Adrian Rogers on Free Lunches
By Art Carden • Monday November 17, 2008 2:22 PM PDT • 27 Comments
There aren’t any. The late Adrian Rogers is one of several iconic former pastors of Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis (Full disclosure: my wife and I are members). He had a wonderful ability to state complex principles in clear, concise, vivid language. I got this quote via email earlier today; it’s a pretty clear statement of the principle that there is no free lunch (HT: Adrienne Brumley).
You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.
I assume this came from one of his radio messages. Here’s a different (but very similar) quote from one of his books:
Let me say a word here that may sound political. I hope not, because I believe it’s moral and biblical. You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the industrious out of it. You don’t multiply wealth by dividing it. Government cannot give anything to anybody that it doesn’t first take from somebody else.
Whenever somebody receives something without working for it, somebody else has to work for it without receiving. The worst thing that can happen to a nation is for half of the people to get the idea they don’t have to work because somebody else will work for them, and the other half to get the idea that it does no good to work because they don’t get to enjoy the fruit of their labor. (Adrian Rogers, Ten Secrets for a Successful Family: A Perfect 10 for Homes that Win. Crossway Books, 1998, p. 138).
Both passages could be taken out of Frederic Bastiat’s The Law (PDF here, audiobook here, courtesy of the Mises Institute).
Tags: Bailouts, Budget and Tax Policy, Law, Natural Law, Religion, Welfare 
Too bad Obama never read Adrian Rogers or Frederic Bastiat, or if he did, he either didn’t agree or didn’t care. When you’re an ideologue like Obama, the ends justify the means. Achieving “social justice,” however he decides to define the term, trumps private property rights, economic prosperity, and simple morality.
It’s also too bad that Americans in the millions who voted for this man don’t know the basic truths that Rogers explains. Sooner or later, they’re going to find out the hard way that there is indeed no free lunch.
Steve Hogan | Nov 17, 2008 | Reply
If you lend and consume instead of save and produce you will end up like a bankrupt American.
Johnny | Nov 17, 2008 | Reply
What’s this business about “half”? I guess if literally half the country thought that they didn’t have to work, we would be in a world of trouble. but “half” of the country doesn’t think that. i would venture to guess that the actual number of people who may in fact think this is something much smaller than that. it’s stuff like this that plays into dangerous (and seriously dubious) notions of “us” and “them” that continue to plague american politics and, more to the point, chain american christians of the conservative persuasion to a stunted moral outlook that fails in one of the central missions of christianity – to love mercy and walk humbly with god.
Vincent | Nov 18, 2008 | Reply
This “half” business relates to the fact that about “half” the workers in this country effectively pay no federal income taxes...and the post turtle will likely enlarge that group (much to the detriment of those that actually do work and pay taxes).
Russell | Nov 18, 2008 | Reply
The liberal elite have one objective and that is to create a socialist democracy out of our representative Republic. To this end: break up traditional values, break up the traditional family, create poverty, promote illegal immigration, marginalize the electorate, legislate through the courts, and control public education. These correlate with eliminating personal liberty, free markets, and, more importantly, increase dependence on government. It is time to reacquaint our fellow citizens with our Constitution. The further down the path to socialism we go the greater the sacrifice to reestablish liberty. The American dream is under attack from within as well as from without. God watch over us all.
Hugh McPherson | Jan 16, 2009 | Reply
Sounds more like John Galt from Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged.
jim lagnese | Feb 10, 2009 | Reply
Is this the same Adrian Rogers who stated the following:
“I believe slavery is a much maligned institution; if we had slavery today, we would not have this welfare mess.”
RC | Mar 22, 2009 | Reply
It appears to be, but it needs to be considered in context.
Q | Apr 13, 2009 | Reply
The real crime of welfare is twofold. Government charity robs the giver of the blessing of having given and the receiver, the blessing of having received. Welfare is the 20th and 21st century equivalent of slavery. It has created a class of people who are are stuck in generational dependence on the government and has eroded the family structure.
Q | Apr 13, 2009 | Reply
There are many people in America that have been living on welfare and food stamps for several generations, as well as passing their subsidized housing on to their children. Welfare has become a way of life that requires no work. Lazy and shiftless begets lazy and shiftless; of course there are exceptions, but not many. Even if the actual count is one quarter of the population it’s too many. Welfare shouldn’t be available for those that simply don’t want to get a job. I had an employee resign from a good job saying she could make more money drawing welfare. She was an unwed mother of three in her mid twenties in perfect health. The welfare program as it stands promotes this attitude.
Greg Smith | Apr 22, 2009 | Reply
Greg Smith, you paid less than welfare? Luckily for this country I think we have mostly moved on from the 80′s mentality that poor=lazy and that the poor people are to blame. The true evil is greed, and people like Adrian Rogers were popular because they eased the guilt of the greedy.
