ClaytonB
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- Oct 30, 2011
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The image of God in man presupposes that I am the only owner of myself, vis-a-vis all other creatures. Of course, God is my ultimate owner, but God has no need for anything of mine, either. My fellow-creatures, however, have no legal or other claim on what is mine, especially my body. Marxism erases the manifest principle of self-ownership right at its very root, defying God.
If we are truly free, as Scripture promises we are in Jesus (John 8:36, John 10:10b, Gal. 5:1), then we are free to exchange the things we own with one another... freely, meaning, without consulting the permission of a third-party creature who has arrogated to themselves the "authority" to permit or deny the voluntary, lawful interactions of others.
The idea of evolutionary advancement did not begin in biology, it began in sociology (including Marx's ideas) and was later adapted to biology by Darwin and others.
Even in Scripture, there are promises of reward. While we ultimately serve God for his own sake, for his greatness, God is no Pharaoh, he is not a cruel taskmaster who merely promises not to destroy us for as long as we remain useful, and nothing beyond that. No, God has promised to reward his servants, in proportion to the devotion of their labor in service.
The sin of stealing remains a sin whether it is done by an individual thief, a gang, a "government", whether it is enshrined in "law", or tradition, or justified in any other way. Stealing is taking what doesn't belong to you, without a true justification (such as legal restitution). We well understand that the gang-lord who has never set foot on your property really steals from you when his thugs enter your property and seize what is not theirs, the same as if he himself had done the deed. Using a proxy to commit theft/robbery does not exonerate you in any way of the crime you have committed -- even if that proxy is the State.
Scripture talks a lot about the evil of envy. Envy is the manifestation of coveting, which is prohibited in the 9th commandment: "You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor." (Exo 20:17) Marxism is the ultimate expression, the full-flower of envy and coveting taken to their infinite extreme. Marxism is the economics of hell itself.
There is no quarter for any of the ideas of socialism to be found anywhere in Scripture. It is univocally opposed to the ideas underlying socialism from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22. However, there are many Christians who identify as economic-liberals or even leftists. Why is this? There are several particular reasons, but probably the two biggest are (a) the stories of property-sharing in the early church and (b) the duty of believers to do good works and show love to the poor, in deed and not merely in word. As to (a), this line of thinking is easily dealt with by noting that all the property that was devoted to the common good of the church was so devoted freely. No one was obligated to share property with the body that was in use for some other purpose. You were not required to liquidate your business in order to join the church. Nevertheless, there was sharing of property, and this practice continues to this day under the administration of church properties and other resources, for the common good of the body, all of which have been acquired through donations.
As to (b), the use of the State to provide for social welfare is a direct contradiction of the personal duty of believers to do so. Every dollar that is taken from me by the State, even if that dollar really did go to someone who needed it more than I do, is a dollar that cannot be used for charity precisely because it has been taken according to some soulless government formula. There is no "care" in such systems, it is just a formula as anyone who has interacted with public assistance knows. The use of one's resources for acts of love to the poor and others requires that you yourself use those resources for that purpose when you could have used them for some other purpose instead. That's what makes it love: that you chose to do it, when you could have done otherwise. This is simply true by definition.
The Pharisees whom Jesus mercilessly rebuked practiced exactly the same kind of selfish redistribution of wealth, setting aside God's clear commands and practicing their own traditions instead:
"I would help you, but my wealth has been devoted to the temple."
"I would help you, but I just paid my taxes which already go to help the poor."
It is precisely the same line of reasoning: escaping individual responsibility, by declaring oneself part of a righteous collective.
For these reasons and many others, every single atom of socialistic thought is inherently repugnant to Scripture and all right doctrine and practice of the church. Too many believers have adopted the pagan mindset of collectivism whereby "we" can help "the poor" through the auspices of government policy and redistribution. No, Scripture does not call "we" to love "our" neighbors. Rather "[YOU] love YOUR neighbor as YOURSELF." (Lev. 19:18, Mark 12:33) The command is individual -- you as an individual are commanded to love your neighbor, individually, in the same way you love yourself individually. This does not preclude collective charity through the administration of the church, but it is only the church which can perform this kind of collective charity, precisely because the church is funded voluntarily. Thus, all the time, energy and money that you give the church for the good of the poor or others, are given freely, they are resources that you could have put to other uses, but chose not to. And it is in this that their great value to God's heart lies. It is your heart that God is ultimately after. He already owns the whole world, Ps. 24:1. But what he really wants is your heart.
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