The Pious Gotcha

February 17, 2026

There was a day when spirited debates took time. People aimed to formulate cohesive and comprehensive arguments. Any quotable statements were gleaned from long, well-written letters or papers.

Today the quickest comment wins, logical fallacies abound, and worth is often ascribed to that sentence or meme that gets the masses liking, re-posting, or chortling away at their keyboards.

A common example goes something like this:

“I was just reading the Bible that Evangelicals supposedly follow. It seems like with how you treat the marginalized, Jesus would say that you’re the bad guys.”

Pretty strong statement, right?

We should all readily acknowledge the Bible-wide message of God’s heart towards the downtrodden and subjected people in the world. Of course, the vast majority of the explicit commands addressing the topic come from the law, the prophets, and the Apostle Paul (Leviticus 19:15, Micah 6:8, Galatians 2:10, etc. etc. etc.). As you may know, these portions of scripture are more than problematic for those who are left leaning in their worldview. There are some real pesky passages that put a high standard on holiness, sexual purity, and a God that does not think “COEXIST” bumper stickers are cool (Psalm 110).

This means that these contentious posts emanate from a presupposition that often rejects the unity of scripture and the inspiration of the entire Bible by the Holy Spirit (also called the Spirit of Christ, mind you). And the intent isn't for Christian churches to increase their benevolence funds by a small percentage or to open their food pantry another few hours. The intent is to say that Christians should help on the terms of the critics, and what these critics believe Jesus would say if He were here. But for the sake of argument, it is worth looking not at what Jesus would say – but what He did say.

The beatitudes are a stunning list of blessings for poor and lowly people. But they’re for rich and lofty people, too. In fact, here Jesus blesses anyone who is “poor in spirit” (Matthew 5:3) and anyone who is πραΰς (lowly, or not self-important; Matthew 5:5). There are economically compromised people who are self-important and there are upper-middle class people who are not spiritually arrogant, and vice-versa. To be fair, there is a condensed version of these words in Luke 6 which illustrates Jesus does consider the physical well-being of His followers who are impoverished. Assigning virtue to poverty and sin to stewardship is a sloppy caricature of Biblical truth.

While there is a precedent for helping anyone in need that God providentially places in your path (Luke 10:29-37), Jesus’ oft-quoted “least of these” specifically refers to His brothers – to Christians (Matthew 25:40). The Good Samaritan parable and the principles in both these texts reinforce Christ’s creation principle of subsidiarity. The best care ought to occur at the most basic level; family, community, region, world. God wants efficient and effective generosity. But He wants even more than that.

Jesus does expect His followers to take care of the poor, but He also commands that it not be performative (Matthew 6:2). He also makes sharing the gospel part and parcel of sharing material needs (Matthew 11:5). Although Evangelicals are already often the vanguard of care and relief work, what would the critics say if Christians stepped up their efforts but continued to share the historic gospel: the exclusivity and necessity of Jesus as Lord and Savior?

Christians are to love all their neighbors. Loving neighbors, Jesus quite clearly explains, only makes sense if you know how to love God and actually love Him (Matthew 6:36-40, Mark 12:28-31, Luke 10:26-27). God defines love. God’s standard supersedes political ideology or the protest du jour. This inevitably means Biblical convictions will run perpendicular to the world’s. There are times when they do align. But even from the few above quotes from the gospels it is plain that unfettered entitlement programs and federally or globally managed aid are potentially problematic.

And, as always, it is worth pointing out that the most “marginalized” people in this country just so happen to be the unborn. According to the CDC, the majority of pre-born murders take place in the wombs of low-income, unwed, black mothers. Curious how those voiceless black babies who should be winning the intersectionality gold medal are not the darlings of the progressive theologians of social media. In fact, if they’re upset about the percentage of people who die at the hands of ICE agents, wait until they hear about the mortality rate for babies who are aborted.

All this is to say that the hypothetical Tweet shown above is a misguided attempt at a pious sounding “gotcha.” Are there Christians and churches that are sinfully derelict in their thoughts, words, and deeds towards those who need help? Absolutely. But do not be fooled: posts like these are not about iron sharpening iron. They’re intended to undermine an orthodox, historical, Biblical understanding of things like welfare, borders, victimhood, the nuclear family, crime, the role of the state, human dignity, oppression, authority, and the very definition of words like “humility.” They aren't interested in the great care taken to minister according to the word of God, which does entail nuance and sometimes saying "no." They’re often found wanting when weighed against logic and, more importantly, scripture.

Most telling, they’re often made without regard to the Lordship of the risen Christ. If you attempt to quote the Bible you must confess that He is the only hope of each and every person. And all people in this world are not only impoverished by the impacts of the fall but bound in the squalid debtor’s prison of his or her own sin.