If you are atheistic or agnostic, the question asked in the subject is not one for you.  Please do NOT jump in here and turn this thread into a discussion of God's existence.  You may feel you are on a mission to deconvert people, but this is not the place for it.  So please do not jump in here.

This question is a theological one, for those who do believe God exists.  Do you believe that welfare provided by governments is of God or of Satan (say darker forces, and evil people if you like, rather than Satan)?  In short, if someone gets assistance from the government, would it be God who helps them or not?  If it isn't of God, then would that then make it of more evil forces at work?  So, the likes of Social Security, Medicare and unemployment insurance would then be, if not a way God works to help people, something evil?

And if it is something evil, then does it mean that people who are poor are actually fully in God's will by being such and not getting help, or is it that people outside of using government, are falling short of duties God may have for them to do?  And if there is falling short, and people are in need now, how are you falling short of what God would command?  Ok, don't answer the last one here, but think on it.

It's of man, I don't believe in attributing every occurence, good or bad, to God.

I don't think that there is a god out there.

It depends on how it is done. The story of the Good Samaritan tells us that we should take care of one another. The Bible, both Jewish, and Christian says to love your neighbour. So if you are looking after the needy then it is from God. The only way it wouldn't be of God is if it somehow harmed someone. That could be the case if you start giving welfare to those who should be working. Most of the many welfare people I know are not blessed with a  lot of skill that is important in our technoological soiciety. Mostly I think it is of God.

Then you really aren't in a place to answer questions asked in this thread.  It is another reason why, if you read my original post, I had asked people who don't have religious faith to not answer.  Your posting shared information on you, which may be useful, but contributes nothing to this thread here overall.

Mod note: Don't let this turn into a religious argument, or it will inevitably become a flamewar.

Neither, necessarily.

However, the Bible outlines social welfare as being a key component of Christianity, not government. Even during the Levitical government, God specifically outlined how social welfare was to be taken care of - the people were to take a portion of their income, and give it to the poor and needy.

In the New Testament, you find a similar situation. Social welfare was one of the first issues tackled by the early church in Acts 5.

To take that away from Christians and make it part of government isn't entirely "Satan", but it certainly allows for the breeding of complacency among Christians, and is vastly inefficient compared to people giving of their time and money to help the needy.

If you really want you could say it's from god. As TheProphet said the bible says to love thy neighbour. So welfare is a form of that.

I dodn't know love was throwing money at a problem.

I would think that God, according to the teachings in the bible, would prefer that the government stay out of welfare and instead leave it to people to take the time and energy to actually care bout their neighbors and not just give them money, but help them. Maybe watch a kid on a day they needed or teach them something you know, give them a ride etc...

Its been a while since i read the bible, but isn't it the source of the story "give a man some fish and you feed him for the day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for life" I would say American welfare equates to giving a man fish instead of teaching him to fish.

State welfare is far from perfect. But people who are out of work need to be given money etc to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table. Usually this is only short term as they will hopfully soon find work. It would be great if our communities would help each other but that is not really likely.