A
quote from Greg Gianforte, Republican candidate for governor of Montana:
There's nothing in the Bible that talks about retirement. And yet it's
been an accepted concept in our culture today. Nowhere does
it say, "Well, he was a good and faithful servant, so he went to the
beach." It doesn't say that anywhere.
The example I think of is Noah. How old was Noah
when he built the ark? 600. He wasn't like, cashing Social Security
checks, he wasn't hanging out, he was working. So, I think we have an
obligation to work. The role we have in work may change over time, but
the concept of retirement is not biblical.
18 comments:
I believe there is a scientific explaination for everything. If a religious person of SOUND mind was severely ill would they wait for jesus and the bible to fix it or go to a well trained physician?
You know what is "biblical?" Taking care of the poor and sick. He must not have read those parts.
The man is a republitard bible thumping whack job....
Just like the duggar family pimping thier kids off for money in the name of the lord....................
OH PLEASE..............
Did you get that out of your system? Good. Now focus on the issue.
Why is the relatively new idea of a societally-funded retirement sacrosanct? Historically (Biblically or otherwise!), there has never been such a thing as retirement until modern times. Helping the poor and needy is one thing, but I missed the part where you automatically became poor and needy or had no responsibility for yourself at the magic age of 65.
Care to opine on the actual issue he's trying to address and move the discussion forward?
The reason why retirement was not a concept until modern times was that people didn't live long enough to retire. We live 40 years longer now than folks did in the 1880's. So relying on a lack of historical or biblical basis for retirement is laughable.
To put it in terms Mr. Gianforte would probably understand, people were eaten by dinosaurs before they reached an age where retirement would become a concept in the past.
Let's face it--all of us age, and unless we die from sudden events, we will gradually become decrepit. As an agrarian society, we used to have 6-8 kids to help with labor and then to eventually care for elderly parents whose capacity to work had diminished. My home-steading grandfather just sat around in his rocking chair and was what Mr. Gianforte might consider a "malingerer."
Because of our more industrialized society, we no longer need large families, and we may be more responsible citizens of plant earth by not over-breeding. Therefore, it is difficult for a single adult child or even two to completely support aged parents. Given the present American economy, lower- and middle-class citizens often cannot accumulate enough assets to provide for their own living expenses once they've lost the capacity to earn. This is where our supposedly civilized morality kicks in to provide for the common good.
Most of those who espouse the views of Mr. Gianforte usually have become wealthy beyond the capabilities of most Americans and have not reservations about shoving those less fortunate off the train. Others live in a libertarian dreamworld to which only a few can aspire. I guess that when the elderly can no longer earn enough for their own support in a pure capitalistic society, they should just die quickly and not bother the 1%.
If you have no social conscience, such opinions as those of Mr. Gianforte make sense.
I wonder if Mr. Gianforte has a problem with radio, automobiles, and penicillin. After all, those aren't in the bible either.
Noah died at age 950, so using ratio's, Noah's 600 years is equivalent to age 50-51.
Noah was FINISHED the ark at age 600. Noah started the work on the ark many decades earlier.
Also, AFTER he finished the ark, he built a vineyard and got drunk. So bad comparison Gianforte!
Listen buddy I paid into social security in fica taxes for over
for forty years and i want a return on my money.
There is something very "biblical" about stealing people's tax
money and making promises they can't make or have the audacity
to say SS is broke after outright theft of the money in the first place or otherwise running a ponzi scheme.
Whenever I ponder about this subject Jimmy Hoffa and Bernie Madoff
comes to mind.
For all of the money Bernie burnt people for he should
grow eyes in back of his head because he is a dead man walking.
People connected to the mafia have been whacked for much less than
50 billion dollars in a pryramid scheme.
Bernie Nadoff is lucky he is still breathing and walking above ground.
He never would have crossed John Gotti.
As far as Jimmy Hoffa is concerned it was rumoured he got whacked
because he wanted to be a wisenheimer wise guy and crossed other
mob bosses in detroit by stealing union/retirement funds to build
gambling casinos as if there is honor among thieves.
It is very "biblical" about being a liar thief and charlatan also called swindler or mountebank and have all of those evil things
that evil people do come back and bite them
in the butt.
According to the old testament the wages of sin is death and god
won't be mocked.
Jesus didn't need any retirement, but then again he was kind of a trust fund kid with a wealthy father.
@9:52: ANY religious person is not of sound mind, only of a manipulated mindset. ALL religions were created by the Catholic Church. Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and all the rest are ALL politically enforced indoctrination by controllers to lead you to a false belief, hence "Government", which in Latin simply means "mind control". "Bible" means By "Ba'El" and once you understand "El", then you understand its source. El controls the El-ite, El-oheim, and El-izabeth (as in QE). While the Bible may contain some truth, it's more of a step-by-step play book for its authors and not a mysterious prophecy.
23:44: "Jesus" is a fictitious character. He is actually the offspring of Cleopatra and Julius Caesar. Rome never fell, just changed their story and names to protect the corrupt and guilty. UCC is a modern version of Roman Law.
@ 5:28 PM,
What a strange post!
He isn't talking about RETIREMENT; he is talking about SOCIAL SECURITY.
This is not some freebee from the government; this is a program that we have paid into. I am disabled, and have been paying this insurance policy for over 21 years. What am I supposed to do, say don't pay? If I had a car and paid my insurance for years and years and the car was totaled, am I supposed to tell the insurance company, please do not pay me, I'll build an Arc instead? I bet when the time comes our friend Greg Gianforte will gladly take his government pension and benefits, get real!
Leviticus 19:10
Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the LORD your God.
Leviticus 23:22
"'When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and for the foreigner residing among you. I am the LORD your God.'"
Deuteronomy 24:19
When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.
Deuteronomy 24:20
When you beat the olives from your trees, do not go over the branches a second time. Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow.
@4:09
Amen! I always sympathize with conservative christian Republicans. There are so many inconvenient instructions in the Bible for them, especially when it comes to subjects like helping the poor. I'm afraid if he came again they would condemn him as a bleeding heart liberal socialist.
http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Bible-Verses-About-Helping-the-Poor/
Retirees--the real job creators
It's a shame we have to post these views anonymously. (Anything else would be to invite the scorn and hatred of those not sharing this view and has been known to ruin lives and careers) In "real life" I would befriend every last free-thinking, intelligent and reasonable one of you.
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