by Marc Hays
In 2008, presidential candidate Barak Obama promised that he would bring about the end of childhood hunger in America by 2015. Assuming, for the sake of argument, that these were not merely empty words aimed at winning him an election—a huge assumption, I know, but work with me here—would three meals per day, every day, for all the children in America necessarily make America a better place? In order to answer that question, one would need to know how this lofty goal was going to be accomplished. Does “ending childhood hunger in America” justify any means necessary? For example, if America invaded some other country, took all their food, brought it back here for our children, while the other country’s children starved, would that make America a better place? What if we killed all the babies under two and fed them to all the children old enough to make the cut—an immodest proposal, indeed—would that make America a better place? Certainly not. The two preceding options may appear to be more far-fetched than the current administration’s model for the redistribution of wealth; however, I assert that the current model is destroying the next generation, as well as our country, rather than improving them.
In the beginning, before any sin, cruelty, or suffering arrived on the scene, there was hunger. In the garden there were trees and these trees bore fruit, which was beautiful and good for food. In the garden was a man and this man bore an open ended digestive system, which was capable of being full and becoming empty. The fruit was designed to be eaten; the man was designed to eat. It was a match made in Eden.
But Adam had hunger pains that did not come from his belly and so do we. God created man, in His image, to work and to keep the garden; then to expand the garden by filling the earth and subduing it. Why has man—even the seed of Cain—gone out and tended gardens, flocks, and herds; invented the wheel, the tractor, and the combine; built trucks, trains, and ships? He was hungry for food. Why has man—even the seed of Cain—developed musical instruments, weaved ornate tapestries, and accomplished amazing architectural feats? He was hungry for more than food. We were not created to be merely practical, i.e., to get enough calories for the day; we were created in the image of God with the desire to create beautiful things for his glory, in response to his grace. This non-digestive “hunger” is evidenced in the beautiful things man has created.
Not only were people designed with a hunger for beauty, but also with a hunger that is only filled by finding satisfaction in the work of one’s own hands. You know that feeling you get when the work is done; you stand back, looking at it, and say to yourself, “Yeah. I did that, and it’s done.” That’s not always some sort of unbiblical pride. Your heart is not always an “idol factory.” The satisfaction you take in your work is a gift from God. He created you to work; he created you to enjoy working; and he created you to rejoice in the fruit of your hands. At the end of each day of creation, God “stood back,” assessed the work, and rendered a judgment: “That’s good.” This personal satisfaction, which can only come from personal labor, has been stamped in man’s very fabric. Perpetually giving food to those with no vested interest in its production may fill the belly, but it is a great injustice to the person, for it will strip the person of the dignity that comes from a “job well done.”
If any person, family, organization, or institution, such as the Federal government of these United States, believes that they can walk away from what God has said about man, while at the same time providing what children need to thrive, they are grievously mistaken. They imagine the child to be a creature with no Creator, therefore bearing no resemblance to that Creator. In their vain imaginations, they devise schemes which aim at seemingly noble purposes, but in the end will eliminate all hunger, including the hungers to work, to beautify, and to find satisfaction that every image-bearer of God needs to thrive. They destroy human dignity; they decay entire cultures; and they deny obeisance to their Creator. In the end, the well-intended, but ill-conceived mercies of the wicked are cruel.
For further study, check out this article by Theodore Dalrymple. It is his accounting of the real-time effects of the social welfare state in Great Britain.
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