expensive fake eyelashes, hair extensions and fake nails. It’s crazy!
When you first start working, you don’t have a lot of skills, but year after year, we do more, learn more, get a better a job, and so on.
Your mindsight is oppressing the poor, not so wise wolf.
Let me address your points one by one, since you've packed a lot of ignorance into one comment.
First, that Jefferson quote. You're misquoting him, and even if you weren't, using the Founding Fathers to justify starving children is psychotic. Jefferson owned slaves. Maybe let's not use him as our moral compass on who deserves to eat.
Second, your "fat poor people" argument is economically illiterate. Poor people aren't fat because SNAP is too generous. They're fat because calorie-dense processed food is cheap and fresh produce is expensive. A box of pasta costs $1. A bag of apples costs $6. When you're working two jobs and have $30 to feed your family for the week, you buy what fills stomachs, not what's on a Mediterranean diet Pinterest board. SNAP gives families about $6 per person per day. You try eating healthy on that budget while working full time.
Also, newsflash: hunger and obesity coexist in the same households. It's called food insecurity. Look it up.
Third, your warehouse idea is literally what Diane Yap proposed, and it's stupid for the same reasons. Who's paying for these warehouses? Who's staffing them? How do rural families get there? What about the disabled? The elderly? A single mom working two jobs is supposed to take a bus to a government warehouse during business hours to pick up her rations like it's the Soviet Union? You've just invented a more expensive, more humiliating version of SNAP that costs taxpayers more and helps people less. Congratulations, you're a policy genius.
Fourth, "I was poor once and I made it, so everyone else should too." Cool story. You worked in restaurants where you got free food. You literally just admitted you NEVER STARVED because you had ACCESS TO FOOD AT WORK. That's the privilege you're too dense to recognize. Not everyone works in a restaurant. A lot of SNAP recipients DO work full time—they're just not paid enough to survive because wages haven't kept up with the cost of living for decades.
Fifth, the "fake eyelashes and nails" complaint. Let me guess, you saw one person with nice nails buying groceries with EBT and decided all 42 million SNAP recipients are scamming the system? A $30 nail appointment doesn't disqualify someone from needing help with a $400 grocery bill. Maybe she saved up for something that made her feel human. Maybe they were a gift. Maybe she does nails for a living. Or maybe—and here's a wild thought—poor people are allowed to have one nice thing without people like you deciding they're not poor enough to deserve food.
Finally, your claim that my "mindset is oppressing the poor." No. What oppresses the poor is poverty wages, lack of affordable healthcare, unaffordable housing, and people like you who think the solution to poverty is to make poor people more miserable until they "learn" to not be poor. That's not policy. That's sadism dressed up as tough love.
You want to help the poor? Raise the minimum wage. Make healthcare affordable. Build more housing. Strengthen unions. But you don't actually want to help. You want to punish people for being poor because it makes you feel superior.
Jesus didn't make people line up at a warehouse to prove they were worthy of eating. He fed them. No means test. No lecture. He just fed them.
Maybe try that.
Honestly, get the hell away from my newsletter. You are not a Christian in any sense of the word. You are a nationalist and like 90% of nationalists - you are an idiot.
Why is your story directed at right-wing Yap as poster child of some end-times apostasy from Christianity?
You could more honestly and accurately have directed your arguments against the Luddites in the demoncratic party that are refusing to sign on to a clean continuing resolution to fund government as they hold out for more theft initiatives to subsidize criminal invasion of our nation. (If they got here illegally, and are here illegally, they’re criminals. Wolves can break into the sheepfold to sate their hunger. Christ took a dim view of that.)
I really cannot comprehend how so many people can come up with so many reasons to justify starving children.
You like to sound intelligent using words like "Luddite," but it is totally out of context, and clearly you do not even know what it means. A Luddite is a person who rejects the use of technology. It comes from the 19th century when Ned Ludd and others destroyed farm machinery that was taking their jobs. Are you telling me you view human beings as farm equipment to be destroyed? Do you wish to return to the era where men could own other men? Would you feed your slaves if that were the case?
You are nothing but a pseudo-intellectual parroting Fox News talking points and using trendy "Neo-Republican" terms like "Demoncrat," which is one of the stupidest terms to ever emerge from the sludge in which modern Conservatism has found itself mired. Trump won't drain the swamp because he and his buddies are swimming in it.
Do you really think Satan is so stupid that he does not have agents in both parties? Do you really think the devil is so generic that he has put all of his plans into the hands of a single party? You are, quite frankly, a monster who enjoys seeing children suffer.
You really should spend some time reading Scripture because your concept of Christ has more in common with an idol than the actual Son of Man.
And before you reply with the same generic "You are a Libtard" response that I already know you want to write - I am a lifelong Conservative who has never voted Democrat in my life. I am, however, an actual Conservative in the sense that I wish to see a Constitutional Republican government maintained and not dismantled by businessmen who have taken over the party and somehow convinced an army of nationalist morons who think they are "Christians" to stand behind them as they turn the United States into a police state oligarchy.
Silly. All the current talk about POTUS and his technocrat entourage turning the republic into a technocracy, and you think Luddite is inaccurate to describe what the progressives are doing to throw a monkey wrench into further streamlining of government? I generally agree with your viewpoint and have reposted many of your posts, but I gotta bad whiff from the drift of your post on Yap. There’s a lotta current talk too about the USCCB and its grift operations dipping into the taxpayer funded gravy-train via USAID and NGO grants targeted to illegally resettling foreign invaders euphemistically redesignated as refugees. The Jesuit connection to the operation has been noted too going back to both Obama’s administration and Adolfo Nicolas’s term as Superior General (2008-2016). (Interestingly, Michelle Malkin, a somewhat prominent conservative pundit with regular guest appearances on FOXNews was effectively cancelled following her publication of a book which detailed the Catholic Church/Jesuit complicity in the border crisis and facilitation of the “refugee” caravans).
Anyway, the “Church” — corrupted with commie liberation theology — trying to cover its greedy intent and recast its subversive activities as a moral imperative for sincere Christians has been effective in promulgating its propaganda which you joined in your anti-Yap piece. Maybe you’re a tool of the new-age church, maybe not, but your protestations, which mimic the drivel spewed by Bergoglio and Prevost concerning a dreamed of borderless world, are using the Lord’s Name in vain.
You can think you are helping the poor, but you are helping them stay dependent. And, that is destructive. Tytler's cycle of democracies, and why they never last, is something you seem very ignorant of.
