Jailed for Feeding Homeless

God's Law

The weakest members of the society are under special legal protection (Exo. 23:6; Prov. 22:22), and in addition, God encourages those well off to freely help and share with the needy (Deut. 15:7-11). There are specific provisions in the Law that command the society to leave open opportunities for the poor to work for their food (Exo. 23:11; Lev. 19:10). God Himself sets apart at least third of the tithe owed to Him for the poor (Deut. 26:12). While there is no government re-distribution of wealth from rich to poor (that would be theft and therefore a violation of the Eighth Commandment), private individuals are called by God to freely give to the needy, and the government is not given any power to intervene in such charity, for whatever reason.

Man's Law

Stupid rules passed by power-hungry government thugs trump any concern for the poor, any private charity, and any legitimate needs of non-criminal individuals. Private charity becomes a crime against the state (as it also was in the Soviet Union). The state – our modern god walking on earth – decides who will give and who will receive, and under what conditions, and charity is allowed only by government fiat and through government force. Private voluntary charity is always under suspicion, and as many rules are passed as possible to make it impossible and illegal, even if that means starvation for the needy in the community. The needs of the poor be damned, it’s the strong men in power whose whims determine who gets to eat and who doesn’t.

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Article Author

A Reformed missionary to his native Bulgaria for over 10 years, Bojidar preaches and teaches doctrines of the Reformation and a comprehensive Biblical worldview. Having founded Bulgarian Reformation Ministries in 2001, he and his team have translated over 30,000 pages of Christian literature about the application of the Law of God in every area of man’s life and society, and published those translations online for free. He has been active in the formation of the Libertarian movement in Bulgaria, a co-founder of the Bulgarian Society for Individual Liberty and its first chairman.

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