Every time I read one of Ray Shamlin’s letters I am amazed by his claimed firsthand knowledge of what America’s Founding Fathers thought, believed, and intended as they wrote the Constitution. In his latest revelation, he shared that they used only one specific Biblical teaching to write the entire U.S. Constitution.
Not only that, Mr. Shamlin is now claiming to speak for all of “us that are Christians” as he uses claims of his Christianity to justify denying government assistance to the sick, poor, and needy. Ray Shamlin certainly does not speak for me, nor do I believe that he is qualified to speak for our Founding Fathers.
To say that assistance should not be provided to those in need means Mr. Shamlin has chosen to ignore hundreds of Biblical verses that tell us explicitly to provide for them. For example, in Deuteronomy 15:11 we are told, “For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.” In Philippians 2:4 we are told, “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.”
Mr. Shamlin’s excuse for ignoring these Biblical orders is that they are for individuals and not our government. But in Romans 13 we are specifically told that governments exist only through God and to obey the laws and rules of our government.
For all of Mr. Shamlin’s self-righteous proselytizing, the bottom line of his letter is to once again espouse his opposition to the Affordable Care Act, and now to a single-payer system that would allow access to healthcare for every American Citizen through a single entity similar to Medicare for everyone.
I wonder if Mr. Shamlin will refuse to accept Medicare benefits since Medicare is also a government subsidized health care system. If not, his criticism of the Affordable Care Act seems quite a bit hypocritical.
Patsy Sheppard
Tar Heel