"Dependency" is a talking point invented by people who've never missed a meal to justify their cruelty.
16 million children are on SNAP. Children. They can't "bootstrap" their way out of dependency. They're 7 years old. They need food to grow. But sure, let's teach them self-sufficiency by starving them. That'll build character.
And for the adults? 60% of SNAP households have someone working. They have jobs. They're just not paid enough to survive because wages haven't kept up with rent and food costs for 40 years. So they work full time, get food assistance to make up the gap, and people like you call them lazy.
You want to talk about Tytler's cycle? That quote about democracies collapsing when people "discover they can vote themselves largesse from the treasury"? First, Tytler probably never said it. Second, if you're worried about people looting the treasury, look at the billionaires getting tax breaks, not the single mom getting $180 a month for groceries.
Jesus fed people. He didn't worry about making them "dependent" on miracles. He didn't say "I'd give you fish, but then you'll never learn to fish for yourself." He fed 5,000 people without a lecture. No means test. No sermon about self-reliance. Just food.
Your "dependency" argument is just a way to feel morally superior while supporting policies that hurt children. That's not wisdom. That's sociopathy with a Bible verse slapped on it.
Face it, you are an evil, cold-hearted person that gets off on seeing other human beings suffer because it makes you feel better about yourself. I wager you have never actually read Tytler and just saw him mentioned on a Rumble video and adopted his rhetoric because you are too stupid to develop your own opinions, and think you are some great 'freedom fighter' but in reality - you are just an evil, cold-hearted monster.
I was raised on SNAP. So wasn't my sister. My sister is a pediatric oncologist that has saved the lives of thousands of children. I am a best selling author with multiple advanced degrees. None of this would have been possible if we had had nutritional deficiencies while our brains were developing.
You so self-righteous about “I know the answer” to “What would Jesus do?” seem likewise comfortable assuming the role of judge in determining eternal fate for those with a different views on the rule of law from your own. Jesus Christ was not a law breaker. Remaking Him as requiring it of His followers is fashioning a god in your own image. Examine yourself to see if you be in the faith.
A bit lengthy, but this seems like someone is trolling on Substack. How can one individual claim to live life but be so blind and ignorant to the world around them? You didn’t take a minute to think “I struggled but I made it, I should help someone else who faces the same?” Because big news woman, America currently has an economic system with a gaping hole where NAFTA burrowed through. Working poor is now the norm not the expectation. And the massive loss of jobs over the past few decades is due to “citizens” like you caring more about your isolated opinions then learning to transcend your ego and work with others to stop this tragic behemoth. “If a blind man leads a blind man, they will both fall into a pit” said Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas. Just something to ponder.
It is because a lot of people want to see others suffer because they believe it justifies their hardship. It's the same sort of playground mentality that has people bullying 'fat kids'. Lifting themselves up by putting others down. (I used the fat kid reference because I was a husky lil pup back in grade school so I can say that!)
Disgusting--she sounds demonic--probably not even human. Religious dogma, government dogma, satanic dogma-- they've all become one big, giant combined sh*tfest. Maybe the SNAP issue was created to be a psyop to create even more of a divide between the middle class and those who are financially struggling to the point where they're starving. Because what's going to happen and what's already happening are the sad stories on the news where people are feeling entitled to steal and hurt people under the guise that they're afraid they're going to starve. The media loves it because it points fingers at the middle class to solve an impossible issue that they did not create. The government wants to point to middle class Christians as the problem, as selfish hypocrites, when it's the government that's caused the hunger issues. They've culled farm animals, placed restrictive regulations on farms until they've had to shut down, created massive inflation, etc. etc. We've got to stop pointing fingers at each other and just help each other. Look up from your phones and just SEE and help every chance you get in real ways. And stop placing the burden of instantly creating solutions to impossibly confusing and involved issues on some random dude who you want to unleash your confusion and anger on. Chances are that random dude would give up their meal or give someone struggling a hand if the struggling person were right in front of them. It's such a hidden issue that all most people can figure out to do is donate to food banks and places where the money will actually go to those that need it. It's all so confusing and such a mess right now, and that's what the powers- that-be want. They want us at each other's throats blaming each other because then we don't see that THEY'RE a huge part of the problem. It's like a narcissist destroying someone's life and then acting like an innocent victim. It leaves the person who's life was destroyed feeling confused and gaslit, wondering if it actually maybe was their fault.
The fact I have seen at least 500 people saying to shut down SNAP because it serves 'freeloaders' claiming to be 'Christian' but willing to literally starve 16 million children just blows my mind. I don't know what idol they worship that they call 'Jesus' but he is not the man that gave the Sermon on the Mount or fed the starving masses. They are worshiping Washington. They would probably put statues of Trump in churches and worship him as God because these people are such insane idiots.
I wish there was a way to sort out who really needs the help and those that are taking advantage of the system. From what I've read, there are people who sell food stamps for pennies on the dollar to get cash to use for drugs. I think people are tired of being taxed to the point where there's nothing else to give and then seeing that their tax dollars aren't being used to efficiently help those that really need the help. There's a real danger to going after Christians as a demographic, as history has repeatedly shown us and as current events have shown us. A lot of innocent, people have been victims of genocide because the whole of society's ills have been placed on their heads. Only God knows what's in each individual's heart.
Oh yeah there def are. When I was still making documentary films on my old YT channel - I spent a month living in the homeless shelter system in Cleveland, OH because I wanted to see what their experience actually was like. Now, most of the people in the shelter system are mentally ill and just cannot support themselves - that I understand and I feel bad for them. However, about 30% of these people were just straight up lying, cheating, thieving addicts that were totally manipulating the system so they could support their habit. Initially, I was pretty angry about it but once I got to know some of these people - I realized most of them are just as mentally ill as the rest of these people and the drugs are their way of self-medicating... It's a sad sight honestly. Even if they are trading these handouts for a small, and I mean VERY SMALL amount of drugs (50 bucks is about all they'd get for a month of food stamps, about 5 hours of their chosen drug's high) - that money enters back into the economy, it goes to the stores, it filters its way back into the government, etc. It isn't like this money is just 'vanishing'. I admit, it is a broken way of doing things but the fact of the matter is, and this is something most are not willing to confront, the drug problem in the USA was engineered by the CIA because it is a huge source of black ops money. They were already caught in the 80s smuggling coke with their fake airline 'Air America'. They even made a movie about it but somehow people seem to forget the CIA was selling coke to supply missiles to terrorists in the Middle East...
