Our point of debate is what the legitimate and most beneficial means are for accomplishing this. But it is sheer political fantasy that in Matthew 25 Jesus was mandating a government engineered transfer of wealth from the rich to the poor

The “conversation” between the evangelical left and right is heating up as President Obama, the left’s champion, sinks in the polls and his legislative majority is in jeopardy. Bible-thumping progressives warn of the judgment day, repeating the Lord’s words, “as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me” (Matthew 25:34-46).

When Christians serve the poor, when we make an effort to alleviate their suffering, Jesus receives that kindness as given to Him personally. But the left uses this passage to justify expanding the welfare state to European proportions. But as someone once said to a traveler asking directions, “You can’t get there from here.”

Leave aside the question whether such help is charity or justice, and the significance of the qualification “my brothers,” and consider who the poor are whom Jesus has in mind.

The poor in the Bible—“the least of these”—are not what we call poor today. In America, “the poor” are fed, clothed, and housed at a level far above what the teeming masses in the shantytowns of Brazil, Haiti, and Bangladesh have ever known. They are generally poor only relative to our widespread middle class expectations.

Read More: http://online.worldmag.com/2010/10/06/the-least-of-these/