Applied Christianity

There are the many misconceptions about who is poor and why. How much they receive in help. How much it costs everyone else in taxes to provide that help.

There are stereotypes and overblown numbers, often provided in response.

Jesus sat down with tax collectors. Jesus also sat down with people who would have received some of those taxes if the modern welfare state had existed.

Sitting down with, eating with, and caring for people who receive and need welfare. An indication that we too should care for them. An indication that it is applied Christianity.

The retort may be that not supporting the welfare state is caring. Yet not giving the hungry food, the sick healthcare, the poor enough money to live on, and accusing them of being undeserving, does not seem like applied Christianity to me.