It sounds like you've been in the thick of it and seen what goes on behind the scenes with all of it. I have three people close to me that have dealt with either prescription or street drug abuse. It's heartbreaking to watch. The ones in the family(s) that just hand them (the addicts) money are on the outs with the ones that want them to finally hit rock-bottom so they'll maybe want to change. Nobody wants them to die or see them suffer the way they're suffering. It's sad and there are really no easy answers. I wish there were.
I wanted to tell whoever liked this comment thank you. The attempts in the article to put Christian voters (no matter what religious denomination they are) who chose Donald Trump, in an impossible situation, where they are being faulted for the policy spoken about is, I feel, unfair and cruel. With concerns about possible riots brewing, there needs to be care taken about stirring the pot and pointing fingers at citizens, no matter who they chose to vote for. It's disappointing to see that an author who is obviously well-read in world history and world events on the horizon can't see how this could feel threatening. As for myself, I agree that putting any political leader on a pedestal is a slippery slope that's akin to idolatry. I imagine most people who are praying for the welfare of our country, and proactively trying to help those who are struggling, understand that.
The MAGA Cult do worship Trump as a god. He is their idol that can do no wrong. And yes, it is disgusting. It's beyond disgusting, it's evil at it's worst.
I don't know of anyone personally that voted for the President that worships him--honestly not a single one. We had two choices--Kamala Harris or Donald Trump. It's sad that this forum has turned into this.
I have had dozens of people tell me that he is the Second Coming. I am not kidding. I have screenshotted them over the last year because it’s so unbelievable. I voted for him too because clearly Harris was… Harris but I was not expecting him to gut the entire social safety net. This is going to lead to mass rioting, which is likely why he deployed federal troops nationwide already in preparation for his coup.
What's really sad is that you still believe that voting for the President of the UNITED STATES CORRUPT CORPORATION actually determines who that will be. It doesn't! It never has, and I doubt that it ever will.
You don't know me or know what I think. I do know that the vote for the last term of the Biden presidency was rife with corruption and there is ample proof of that. Could you please explain to me why the left would take the time and money to stuff ballot boxes and enroll dead people on the voter registry if the vote didn't matter at all? Or why the left pushes for illegals to be able to vote if the vote doesn't matter? As far as this Substack goes, I'm beyond disappointed. There have been so many really fascinating, well researched articles that I've appreciated on this forum. Now it's just reverted to blaming and shaming different groups of people. I thought you were more open-minded and intelligent than that. Why don't you research and post a list of vetted food banks for each state where people know they can donate food and it will get to those that need it if you're actually that concerned? Or is it that it's easier to be lazy and blame groups that have nothing to do with causing this issue and expect them to somehow wave a magic wand and fix the entire problem, and then blame them for not being Christlike if they can't?
Amazing that you actually believe anything they say about Elections, or left/ right nonsense. It's a dog and pony show, it's scripted theatre. The Left and Right are nothing more than the left and right wings of the same Predator. And make no mistake, Republicans and Democrats are nothing more than Prostitutes and Parasites that feed off the people until there is nothing left. And Donald Trump is the most evil, corrupt Mafia Criminal who has ever been in that House of illrepute, aka the Whitehouse.
Idolatry, I guess(?) The problem with turning those very few wingnuts into an example is that it turns anyone who voted for Donald Trump or agrees with any of his policies into a target. Unfortunately, the upheaval happening in this world has made it a dangerous place for people when they're publicly targeted. Have you seen all of the people lining the streets when the British Royalty is out? It sure seems like they're worshipping them. Should they all be ridiculed and targeted? Or maybe it seems more dignified when it's royalty because nobody voted for royalty-- they just basically forced themselves onto the people and the public just falls in line with it. Maybe people think they're being respectful in kissing the royal's corrupt, entitled backsides because they're viewed as "above" them. So freaking what if someone gets really excited about a specific president? You can be excited and talk about it, you can hate them and talk about it, or you can just not care. You can wear a hat-- whatever hat in whatever color you want. It's America. The excitement, the hatred, the neutrality--it hurts no one. I know--feelings can be scary sometimes if someone has different views than you. SO. FREAKING. WHAT.
Jesus: As *you* did (did not do) unto the least of these my brethren, *you* did (did not do) unto me.”
Not:
“As you funded, with money taken from you by force, a government agency to do (do not do) unto the least of these my brethren…”
Important difference. We are called to love those people we can help face to face, heart to heart, in a direct voluntary exchange of love and goodwill. And charity to the poor begins at home, with our children.
Oh, so we've moved to the "taxation is theft" libertarian theology now? Convenient.
Let me get this straight: Jesus's command to care for the hungry, the poor, the imprisoned - that ONLY counts if you do it personally and voluntarily? Government policy doesn't matter? So Christians can vote for policies that starve millions of children, and as long as they personally give $20 to the food bank, they're good with Jesus?
That's not what Matthew 25 says. Read it again. Jesus is judging NATIONS. Groups. Societies. "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the NATIONS will be gathered before him." He's not just judging individual acts of charity. He's judging how societies - including their governments - treat the vulnerable.
In a democracy, YOU ARE THE GOVERNMENT. You don't get to separate yourself from it. When you vote, you're choosing how power is used. When you support policies, you're responsible for their outcomes. You can't say "Well, I voted for it, but I'm not responsible for what it does because it's the government, not me personally."
I bet you don't apply this logic consistently. When the government subsidizes billionaires? When it gives tax breaks to corporations? When it bails out banks? I bet you don't say "Oh, that doesn't count because it's government money taken by force." No, suddenly government action is fine when it benefits the wealthy.
But when it feeds hungry kids? NOW it's "government overreach" and "not real charity" because it's "money taken by force"?
Jesus talked about systemic justice constantly. The Year of Jubilee - systemic debt forgiveness. His condemnation of the temple system exploiting the poor - systemic corruption. The rich man and Lazarus - judgment for ignoring systemic poverty at your doorstep. He didn't say "Well, the rich man was fine because he personally gave to other beggars voluntarily."
"Charity begins at home with our children" - you're damn right it does. All 74 million children in America. Including the 16 million who would lose food assistance under policies you're defending.
You want to talk about voluntary charity? Fine. Christians in America give about $50 billion annually to churches. Know how much we spend on corporate subsidies and tax breaks for billionaires? Over $400 billion annually. Your voluntary charity doesn't come close to replacing what we CHOOSE to give to the wealthy through government policy.
