sarahbelle and i were having a discussion this morning about if Jesus would want socialized medicine and social programs in general. i said no, she said yes. since u know a whole lot more about the Bible and biblical history, what is your take on the issue?
Interesting question and one that I have never thought about. This entire WWJD thing can get interesting. So you want to open a can of worms do ya? The simple answer is... insurance? socialized medicine? Just heal them and save a lot of money :)
I would think that Jesus would be more concerned about people than politics. Since socialized medicine is mostly about politics and doesn't solve anything, I think that He would probably concentrate His efforts on other things. I base this on His not establishing Himself as a governmental authority. As I have pointed out, even with socialized medicine, you don't have parity of services. You still have problems with the system and not everyone has the same access.
If you look through the New Testament, one of the things that many people thought that He would do was to establish an earthly kingdom... we know that this is not what He did. We probably should look at His example of helping others PERSONALLY... did not expect the rulers to do things for Him... as a matter of fact, He tended to tick off the establishment and governing bodies.
Now... I have never said that we should not offer access to healthcare for people without insurance. Obviously we should do that but at the same time we should expect that people act responsibly.
In two of the countries where I have lived with socialized medicine... PRIVATE INSURANCE is now growing! Almost anyone in the middle/upper classes has a private insurance policy. So... eventually, the "socialized medicine" is only for the poor... it looks very similar to what we have in the US...
Anyway... that is all for now, I am not avoiding the issue. I just will not be home much today and I will be gone to Chiapas all of next week so you all will have to solve the world's problems without me.
BTR