Treasure in Heaven

19. Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:

20. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:

21. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

—Matthew 6

16. And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully:

17. And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?

18. And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.

19. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.

20. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?

21. So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.

—Luke 12

Why do we need a punitive income tax? Jesus makes is clear that rich people who use their large incomes on themselves are going to be in big trouble. They will be punished in due course. Some on the Left would say that we need it to take care of the poor in the here an now.

If “treasure in heaven” consists of making donations to support priests and fancy church buildings, then those leftists have a point. But is this what Jesus was referring to? Was he asking money for his ministry? For future priests? Pastors? Consider a quote we have already seen:

21. Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.

—Mark 10 (underlining mine)

Treasure in heaven consists of giving to the poor, not giving to clergy or church building funds! And there are more passages to back up this assertion:

33. Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth.

34. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

—Luke 12 (underlining mine)

12. Then said he also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompence be made thee.

13. But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind:

14. And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.

—Luke 14 (underlining mine)

Treasure in heaven is not obtained by giving to preachers or for building fancy church buildings. It is obtained by giving to the poor. I invite all of you on the Left who are critical of the Religious Right to learn these verses well and preach them. Just keep in mind that many on the Religious Right are already practicing them. If we can get Christianity focused back on what Jesus said regarding money, then we have a great pool of voluntary money from which the poor can be helped. There would be no need for government mandated welfare. Furthermore, there are plenty of non-Christians who also practice private charity.

Some of you may ask “why bother?” Why not stick to governmental welfare instead of voluntary charity? The reasons are many.

A government powerful enough to take care of everyone is powerful enough to do many harmful things.
Government welfare has some serious inherent inefficiencies. Good government is about rule of law. Taking care of the needy requires a great deal of case by case action.
The modern welfare state increases poverty nearly as much as it helps. It provides incentives for unproductive behaviors; it stifles small business through myriad regulations; it provides cover for many subsidies for the rich; it provides services to the middle class who could buy those services for themselves.
High taxes and healthy welfare recipients harden the hearts of many.
There is a loss of the spiritual benefit that comes from giving freely.

And finally, we have the all important question: do people receive treasure in heaven for the taxes they pay to support the welfare system?

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