You can't vote to dismantle the safety net while claiming "real charity is voluntary." You're just letting people starve with extra steps and a Bible verse to make yourself feel righteous about it.
Face it: If you let 16 million kids starve because you're a greedy piece if shit - you are going to Hell.
So many straw men, and other fallacies, so little time.
I never said taxation is theft. But the fact is that taxation is by force. It is not voluntary, and if you do not pay taxes men with guns will escort you to prison.
Jesus at the end of time gathers all nations and judges each person individually, each sheep, each goat individually, not based on collective guilt as a citizen of a nation. He judges us on how we individually treated Him in person when He appears to us, in person , in the distressing disguise of anyone in need, whether that calls for corporal works of mercy, tending to the mortal body (food, drink, shelter, clothing, ransom for captives, care for the sick, burial), or the higher works of spiritual mercy, tending to the good of the soul (Instruct the ignorant, Counsel the doubtful, Admonish the sinner, Bear wrongs patiently, Forgive offenses willingly, Comfort the afflicted, Pray for the living and the dead).
We provide these works of mercy first to those in our home, then our neighborhood (love thy neighbor as thyself), town, county, state, nation, continent, world. That is the proper priority order of charity and the principle of subsidiarity which means that action should be taken at the lowest possible level.
Oh, so you get to pick and choose which parts of Matthew 25 to read?
"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the NATIONS will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats."
NATIONS. Not just individuals. NATIONS. Societies. Collective bodies. You don't get to spiritualize that away because it's inconvenient for your libertarian politics.
And let's talk about your "proper priority order" nonsense. Jesus didn't say "Feed the hungry, but only the ones in your immediate family and neighborhood first, and maybe eventually if you have time get to the strangers."
The Samaritan helped a STRANGER from an ethnic group he was supposed to hate. The sheep in Matthew 25 didn't even KNOW they were helping Jesus - "Lord, when did we see you hungry?" These weren't people helping their neighbors. These were people helping strangers, prisoners, the sick they had no relationship with.
Your "subsidiarity" argument is just Catholic social teaching twisted into "I don't have to care about people I don't personally know." That's not what subsidiarity means and you know it. Subsidiarity says address problems at the appropriate level - and SYSTEMIC POVERTY AND HUNGER ARE SYSTEMIC PROBLEMS that require systemic solutions.
You know what the Old Testament says about nations that ignore the poor?
"This was the sin of Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy." - Ezekiel 16:49
Not individuals. The NATION. The SOCIETY. God judged the entire city.
"Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people." - Isaiah 10:1-2
LAWS. DECREES. SYSTEMIC INJUSTICE.
You want to hide behind "taxation is by force" as if that absolves you? Fine. Then you're actively choosing a government that uses force to give billions to billionaires while letting kids starve. That force is still happening - you just prefer it benefits the rich instead of the poor.
16 million kids are hungry RIGHT NOW. Not in theory. Not as a thought experiment about subsidiarity and proper ordering of charity. Tonight. In America. The richest country in human history.
And you're here writing essays about how it's not your problem because you didn't personally make them hungry and government assistance doesn't count as "real" charity.
Jesus has some thoughts on people like you:
"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices - mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law: justice, mercy and faithfulness." - Matthew 23:23
You're tithing your mint while kids go hungry and calling it righteousness.
You are unwisely imputing beliefs to me that I do not hold and are rash extrapolations from what I wrote, and classing me and judging me as “people like you” as if you know me and what I believe, and what is in my heart. You may be a cunning intellectual wolf, but it does not seem to me as though your are seeking or guided by wisdom and charity to your brethren in Christ.
At the final judgement at the end of time we will be judged individually by Our Lord who knows everything we did (sins of commission), everything we failed to do (sins of omission), what was our intent in our heart when we did them or did not do them, and whether what we chose gave Him glory or gave glory to the evil one.
Each of the citizens of Sodom at the final judgement will he held to account for what each of them did individually, not simply because they were citizens of a corrupted city. The innocent just may have died in the destruction, but their eternal lives will be determined in justice and mercy at the end of time and everyone will receive their just desert according to their merits on how they loved their neighbor (Jesus Himself, as He teaches) when he presents in need.
The Order of Charity is a reasonable and wise principle that St. Thomas Aquinas debates and affirms in the Summa Theologica. This is the teaching of the Church Christ founded. Problems and needs are best met at the lowest level possible, which when organizing voluntary aid societies, containerizes the inevitable corruptions that creep in to institutions especially when money is involved.
A wise man once said: "Don't bother getting into an argument with a stupid person because they will just drag you down to their level and beat you with experience."
Christ didn't found the Catholic Church. He wasn't even alive when it was founded. The Catholic Church as an institution was formalized centuries after His death and resurrection. You're quoting Thomas Aquinas from the 13th century like it's Gospel, when Jesus's actual words in the actual Gospels say "FEED THE HUNGRY."
No footnotes. No subsidiarity clauses. No "order of charity" loopholes. FEED THE HUNGRY.
You're writing theological essays to justify why 16 million kids going to bed hungry isn't your problem. You're hiding behind Aquinas and Church teaching to avoid doing what Jesus plainly commanded.
I'm not interested in debating medieval Catholic philosophy with you. I'm not interested in your intellectual gymnastics. I'm not interested in how you've philosophically absolved yourself of responsibility while children starve.
Thomas Jefferson warned us that the government that gives us everything is the government that can take it all away.
I’d argue that your idea of keeping the SNAP system going as it is, is oppressive to the poor.
Think about it. In what era have the poor ever been fat and grossly overweight, thus very unhealthy? This is an American phenomenon. The poor have traditionally been skinny as a result of not having enough to eat, thus malnourished. In America, they are still malnourished, but incredibly fat now. WTH?
chewing the cud with Chad had some excellent comments on what Jesus would say and do: https://open.substack.com/pub/curetsky/p/oh-snap?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
What poor people need is hope and drive to earn a better living. The federal government should not be responsible for feeding the poor, but since we are, we could at least reform the system until we can wean the poor from dependency on the government through a warehouse type food distribution of HEALTHY food.
I was poor myself, working in all aspects of restaurants and catering (thus never starved, but when the restaurant was closed on Mondays, I had to eat a bagel to keep hunger at bay) so I don’t want hear the victim stories. Furthermore, I’ve seen too many EBT transactions made with people with expensive fake eyelashes, hair extensions and fake nails. It’s crazy!
