Terence Day’s rebuttal (The Bible Doesn’t Support Prosperity Gospel) to my column (The Forgotten Commandment Still Shapes Our Politics) would be devastating if I had actually written the column he attacks.
I did not preach the “prosperity gospel.” I never claimed wealth proves God’s favor, poverty His disfavor, or Christians must not help the poor. Day invented that argument, attributed it to me, then refuted it. That is a textbook straw man.
His gleaning argument actually strengthens my point. Leviticus commanded landowners to leave portions of their harvest so the poor could glean them. Notice what God did not command: government agents confiscating the harvest, redistributing it, and calling the landowner greedy for having more. The poor still had to glean. Biblical charity and modern redistribution are not synonymous.
Nor does Jesus’ command to the rich young ruler justify government taking more from the wealthy. Christ commanded that man to give his property voluntarily. He did not instruct Caesar to seize it. That distinction escaped Day.
Then come the East India Company, corporate personhood, Super PACs, dark money, bailouts, and the kitchen sink. None answers the Tenth Commandment.
I explicitly wrote that “fraud, theft, and broken contracts should be punished” and Scripture never defends “dishonesty or exploitation.” If wealth is acquired unjustly, punish the injustice. That does not establish a moral claim on honestly acquired wealth.
My argument was simple: another person having more does not make me his victim or his property mine.
Day can disagree. But first he should argue against what I wrote, not what he wishes I had written.