Is this in the Bible ?

[jberryhill]

40. Because, and this is true for others than Christians, it doesn't "count" morally

If I go around town and buy every hungry person a sandwich, that's generally considered to be a good and charitable thing to do, and earns me moral Green Stamps or whatever sort of merit being charitable is good for.

If you stick a gun in my back and make me buy every hungry person a sandwich, then my doing so is primarily out of concern for myself - to wit, I don't want you to shoot me in the back.

You see, if we didn't tax anyone in order to do things like feed hungry people, then those with the means to do so would earn considerable moral merit by doing it on their own. But by compelling them to give up the money they would otherwise lavish on doing good works, you are, in fact, depriving society of the spectacle of the remarkable acts of Christian charity in which they would otherwise be engaged.

In other words, you are contributing to moral rot by not allowing people to do those things that Jesus wanted them to do - freely and out of the goodness of their hearts as a reflection of the grace they have been given. What you've done instead is said "give the government money to do good things, or we'll throw you in jail." Yes, Jesus said to feed the naked and clothe the hungry or whatever, but he didn't command anyone to take money away from other people, who don't want to part with it, in order to do it. That wasn't Jesus, it was Robin Hood. But I can certainly understand mixing up fairytale characters.