A Tennessee fire department’s decision to let a house burn after the homeowner failed to pay a $75 firefighting fee has inspired an intense debate about the intersection of governmental and personal responsibility. Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association weighs in with a perspective that has thus far been missing from the conversation, the Christian perspective.

What would Jesus do? Let the mother burn apparently.

In a blog post titled “Firefighters Did the Christian Thing in Letting House Burn to the Ground,” Fischer argues that because the homeowner failed to pay a $75 firefighting fee, the fire department did the right thing in letting the property burn. (The post is written in black text on a black background- highlight to read.) According to Fischer, the right thing is also the Christian thing because:

The right thing, by the way, is also the Christian thing, because there can be no difference between the two. The right thing to do will always be the Christian thing to do, and the Christian thing to do will always be the right thing to do.

In this case, in the eyes of Mr. Fischer, the Christian and right thing is to argue that personal choices should trump the obligations of a civil society:

A Christian worldview rewards responsibility and stresses individual responsibility and accountability, which in the end makes everybody more safe and more prosperous.

If Fischer’s vision of a”libertarian” Jesus seems out of character for the same God who advocated loving thy neighbor, that’s the fault of our namby pamby lady culture:

In this case, critics of the fire department are confused both about right and wrong and about Christianity. And it is because they have fallen prey to a weakened, feminized version of Christianity that is only about softer virtues such as compassion and not in any part about the muscular Christian virtues of individual responsibility and accountability….This story illustrates the fundamental difference between a sappy, secularist worldview, which unfortunately too many Christians have adopted, and the mature, robust Judeo-Christian worldview which made America the strongest and most prosperous nation in the world.

So, at least in this instance, now we know the answer to the question “what would Jesus do?’ Though, clearly that’s open for interpretation and discussion.

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