When you first start working, you don’t have a lot of skills, but year after year, we do more, learn more, get a better a job, and so on.
Your mindsight is oppressing the poor, not so wise wolf.
At a minimum, get rid of snap cards and make people pick up their nutritious food (only) at a warehouse: https://lizlasorte.substack.com/p/well-snap-yall?r=76q58
Let me address your points one by one, since you've packed a lot of ignorance into one comment.
First, that Jefferson quote. You're misquoting him, and even if you weren't, using the Founding Fathers to justify starving children is psychotic. Jefferson owned slaves. Maybe let's not use him as our moral compass on who deserves to eat.
Second, your "fat poor people" argument is economically illiterate. Poor people aren't fat because SNAP is too generous. They're fat because calorie-dense processed food is cheap and fresh produce is expensive. A box of pasta costs $1. A bag of apples costs $6. When you're working two jobs and have $30 to feed your family for the week, you buy what fills stomachs, not what's on a Mediterranean diet Pinterest board. SNAP gives families about $6 per person per day. You try eating healthy on that budget while working full time.
Also, newsflash: hunger and obesity coexist in the same households. It's called food insecurity. Look it up.
Third, your warehouse idea is literally what Diane Yap proposed, and it's stupid for the same reasons. Who's paying for these warehouses? Who's staffing them? How do rural families get there? What about the disabled? The elderly? A single mom working two jobs is supposed to take a bus to a government warehouse during business hours to pick up her rations like it's the Soviet Union? You've just invented a more expensive, more humiliating version of SNAP that costs taxpayers more and helps people less. Congratulations, you're a policy genius.
Fourth, "I was poor once and I made it, so everyone else should too." Cool story. You worked in restaurants where you got free food. You literally just admitted you NEVER STARVED because you had ACCESS TO FOOD AT WORK. That's the privilege you're too dense to recognize. Not everyone works in a restaurant. A lot of SNAP recipients DO work full time—they're just not paid enough to survive because wages haven't kept up with the cost of living for decades.
Fifth, the "fake eyelashes and nails" complaint. Let me guess, you saw one person with nice nails buying groceries with EBT and decided all 42 million SNAP recipients are scamming the system? A $30 nail appointment doesn't disqualify someone from needing help with a $400 grocery bill. Maybe she saved up for something that made her feel human. Maybe they were a gift. Maybe she does nails for a living. Or maybe—and here's a wild thought—poor people are allowed to have one nice thing without people like you deciding they're not poor enough to deserve food.
Finally, your claim that my "mindset is oppressing the poor." No. What oppresses the poor is poverty wages, lack of affordable healthcare, unaffordable housing, and people like you who think the solution to poverty is to make poor people more miserable until they "learn" to not be poor. That's not policy. That's sadism dressed up as tough love.
You want to help the poor? Raise the minimum wage. Make healthcare affordable. Build more housing. Strengthen unions. But you don't actually want to help. You want to punish people for being poor because it makes you feel superior.
Jesus didn't make people line up at a warehouse to prove they were worthy of eating. He fed them. No means test. No lecture. He just fed them.
Maybe try that.
Honestly, get the hell away from my newsletter. You are not a Christian in any sense of the word. You are a nationalist and like 90% of nationalists - you are an idiot.
Methinks thou doth protest too much.
Why is your story directed at right-wing Yap as poster child of some end-times apostasy from Christianity?
You could more honestly and accurately have directed your arguments against the Luddites in the demoncratic party that are refusing to sign on to a clean continuing resolution to fund government as they hold out for more theft initiatives to subsidize criminal invasion of our nation. (If they got here illegally, and are here illegally, they’re criminals. Wolves can break into the sheepfold to sate their hunger. Christ took a dim view of that.)
I really cannot comprehend how so many people can come up with so many reasons to justify starving children.
You like to sound intelligent using words like "Luddite," but it is totally out of context, and clearly you do not even know what it means. A Luddite is a person who rejects the use of technology. It comes from the 19th century when Ned Ludd and others destroyed farm machinery that was taking their jobs. Are you telling me you view human beings as farm equipment to be destroyed? Do you wish to return to the era where men could own other men? Would you feed your slaves if that were the case?
You are nothing but a pseudo-intellectual parroting Fox News talking points and using trendy "Neo-Republican" terms like "Demoncrat," which is one of the stupidest terms to ever emerge from the sludge in which modern Conservatism has found itself mired. Trump won't drain the swamp because he and his buddies are swimming in it.
Do you really think Satan is so stupid that he does not have agents in both parties? Do you really think the devil is so generic that he has put all of his plans into the hands of a single party? You are, quite frankly, a monster who enjoys seeing children suffer.
You really should spend some time reading Scripture because your concept of Christ has more in common with an idol than the actual Son of Man.
And before you reply with the same generic "You are a Libtard" response that I already know you want to write - I am a lifelong Conservative who has never voted Democrat in my life. I am, however, an actual Conservative in the sense that I wish to see a Constitutional Republican government maintained and not dismantled by businessmen who have taken over the party and somehow convinced an army of nationalist morons who think they are "Christians" to stand behind them as they turn the United States into a police state oligarchy.
Silly. All the current talk about POTUS and his technocrat entourage turning the republic into a technocracy, and you think Luddite is inaccurate to describe what the progressives are doing to throw a monkey wrench into further streamlining of government? I generally agree with your viewpoint and have reposted many of your posts, but I gotta bad whiff from the drift of your post on Yap. There’s a lotta current talk too about the USCCB and its grift operations dipping into the taxpayer funded gravy-train via USAID and NGO grants targeted to illegally resettling foreign invaders euphemistically redesignated as refugees. The Jesuit connection to the operation has been noted too going back to both Obama’s administration and Adolfo Nicolas’s term as Superior General (2008-2016). (Interestingly, Michelle Malkin, a somewhat prominent conservative pundit with regular guest appearances on FOXNews was effectively cancelled following her publication of a book which detailed the Catholic Church/Jesuit complicity in the border crisis and facilitation of the “refugee” caravans).
Anyway, the “Church” — corrupted with commie liberation theology — trying to cover its greedy intent and recast its subversive activities as a moral imperative for sincere Christians has been effective in promulgating its propaganda which you joined in your anti-Yap piece. Maybe you’re a tool of the new-age church, maybe not, but your protestations, which mimic the drivel spewed by Bergoglio and Prevost concerning a dreamed of borderless world, are using the Lord’s Name in vain.
