My response on Josh Harris' post:

Josh Harris quoted Margaret Thatcher, "The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money."
He sent it via Twitter to facebook.

It seems that his pseudo-political statement opened the floodgates. My response was rather long but here it is:

"A heart of giving is not socialism or communism. We are to live as generous givers. That is our calling as Jesus-followers. Whether we give time, money, food, or all of the above, we need to rise up to provide for the needy. But because the church has become so apathetic, the world is looking for something or someone to provide. Why not the state? Because the state cannot provide the true avenue of change: the GOSPEL. The church needs to rise up to provide real solutions for people so that they will hear the gospel. Jesus was the Model for us. Unfortunately, people will always depend on the state to provide what the Church fails to do. We've had a great opportunity in our country, and I think we may have missed it. Let's love the poor before it's too late. Our pastor has been speaking on this from Luke 4:16-21. I'd encourage everyone to read [the passage] again: what did Jesus come to do? Will this be accomplished through government? Or through His body, the Church!?"

I think it's important for believers in Jesus to differentiate between what we believe politics and government can accomplish, and what the Church should accomplish.

The book my pastor has been drawing from recently is: The Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns. E & I have been reminded and convicted to think radically about our giving as a family, and to not limit that to our money.