Brent B | Jul 1, 2009 | Reply
Obviously the federal government must be a slave owner as the average government employee [no, not including members of congress] can live better on welfare than by working. Figure in all the subsidies for housing, food, medical care, etc., and welfare is definitely the winner. Welfare doesn’t get taken away either. Retired government employees are also punished....if they retired in 1985 or before and even if on disability ....by losing 2/3 of their eligible Social Security of a deceased spouse. I kept working to be a better example for my kids.
Laurie | Jul 25, 2009 | Reply
But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. ‘For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? ‘And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? ‘When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’ Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.
Tim | Aug 25, 2009 | Reply
I guess Sarah Palin never read his work either as she has distributed far more of the governments money to he constituents by percentage than Obama ever will.
Bret | Oct 12, 2009 | Reply
To Vincent, Brent B. and Tim,
This is directed mainly to Vincent (near the top of the thread): With your comments, you betray a lack of understanding of God’s Word (the Bible), a profound lack of understanding of Conservative Christians, and a lack of understanding of the issue under discussion.
Vincent, to “love mercy” and “walk humbly with God” is not one of the central missions of a true Christian (btw, a true Christian is conservative by Biblical standards, and we are to have mercy as God has mercy on us, and we are to be humble before God). Christ answered the Pharisee (who was asking him ‘which was the greatest commandment’): “Love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart, and with all thy Soul, and with all thy Mind. The second is like unto it – thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets”.
How do we Love God with all our heart, soul and Mind? God tells us over and over, in both the Old and New Testaments, to obey him by obeying his commandments. Christ said he was not here to do away with the law, but was here to fulfill the law. So, we are to heed his commandments in the Old Testament too. This is important to mention now, since I make reference to scripture in the Old Testament below.
We conservative Christians obey God by having a reverence for him, by earnestly seeking to develop the Godly and Christ-like character traits announced by Christ (Google ‘Beatitudes’), and by producing the Fruit of the Spirit, or proof of our continued sanctification (Google sanctification). A true Christian will exhibit some or many of the traits mentioned in the Beatitudes.
They will certainly take to heart God’s commandment to “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Understanding that it is God who worked in our hearts to make us shine for him, to glorify him).
Conservative Christians also take to heart the commandments not to be boastful, nor prideful, nor vindictive, nor spiteful. It therefore sometimes seems as though we blend into the philanthropic background and are not noticed. This is precisely what God wants for us to be and to do. However, this does not mean that God is not actively using us to reach the poor, the unfortunate and the lost. He is. I will not list U.S. and international philanthropic statistics here. If you wish to argue the point, I urge you to do some honest research. I believe you will find that God uses his people more effectively than any sectarian effort is capable of.
Returning to: how do we Love God with all our Heart, soul and mind? let me say that Conservative Christians also obey God’s commandments to admonish and rebuke fellow Christians who have gone astray. We are to do this in Love, and always keeping restoration in mind as the goal. God does instruct us to have limits to our collective church patience. Yet still in love do we release the recalcitrant wayward fellow from Church fellowship and membership, still hoping and praying for this person to come to repentance and a contrite heart before God.
In Paul’s letters to Timothy, among other things, you will find God’s commandments against acting out in certain behaviors. One often mentioned in various forms is the shirking of responsibility. There is a verse where God, through Paul talks about a man who does not provide for his family – he is considered worse than a heathen to God.
In many of the Proverbs, God, through Solomon, contrasts between the diligent and the slothful, the righteous and the fool (which translates to “rebel”), the righteous and the evil, the hard worker and the sluggard.
We also read of the trials and troubles that God gives us to chastise and humble us, to make us grow spiritually.
The true Christian who has an intimate relationship with Christ and with God, by definition, is hungry and zealous for God’s Word – all of it, not just bits and pieces that suit worldly appetites. Taking this into account, we Conservative Christians also ask God for wisdom and discernment in applying his Word in our lives. Those in leadership within many, many Conservative churches are very capable of discerning events around us (in public) that don’t square up with what God wants for Christians and for the lost.
The “Social Democrats”, or “Socialists” central tenet is the re-distribution of wealth. As a matter of fact, the American Socialist Party, for many years had, in it’s own charter/manifesto, an article that spelled out the requirement of common ownership (no concept of private ownership). When Socialism around the world began failing many, many decades ago, the American Socialist Party removed this article from their charter (or manifesto).
This does not mean that true Socialists have forsaken their quest for elimination of Capitalism and private ownership. On the contrary, and especially here in America today, the movement is alive and thriving, and is gaining momentum in the media, in the entertainment industry, and in politics as never before. These misguided folks apologize profusely to the rest of the world for America’s seemingly malignant hegemony, blinded to the truth by their own selfish agendas.
These misguided folks still see Europe and Canada as the leaders in Social Democracy (not), and covet their extensive (but failing) Social programs. Never mind that the “opulence” of these programs has been made possible only because they have not had to expend any portion of their GDP on National Defense (The U.S. has and is taking care of it for them). Never mind they now realize that they have to import large groups of workers to help pay for these programs because their own native populations are not sustaining themselves (birth rates are below “the point of no return” levels).