Examine yourself to see if you be in the faith.
You can think you are helping the poor, but you are helping them stay dependent. And, that is destructive. Tytler's cycle of democracies, and why they never last, is something you seem very ignorant of.
"Dependency" is a talking point invented by people who've never missed a meal to justify their cruelty.
16 million children are on SNAP. Children. They can't "bootstrap" their way out of dependency. They're 7 years old. They need food to grow. But sure, let's teach them self-sufficiency by starving them. That'll build character.
And for the adults? 60% of SNAP households have someone working. They have jobs. They're just not paid enough to survive because wages haven't kept up with rent and food costs for 40 years. So they work full time, get food assistance to make up the gap, and people like you call them lazy.
You want to talk about Tytler's cycle? That quote about democracies collapsing when people "discover they can vote themselves largesse from the treasury"? First, Tytler probably never said it. Second, if you're worried about people looting the treasury, look at the billionaires getting tax breaks, not the single mom getting $180 a month for groceries.
Jesus fed people. He didn't worry about making them "dependent" on miracles. He didn't say "I'd give you fish, but then you'll never learn to fish for yourself." He fed 5,000 people without a lecture. No means test. No sermon about self-reliance. Just food.
Your "dependency" argument is just a way to feel morally superior while supporting policies that hurt children. That's not wisdom. That's sociopathy with a Bible verse slapped on it.
Face it, you are an evil, cold-hearted person that gets off on seeing other human beings suffer because it makes you feel better about yourself. I wager you have never actually read Tytler and just saw him mentioned on a Rumble video and adopted his rhetoric because you are too stupid to develop your own opinions, and think you are some great 'freedom fighter' but in reality - you are just an evil, cold-hearted monster.
I was raised on SNAP. So wasn't my sister. My sister is a pediatric oncologist that has saved the lives of thousands of children. I am a best selling author with multiple advanced degrees. None of this would have been possible if we had had nutritional deficiencies while our brains were developing.
You are going to Hell when you die.
“You are going to Hell when you die”???!
You so self-righteous about “I know the answer” to “What would Jesus do?” seem likewise comfortable assuming the role of judge in determining eternal fate for those with a different views on the rule of law from your own. Jesus Christ was not a law breaker. Remaking Him as requiring it of His followers is fashioning a god in your own image. Examine yourself to see if you be in the faith.
A bit lengthy, but this seems like someone is trolling on Substack. How can one individual claim to live life but be so blind and ignorant to the world around them? You didn’t take a minute to think “I struggled but I made it, I should help someone else who faces the same?” Because big news woman, America currently has an economic system with a gaping hole where NAFTA burrowed through. Working poor is now the norm not the expectation. And the massive loss of jobs over the past few decades is due to “citizens” like you caring more about your isolated opinions then learning to transcend your ego and work with others to stop this tragic behemoth. “If a blind man leads a blind man, they will both fall into a pit” said Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas. Just something to ponder.
It is because a lot of people want to see others suffer because they believe it justifies their hardship. It's the same sort of playground mentality that has people bullying 'fat kids'. Lifting themselves up by putting others down. (I used the fat kid reference because I was a husky lil pup back in grade school so I can say that!)
That made me laugh because they used to call me earthquake.
That loaf looks good!
Disgusting--she sounds demonic--probably not even human. Religious dogma, government dogma, satanic dogma-- they've all become one big, giant combined sh*tfest. Maybe the SNAP issue was created to be a psyop to create even more of a divide between the middle class and those who are financially struggling to the point where they're starving. Because what's going to happen and what's already happening are the sad stories on the news where people are feeling entitled to steal and hurt people under the guise that they're afraid they're going to starve. The media loves it because it points fingers at the middle class to solve an impossible issue that they did not create. The government wants to point to middle class Christians as the problem, as selfish hypocrites, when it's the government that's caused the hunger issues. They've culled farm animals, placed restrictive regulations on farms until they've had to shut down, created massive inflation, etc. etc. We've got to stop pointing fingers at each other and just help each other. Look up from your phones and just SEE and help every chance you get in real ways. And stop placing the burden of instantly creating solutions to impossibly confusing and involved issues on some random dude who you want to unleash your confusion and anger on. Chances are that random dude would give up their meal or give someone struggling a hand if the struggling person were right in front of them. It's such a hidden issue that all most people can figure out to do is donate to food banks and places where the money will actually go to those that need it. It's all so confusing and such a mess right now, and that's what the powers- that-be want. They want us at each other's throats blaming each other because then we don't see that THEY'RE a huge part of the problem. It's like a narcissist destroying someone's life and then acting like an innocent victim. It leaves the person who's life was destroyed feeling confused and gaslit, wondering if it actually maybe was their fault.
The fact I have seen at least 500 people saying to shut down SNAP because it serves 'freeloaders' claiming to be 'Christian' but willing to literally starve 16 million children just blows my mind. I don't know what idol they worship that they call 'Jesus' but he is not the man that gave the Sermon on the Mount or fed the starving masses. They are worshiping Washington. They would probably put statues of Trump in churches and worship him as God because these people are such insane idiots.
I wish there was a way to sort out who really needs the help and those that are taking advantage of the system. From what I've read, there are people who sell food stamps for pennies on the dollar to get cash to use for drugs. I think people are tired of being taxed to the point where there's nothing else to give and then seeing that their tax dollars aren't being used to efficiently help those that really need the help. There's a real danger to going after Christians as a demographic, as history has repeatedly shown us and as current events have shown us. A lot of innocent, people have been victims of genocide because the whole of society's ills have been placed on their heads. Only God knows what's in each individual's heart.
Oh yeah there def are. When I was still making documentary films on my old YT channel - I spent a month living in the homeless shelter system in Cleveland, OH because I wanted to see what their experience actually was like. Now, most of the people in the shelter system are mentally ill and just cannot support themselves - that I understand and I feel bad for them. However, about 30% of these people were just straight up lying, cheating, thieving addicts that were totally manipulating the system so they could support their habit. Initially, I was pretty angry about it but once I got to know some of these people - I realized most of them are just as mentally ill as the rest of these people and the drugs are their way of self-medicating... It's a sad sight honestly. Even if they are trading these handouts for a small, and I mean VERY SMALL amount of drugs (50 bucks is about all they'd get for a month of food stamps, about 5 hours of their chosen drug's high) - that money enters back into the economy, it goes to the stores, it filters its way back into the government, etc. It isn't like this money is just 'vanishing'. I admit, it is a broken way of doing things but the fact of the matter is, and this is something most are not willing to confront, the drug problem in the USA was engineered by the CIA because it is a huge source of black ops money. They were already caught in the 80s smuggling coke with their fake airline 'Air America'. They even made a movie about it but somehow people seem to forget the CIA was selling coke to supply missiles to terrorists in the Middle East...
