I'm reading this book called Grace Matters, by Chris P.Rice (I'm pretty sure this is a different Chris Rice than the singer/songwriter responsible for Untitled Hymn, Smell the Color Nine and What if Cartoons Got Saved?).
Chris tells a story of racial reconciliation in Jackson, Mississippi, and how he and his small group fromed an intentional community (before some guy named Shane made it popular). Their small group (called Antioch) studied the Sermon on the Mount together, committing to actually live out together the teachings of Christ.
I'm getting old. I'm currently at a point in my life where I am no longer going to be covered by my father's health insurance plan. So I've been doing some research.
Then I read how Antioch ran into a verse like
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
So, there is a biblical argument that could be made against health insurance. But is it really unbiblical?
Ideally, I think the church should act as health insurance for its members. What if everyone in a church decided to stop paying their monthy health insurance bills, and paid the church instead? It's classic Acts 2. Pooling resources to meet the needs of the church, and meet the needs of the poor and oppressed around them.
There is a Christian-run collective that I found, but it seems kind of sketch. They won't publicize the numbers of members that they have. And a general collective across the country isn't what I envision. What about your local church? Obviously, things could go really wrong pretty quickly. But is that what it means to trust God? To put ourselves in situations where we know we do not have control, but trust that He will take care of us? Or is that just testing God?
1 comment:
Inos -
I would apply two higher-order principles to this problem. First, I firmly believe that God is more interested in How we do, not What we do. Therefore, whether you are treated for illness or suffer from it, do it well, and to the glory of God. There is no admonition against market activities in the Bible, unless those adulterate worship (e.g. the Temple merchants) or become a god in themselves.
The second principle is more economic justice: if you are consuming more than you produce, you are a net burden to others. That's fine if you're young/old/invalid or have some other good reason to not work. But if you - through highmindedness or carelessness - let yourself become sick, and then get treated at the state's expense, you're not helping anyone. Better to take care of yourself frugally and use your excess to help others than to neglect yourself and become a burden on others.
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