Never mind that these workers inevitably end up economically disenfranchised (evidence the French riots for example, where, two years ago already, the under 26 Moslem population made up over 40% of France’s total population). These disenfranchised workers are “slaves” – ironically, in a Social Democracy. Canada’s national health plan is no longer national – it is a combination of private and national – and it still is not able to keep up with serious illness caseloads. There is talk of euthanasia, and peoples consciences are now examined in what amounts to “thought control” (erroneously assigned “hate crimes”).
God wants us to give from our hearts, and not out of compliance with compulsory government laws. God also does not want us to create in others any dependency on us that encourages the sinful behaviors of sluggardliness (laziness), and indignant demands of entitlement, and the thrill of power, as these behaviors many times have lead to tyranny to quell uprisings, with resultant master/slave relationships. Greedy people (as in Capitalists), in the end, pay the consequences God ordains for them. Their power and wealth throughout history have come to quick and abrupt ends thanks to our wonderful God. Greed is ultimately self-limiting. Socialism gone wrong (greedy too) on the other hand, can, and has, throughout history, take decades and decades and decades to dismantle, all the while causing massive death and suffering.
God’s admonishments are part of his wisdom shared with us through his Word. It is also common sense for those of us who are true Christians who do not have any agendas.
However, there are many quite powerful people in powerful positions these days who do have agendas, and these agendas are anything but compassionate and loving. These agendas are, in my, and many other’s opinions (those not as conservative as I, believe it or not), borne out of arrogance, long-held spite, vindictiveness, disdain, jealousy, envy and pride. These are the forces that true Christians are led by God to contend against in the Church, and in the public insofar as it affects our abilities to carry out our Christian responsibilities to God, to show our love of the Lord our God with all our Heart, and all our Soul and all our Mind; to love our neighbors as ourselves – from our hearts.
Rudy S. | Oct 25, 2009 | Reply
Thanks for all your work Art, I stumble upon your articles more and more. You really have a great outlook and help people understand things in a clear manner (even if some is borrowed quotes). thanks
Truelib | Dec 17, 2009 | Reply
I can’t thank you enough for posting this. I really enjoyed finding out more about the original author. I especially like this tidbit:
“I believe slavery is a much maligned institution; if we had slavery today, we would not have this welfare mess.”
James | Jan 17, 2010 | Reply
The context of the quote was not American slavery but Roman slavery as it appears in the New Testament. This type of slavery was very different from American slavery, more of an indentured servitude rather than race-based oppression.
Bonnie | Mar 23, 2010 | Reply
Is this the Steve Hogan who lived(s) in Fullerton, Ca., who attended EV FreeChurch?
Carlos Teichert | Apr 9, 2010 | Reply
Hear, hear
Andy S | Jun 9, 2010 | Reply
Your point is valid. But we are not talking about voluntary charity. Jesus will not care if our taxes fed or clothed anyone. He will care what we voluntarily donate in good intention. The argument here is our money is being taken against our will to be given to others.
Kdawg | Jul 21, 2010 | Reply
Nice smear job on the poor. Esp on those put out of work and kept out of work by govt policy through the FED and their anti-inflation policies.
“Whenever somebody receives something without working for it, somebody else has to work for it without receiving.”
This is a perfect description of the relationship between the working poor and the rich they work for.
“The worst thing that can happen to a nation is for half of the people to get the idea they don’t have to work because somebody else will work for them, and the other half to get the idea that it does no good to work because they don’t get to enjoy the fruit of their labor.”
This describes how the working poor in this country are used.
It also describes quite well how the Irish workers were beaten down so badly, yet thrived when they came to America and found an opportunity to profit from their labor.
Adrian Rogers was obviously the pastor to the overlords of the working poor, the sharecroppers, and those who grew up hungry and poor among the prosperous.
I have no respect for someone who debases Christianity that way.
Bob From District 9 | Jul 25, 2010 | Reply
I lived near Bellevue Baptist Church in Cordova and found so much judgment and hypocrisy.
I loved Adrian Rogers and had his sermons on cassette. I visited Bellevue and was not comfortable at all.
So, I agree with Adrian, but not Bellevue, at least not now
Ann | Aug 6, 2010 | Reply
“Greed” seems to be nothing more than an epithet used against ambitious and successful people we don’t like.
Government is not a charity, and spending other people’s money is not philanthropy! —Me
“If you pay people not to work and tax them when they do, don’t be surprised if you get unemployment.” —Milton Friedman
“We should measure welfare’s success by how many people leave welfare, not by how many are added.” —Ronald Reagan
“A liberal is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money.” —G. Gordon Liddy
BuddyLama | Jan 23, 2011 | Reply
Thank you, Rudy S. for your thoughtful explanation of Christian values. I only hope that the haters of life will see the wisdom in what you say.
atlantisjoe | Jun 26, 2011 | Reply