Should Christians take Social Security payments?

Most Christians will probably disagree with me.  I full recognize that many of you have paid far more in taxes than you will ever “get back” from the government.   My general assessment is that Christians shouldn’t take money from the government and that in general most taxes and programs are a form of legislated theft.

If Christians take money from the government, then they are endorsing people taking money from you and others.

If the Government can force you to pay for others’ retirement, then it is hard to argue they can’t force you to pay for others’ health care.

Government programs are filled with abuse. Social Security, for example, spent the money that was paid in by the original payees on other programs then used the money coming in by the next generation’s payees to fund the social security payments of the first generation of payees. When private citizens engage in these kinds of investment programs, the government calls them criminals and their programs Ponzi schemes.

Relying on the government for money is welfare.  You are recognizing them as an authority over your life to manipulate your actions in order to gain wealth in this world.

Social Security is going broke, and the burden to fix it and fund it is falling on future generations. The government is stealing from our children and grandchildren to correct its own abuses and mismanagement.

Social Security is a form of communism. It creates a place for the government to intervene and have authority over our lives from cradle to grave.

We could have hours of conversations and discussion about this, and it is a tough subject.  There are a couple of questions to ask about this subject:

Does Social Security make us a freer society or lead us to being a freer society?

Who is paying for Social Security?

Does Social Security build community?

Social Security is being paid by those working today and those who are retired get the money.  The money that retirees put in was taken by the people retired when they were working.  So it is not the money taken from you that you are getting back it is the money taken from your sons and daughters and their sons and daughters that is paying for the current retirees.

Your sons and daughters will NOT be getting their money back according to the AP.

But it is now official: Social Security is a lousy investment for the average worker. People retiring today will be among the first generation of workers to pay more in Social Security taxes than they receive in benefits over the course of their lives, according to a new analysis by the Associated Press.

Read more: http://business.time.com/2012/08/07/social-security-now-takes-more-than-it-gives/#ixzz2fS7c36zV

How would this program become broken?  If we are all forced to pay into it, how could it be unsustainable? 

The only answer is that someone at some time took out more than their share.  This has come in the form of abuse (noted above) and paying out more than the system can handle.  Basically a large group of people have been taking more out of the system than they put into it, which is stealing.

You aren’t taking from a wasteful government (as many people like to justify), you are taking from your own family and friends relatives.  This country is $16 trillion in debt, because its people have been stealing from the next generation for way too long.

The Bible warns against using “unequal weights” and that is precisely what Social Security system uses to pay out.

Jesus told us to pay taxes, but to give to God what is Gods.  We are made in his image, we are to form community and support each other.  Government cradle to grave programs destroy community and create selfishness.

Yes Social Security is a system that we have and taking from it may be the only thing some people have to live.  If you don’t have to buy into it, then we shouldn’t.  It is the church that God charges to take care of widows and those who cannot work.  However the Church and Christians have bought into the idea that it is the government’s job.  Even if we say we don’t believe it is the government’s job our actions clearly show differently. 

The government has gotten so big and is in charge of things it should not be responsible for because Christians refuse to say no and continue, through their actions, to support a larger government.

At best taking Social Security as a Christian is buying into the idea that the government has the right to redistribute funds from future generation to our own.  At worst it is using the government to legislate stealing from future generations so we can live the good life.  At what point does it stop?