The Biblical Perspective on Work Versus the Washington DC Perspective on Work.

By:  Dale Weckbacher

2 Thessalonians 3:10b

If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat.

NKJV

When I turned 16 the first thing I wanted to do was get my drivers license.  After passing my driving test my dad gave me his old car.  It was a 1963 Mercury Comet wagon so since I turned 16 in 1972, the car was 10 years old.  My father told me that if I wanted a newer car I would have to find a job to pay for it.  I also quickly learned that my dad may have given me a car but it would not go far unless I filled it with gas and maintained it.  So, in obedience to my dad I found myself flipping burgers at Jack-In-the-Box.  After about a year of working for $1.95 per hour, which was the minimum wage then, I purchased a newer car. 

My dad has gone home to be with the Lord but I am glad he used my desire to own a nicer car to teach me the value of hard work.  Unfortunately, we heard from our wizards of smart in DC this week that being locked into a job is bad for people and it is better for them to be liberated from the restraints of a job and instead be home with their children depending on government programs to meet their needs.  (1)  This illustrates the difference between the Biblical perspective on work, which my dad taught me, and DC’s warped perspective on work, which is designed to create an even greater dependency class that will continue to re-elect them to office. 

This does not mean that that as a Christian I do not support charity for Jesus taught that we are to be charitable in Matthew 25:31-46.  Jesus is acknowledging that there will be times when people are genuinely in need and we as Christians have an obligation to care for their needs.  However, we are also to help these people find work so they can become self-sufficient people no longer requiring charitable assistance.  In fact, once these individuals no longer need charitable assistance they will be able to give back by helping others in need. 

The first person to have a job in the Bible was Adam who was given the duty of tending the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:15).  God gave Adam this job prior to the fall, which dispels the myth that work is a curse.  The curse pronounced on Adam was not work but that his work would be difficult (Genesis 3:17-19).  Therefore, the next time your job is difficult, do not blame God but Adam.  We are created in the image of God, a God who works, after all, he created this entire world and universe in just six days and then took a day off as an example to us of the need to take one day a week to rest. 

Use of the term job lock is just another liberal ploy to justify their failed policies.  In Monday February 10, Talk show host Rush Limbaugh postulated the belief that the reason behind touting unemployment as a liberating force for good in people’s lives was an attempt to cushion people from the devastating news of the CBO report on Obamacare.  (2)  The CBO report revealed the fact that Obamacare is expected to drive 2.5 million full-time-equivalent workers out of the labor force by 2024.  (3)  It would appear that the liberal perspective on work is to use it as a political football.  They can claim that they have delivered people from an evil job in order to distract them from their failed policies.

My hope is that most individuals understand that having a job or business that pays them income is the best way to meet the needs of themselves and their families.  As we can see from scripture, this is not just something that was invented during the industrial revolution as some have said but something God wants us to do.  In an essay written by Benjamin Kline Hunnicutt, a professor of leisure studies at the University of Iowa, he attempted to justify the liberal logic that work is evil by saying, “During the Industrial Revolution, Americans worked incredibly long hours.  It was common for people to work from dawn to dusk, often into the night, six days a week—better than 60 to 70 hours a week with no vacation and few holidays.  (4)  What professor Hunnicut fails to mention is that prior to moving from the farm to cities during the industrial revolution, people worked the same long hours on the family farm.  All the industrial revolution did was transfer these long hours of work from the farm to the factory. 

The hard working people of this country have caused our country to become an economic superpower envied by the rest of the world.  I recommend that people adopt the biblical view of work and work hard allowing god to bless their efforts instead of waiting for some government bureaucrat to give them a handout in order to secure their vote.  Remember, government bureaucrats could care less about people’s economic state and are only interested in keeping their jobs.  They have no problem with using the taxes of others to buy votes by giving handouts to struggling individuals who they know will continue to vote for them to keep the handouts coming. 

Join me in being an example to others by working hard and demonstrating the value God has placed on hard work.  Proverbs 12:24 says the following

Work hard and become a leader; be lazy and become a slave.

NLT

We must be examples of the value of hard work to a world losing its work ethic. 

1. The Washington Times. EDITORIAL: The Democrats’ job lock ruse Only in Obama World does losing your job set you free. www.washingtontimes.com. [Online] The Washington Times, February 10, 2014. [Cited: February 11, 2014.] http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/feb/10/editorial-the-democrats-job-lock/.

2. Limbaugh, Rush. Democrats: Work is Punishment. www.rushlimbaugh.com. [Online] EIB Network, February 10, 2014. [Cited: February 11, 2014.] http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2014/02/10/democrats_work_is_punishment.

3. Roy, Avik. Millions Americans Out of the Workforce. www.forbes.com. [Online] Forbes, February 5, 2014. [Cited: February 11, 2014.] http://www.forbes.com/sites/theapothecary/2014/02/05/white-house-its-a-good-thing-that-obamacare-will-drive-2-5-million-americans-out-of-the-workforce/.

4. Hunnicutt, Benjamin Kline. Why Do Republicans Want Us to Work All the Time? www.politico.com. [Online] Politico Magazine, February 7, 2014. [Cited: February 11, 2014.] http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/02/jobs-leisure-republicans-want-us-to-work-all-the-time-103282.html?hp=pm_2#.Uvrg0flSbkr.