Why do Christians Need the Government to Feed the Poor?

It's a very valid question, in my always humble opinion ;-) - Why do Christians need the government to feed the poor?

I ask it because of two Facebook posts from friends that I have seen in the last two days.  The articles these friends linked to are:

Petition Congress: Don't Turn Your Back on the Poorest People

and

Polling Evangelicals: Cut Aid to World's Poor, Unemployed

Both of the articles make me want to scream and/or pull my hair out.  This first article calls for people of faith to grovel to their elected "representatives" in order to have them dish out some of other people's money to noble causes like feeding poor people.

"Dear Honorable Members of Congress: 

[I would seriously question whether that word, "honorable," should be used when describing a member of congress, but I digress] 

The challenges before you as you work to complete the spending bill for the remainder of FY11 are indeed daunting. And we must address our fiscal imbalance, or everyone—particularly low-income families—will suffer. But hunger and poverty are not partisan issues, and your efforts should not cause further harm to the most vulnerable people here in the United States and around the globe.

We have a moral obligation to help those in need, and your spending decisions can mean the difference between life and death..."

Yes, we do have a moral obligation to help those in need, but here's a novel idea:  How about instead of wasting time trying to persuade people with a 100+ year track record of immorally wasting bundles of money on war after war after war and needless, pointless, wasteful government programs, why not do something yourself?  Is it necessary that the government dish out money to feed the poor?  Can't you do it?  Shouldn't you be the ones to do it?  Didn't Jesus encourage his would-be follower to do so? 

I can't think of a time in the gospels when Jesus appealed to Caesar to help feed the poor in Judea and none of the apostles that wrote letters in the New Testament advocated it either.

For good reason, too.  Caesar, as well as the government of America, both operate off of the premise that it's fine and dandy to forcefully take other people's property and dish it out to whoever they please, however they please.  Christians lose all relevance when they try to appeal to these so-called authorities to use their plundering powers in order to help poor people.  The kingdom of God does not grow when followers of Jesus use anti-Christ tactics in order to do good. 

Here's how it does grow, taken straight from the mouth of an emperor of Rome, Julian the Apostate:

"Why do we not observe that it is their [the Christians'] benevolence to strangers, their care for the graves of the dead and the pretended holiness of their lives that have done the most to increase atheism? [atheism to them was not believing in all of the Roman gods] ... When ... the impious Galileans support not only their own poor, but ours as well, all men see that our people lack aid from us."

This Roman, pagan emperor could see that by simply doing what they were supposed to do, the Christians were drawing people into the new family of God and exposing the abject failure of the Roman governmental system.

Christians back then didn't seem to think that they needed the government to help do what they were supposed to do, so why do so many in America now?  Dare I say that Christians in America have found an idol to bow down to?

So, Sojourners, What Would Jesus Cut?  He'd probably say to cut all of it, to give to Caesar what is Caesar's, to God what is God's, and to get off your rear-ends and feed some poor people if that's what you're really concerned about.  Quit expecting Caesar to do what you're supposed to do and quit wasting your time begging him to.  Toss out that idol called America and start trying to build God's kingdom instead.  His kingdom is not of this world; it doesn't operate the way this world's kingdoms do...remember?