It sounds like you've been in the thick of it and seen what goes on behind the scenes with all of it. I have three people close to me that have dealt with either prescription or street drug abuse. It's heartbreaking to watch. The ones in the family(s) that just hand them (the addicts) money are on the outs with the ones that want them to finally hit rock-bottom so they'll maybe want to change. Nobody wants them to die or see them suffer the way they're suffering. It's sad and there are really no easy answers. I wish there were.
I wanted to tell whoever liked this comment thank you. The attempts in the article to put Christian voters (no matter what religious denomination they are) who chose Donald Trump, in an impossible situation, where they are being faulted for the policy spoken about is, I feel, unfair and cruel. With concerns about possible riots brewing, there needs to be care taken about stirring the pot and pointing fingers at citizens, no matter who they chose to vote for. It's disappointing to see that an author who is obviously well-read in world history and world events on the horizon can't see how this could feel threatening. As for myself, I agree that putting any political leader on a pedestal is a slippery slope that's akin to idolatry. I imagine most people who are praying for the welfare of our country, and proactively trying to help those who are struggling, understand that.
The MAGA Cult do worship Trump as a god. He is their idol that can do no wrong. And yes, it is disgusting. It's beyond disgusting, it's evil at it's worst.
I don't know of anyone personally that voted for the President that worships him--honestly not a single one. We had two choices--Kamala Harris or Donald Trump. It's sad that this forum has turned into this.
I have had dozens of people tell me that he is the Second Coming. I am not kidding. I have screenshotted them over the last year because it’s so unbelievable. I voted for him too because clearly Harris was… Harris but I was not expecting him to gut the entire social safety net. This is going to lead to mass rioting, which is likely why he deployed federal troops nationwide already in preparation for his coup.
What's really sad is that you still believe that voting for the President of the UNITED STATES CORRUPT CORPORATION actually determines who that will be. It doesn't! It never has, and I doubt that it ever will.
You don't know me or know what I think. I do know that the vote for the last term of the Biden presidency was rife with corruption and there is ample proof of that. Could you please explain to me why the left would take the time and money to stuff ballot boxes and enroll dead people on the voter registry if the vote didn't matter at all? Or why the left pushes for illegals to be able to vote if the vote doesn't matter? As far as this Substack goes, I'm beyond disappointed. There have been so many really fascinating, well researched articles that I've appreciated on this forum. Now it's just reverted to blaming and shaming different groups of people. I thought you were more open-minded and intelligent than that. Why don't you research and post a list of vetted food banks for each state where people know they can donate food and it will get to those that need it if you're actually that concerned? Or is it that it's easier to be lazy and blame groups that have nothing to do with causing this issue and expect them to somehow wave a magic wand and fix the entire problem, and then blame them for not being Christlike if they can't?
Amazing that you actually believe anything they say about Elections, or left/ right nonsense. It's a dog and pony show, it's scripted theatre. The Left and Right are nothing more than the left and right wings of the same Predator. And make no mistake, Republicans and Democrats are nothing more than Prostitutes and Parasites that feed off the people until there is nothing left. And Donald Trump is the most evil, corrupt Mafia Criminal who has ever been in that House of illrepute, aka the Whitehouse.
Idolatry, I guess(?) The problem with turning those very few wingnuts into an example is that it turns anyone who voted for Donald Trump or agrees with any of his policies into a target. Unfortunately, the upheaval happening in this world has made it a dangerous place for people when they're publicly targeted. Have you seen all of the people lining the streets when the British Royalty is out? It sure seems like they're worshipping them. Should they all be ridiculed and targeted? Or maybe it seems more dignified when it's royalty because nobody voted for royalty-- they just basically forced themselves onto the people and the public just falls in line with it. Maybe people think they're being respectful in kissing the royal's corrupt, entitled backsides because they're viewed as "above" them. So freaking what if someone gets really excited about a specific president? You can be excited and talk about it, you can hate them and talk about it, or you can just not care. You can wear a hat-- whatever hat in whatever color you want. It's America. The excitement, the hatred, the neutrality--it hurts no one. I know--feelings can be scary sometimes if someone has different views than you. SO. FREAKING. WHAT.
I have a T-shirt that says "beauty is skin deep but ugly goes to the bone". My son now wears it with pride.
Jesus: As *you* did (did not do) unto the least of these my brethren, *you* did (did not do) unto me.”
Not:
“As you funded, with money taken from you by force, a government agency to do (do not do) unto the least of these my brethren…”
Important difference. We are called to love those people we can help face to face, heart to heart, in a direct voluntary exchange of love and goodwill. And charity to the poor begins at home, with our children.
Oh, so we've moved to the "taxation is theft" libertarian theology now? Convenient.
Let me get this straight: Jesus's command to care for the hungry, the poor, the imprisoned - that ONLY counts if you do it personally and voluntarily? Government policy doesn't matter? So Christians can vote for policies that starve millions of children, and as long as they personally give $20 to the food bank, they're good with Jesus?
That's not what Matthew 25 says. Read it again. Jesus is judging NATIONS. Groups. Societies. "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the NATIONS will be gathered before him." He's not just judging individual acts of charity. He's judging how societies - including their governments - treat the vulnerable.
In a democracy, YOU ARE THE GOVERNMENT. You don't get to separate yourself from it. When you vote, you're choosing how power is used. When you support policies, you're responsible for their outcomes. You can't say "Well, I voted for it, but I'm not responsible for what it does because it's the government, not me personally."
I bet you don't apply this logic consistently. When the government subsidizes billionaires? When it gives tax breaks to corporations? When it bails out banks? I bet you don't say "Oh, that doesn't count because it's government money taken by force." No, suddenly government action is fine when it benefits the wealthy.
But when it feeds hungry kids? NOW it's "government overreach" and "not real charity" because it's "money taken by force"?
Jesus talked about systemic justice constantly. The Year of Jubilee - systemic debt forgiveness. His condemnation of the temple system exploiting the poor - systemic corruption. The rich man and Lazarus - judgment for ignoring systemic poverty at your doorstep. He didn't say "Well, the rich man was fine because he personally gave to other beggars voluntarily."
"Charity begins at home with our children" - you're damn right it does. All 74 million children in America. Including the 16 million who would lose food assistance under policies you're defending.
You want to talk about voluntary charity? Fine. Christians in America give about $50 billion annually to churches. Know how much we spend on corporate subsidies and tax breaks for billionaires? Over $400 billion annually. Your voluntary charity doesn't come close to replacing what we CHOOSE to give to the wealthy through government policy.
You can't vote to dismantle the safety net while claiming "real charity is voluntary." You're just letting people starve with extra steps and a Bible verse to make yourself feel righteous about it.
Face it: If you let 16 million kids starve because you're a greedy piece if shit - you are going to Hell.
So many straw men, and other fallacies, so little time.
I never said taxation is theft. But the fact is that taxation is by force. It is not voluntary, and if you do not pay taxes men with guns will escort you to prison.
Jesus at the end of time gathers all nations and judges each person individually, each sheep, each goat individually, not based on collective guilt as a citizen of a nation. He judges us on how we individually treated Him in person when He appears to us, in person , in the distressing disguise of anyone in need, whether that calls for corporal works of mercy, tending to the mortal body (food, drink, shelter, clothing, ransom for captives, care for the sick, burial), or the higher works of spiritual mercy, tending to the good of the soul (Instruct the ignorant, Counsel the doubtful, Admonish the sinner, Bear wrongs patiently, Forgive offenses willingly, Comfort the afflicted, Pray for the living and the dead).
We provide these works of mercy first to those in our home, then our neighborhood (love thy neighbor as thyself), town, county, state, nation, continent, world. That is the proper priority order of charity and the principle of subsidiarity which means that action should be taken at the lowest possible level.
Oh, so you get to pick and choose which parts of Matthew 25 to read?
"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the NATIONS will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats."
NATIONS. Not just individuals. NATIONS. Societies. Collective bodies. You don't get to spiritualize that away because it's inconvenient for your libertarian politics.
And let's talk about your "proper priority order" nonsense. Jesus didn't say "Feed the hungry, but only the ones in your immediate family and neighborhood first, and maybe eventually if you have time get to the strangers."
The Samaritan helped a STRANGER from an ethnic group he was supposed to hate. The sheep in Matthew 25 didn't even KNOW they were helping Jesus - "Lord, when did we see you hungry?" These weren't people helping their neighbors. These were people helping strangers, prisoners, the sick they had no relationship with.
Your "subsidiarity" argument is just Catholic social teaching twisted into "I don't have to care about people I don't personally know." That's not what subsidiarity means and you know it. Subsidiarity says address problems at the appropriate level - and SYSTEMIC POVERTY AND HUNGER ARE SYSTEMIC PROBLEMS that require systemic solutions.
You know what the Old Testament says about nations that ignore the poor?
"This was the sin of Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy." - Ezekiel 16:49
Not individuals. The NATION. The SOCIETY. God judged the entire city.
"Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people." - Isaiah 10:1-2
LAWS. DECREES. SYSTEMIC INJUSTICE.
You want to hide behind "taxation is by force" as if that absolves you? Fine. Then you're actively choosing a government that uses force to give billions to billionaires while letting kids starve. That force is still happening - you just prefer it benefits the rich instead of the poor.
16 million kids are hungry RIGHT NOW. Not in theory. Not as a thought experiment about subsidiarity and proper ordering of charity. Tonight. In America. The richest country in human history.
And you're here writing essays about how it's not your problem because you didn't personally make them hungry and government assistance doesn't count as "real" charity.
Jesus has some thoughts on people like you:
"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices - mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law: justice, mercy and faithfulness." - Matthew 23:23
You're tithing your mint while kids go hungry and calling it righteousness.
Get off my newsletter.
You are unwisely imputing beliefs to me that I do not hold and are rash extrapolations from what I wrote, and classing me and judging me as “people like you” as if you know me and what I believe, and what is in my heart. You may be a cunning intellectual wolf, but it does not seem to me as though your are seeking or guided by wisdom and charity to your brethren in Christ.
At the final judgement at the end of time we will be judged individually by Our Lord who knows everything we did (sins of commission), everything we failed to do (sins of omission), what was our intent in our heart when we did them or did not do them, and whether what we chose gave Him glory or gave glory to the evil one.
Each of the citizens of Sodom at the final judgement will he held to account for what each of them did individually, not simply because they were citizens of a corrupted city. The innocent just may have died in the destruction, but their eternal lives will be determined in justice and mercy at the end of time and everyone will receive their just desert according to their merits on how they loved their neighbor (Jesus Himself, as He teaches) when he presents in need.
The Order of Charity is a reasonable and wise principle that St. Thomas Aquinas debates and affirms in the Summa Theologica. This is the teaching of the Church Christ founded. Problems and needs are best met at the lowest level possible, which when organizing voluntary aid societies, containerizes the inevitable corruptions that creep in to institutions especially when money is involved.
A wise man once said: "Don't bother getting into an argument with a stupid person because they will just drag you down to their level and beat you with experience."
Christ didn't found the Catholic Church. He wasn't even alive when it was founded. The Catholic Church as an institution was formalized centuries after His death and resurrection. You're quoting Thomas Aquinas from the 13th century like it's Gospel, when Jesus's actual words in the actual Gospels say "FEED THE HUNGRY."
No footnotes. No subsidiarity clauses. No "order of charity" loopholes. FEED THE HUNGRY.
You're writing theological essays to justify why 16 million kids going to bed hungry isn't your problem. You're hiding behind Aquinas and Church teaching to avoid doing what Jesus plainly commanded.
I'm not interested in debating medieval Catholic philosophy with you. I'm not interested in your intellectual gymnastics. I'm not interested in how you've philosophically absolved yourself of responsibility while children starve.
Kids are hungry. Right now. Tonight. In America.
And you're here quoting the Summa Theologica.
Unsubscribe. Leave. We're done.
Scottythekid posted:
LONG STORY SHORT.
THERE IS NO GOVERNMENT.
JUST A SECRET SOCIETY PRETENDING TO BE ONE.
THEY DON'T LEAD.
THEY MANAGE THE ILLUSION.
And the ignorant remain ignorant. Wow.
A