Christians & Culture

Previously: All this goes to show how much more complicated economic systems are than they might at first sound. Someone might say, “socialism helps the poor” by doing things like ensuring basic services, mandating low prices and higher wages, and providing welfare. In a test environment, economic theorists may be able to demonstrate that it works. But it requires that all humans be standardized – behavior, too.  And the ramifications of that are too great for us to even consider going there.

Finally, we need to consider the overall spiritual ramifications of systems. What impact do beliefs and worldview have on our spiritual walk?

With free market economics, we must ensure that we do not use our liberty as license. We need to not disregard God’s law. We need to not act in a way that exercising our rights tramples another’s. Justice plus love will go a long way, prohibiting things like pride, greed, stinginess, and so on. As with Christian liberty, the possibility is there that one could use freedom to cause great harm. As is the case within Christianity, people can see others abusing freedoms, which is sin, and taking others down. They then craft rules that people must follow in order to stay far away from such traps, and eventually the rules become an end in themselves. It’s no different in economics. In fact, some have said that when a free economy transitions to socialism, it may be God’s judgment. Remember that one of the early excuses for socialism was a corrective backlash to abuses in factories. But as a study of the book of Galatians will show, the correction to licentious excess is not a host of new laws, but just getting back to what already exists – God’s commandments. Honor God. Love your neighbor.

But while capitalism can have a serious blind spot issue with greed, with socialism, it seems it encourages blind spots of covetousness and envy. As we talked about earlier in the topic of justice, Scripture does not support the idea of conditional equality – this is a Marxist notion, part of the goal of flattening society under the hammer of the central power. For example, consider the following:  “Do you see a man skillful in his work? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure men.” (Proverbs 22:29 ESV) Skilled work elevates a person. Those who are not in the same role, whether it’s because of different stations in life, different abilities, or, laziness – wanting to have someone set them on a higher pedestal rather than climbing there themselves – get jealous. “Whoever works his land will have plenty of bread, but he who follows worthless pursuits lacks sense. Whoever is wicked covets the spoil of evildoers, but the root of the righteous bears fruit.” (Proverbs 12:11–12 ESV) Jealousy becomes envy. Envy becomes a brooding hatred for those who have more, and a desire to see them fall at any cost. Socialism not only attracts, but encourages, this behavior, and so those who already struggle with the sin of covetousness may be attracted to socialism because it provides a system where this sin can be gratified. Contrast that to a statement by JRR Tolkien that “In God’s kingdom the presence of the greatest does not depress the small.”

A booklet entitled “10 Truths About Socialism” by Coral Ridge Ministries was used as the source for the next few paragraphs.

Sociologists have studied the impact of envy and noted that these days, one’s personal happiness is connected more to one’s relative income disparity rather than one’s actual belongings. In other words, how you compare to your neighbor affects you more than what you actually have.

Dorothy Sayers, who translated Dante’s classic work, Inferno, into English, noted in the section where pride and envy were punished in the bowels of hell that envy is the great leveler. At its worst, it is a destroyer – rather than have anyone happier than itself, it would see all of us miserable together.

Joseph Epstein wrote that envy is a cold-blooded deadly sin, perhaps the cruelest sin of all. He said, “when I say that Marxism is based on envy, I mean that the glorious revolution of the proletariat that it promised was really a promise to put a final end to all the conditions that make for envy. The great class struggle is about nothing less than the enviable advantages that the upper classes have over the lower – advantages that, even at the cost of bloody revolution, must be eliminated.”

But it seems clear that in modern politics, just as some representing a powerful corporate interest have been quoted as saying ‘greed is good’ – wasn’t that a buzzword in the 80s – many on the American left seem to say that envy is good. Author Tommy Newberry says that President Obama stokes envy, especially class envy. “In Obama’s eyes, America is divided between the evil rich and the virtuous exploited, and the only solution is to take from the former group and give to the latter. In fact, Obama demonizes not only the “rich,” but the very act of engaging in business and making money. For him, financial success is a dishonorable goal – perversely, money is something to be taken from others, not earned for oneself.”

In fact, over the last few years, the predominant view we have heard in the news media is that that people have the right to resent others’ good fortune, hard work, or income. Redistributive policies are not just about helping the have-nots; almost more important is punish those who have.

Economist Walter Williams notes that “it’s a slick political sleight-of-hand where politicians and their allies amongst the intellectuals, talking heads, and the news media get us caught up in the politics of envy as part of their agenda for greater control of our lives.”

Seen within the socialistic system, it appears if we all are so worked up about the wealthy and how much more they have than we do, we might see it as preferable to just hand over power to the virtuous state, as better they have it than the wealthy. Remembering that in totalitarian systems a powerful state is essential, this is probably no coincidence.

In 1985, Joseph Sobran wrote an essay demonstrating that compassion for the poor is not really what socialism is about. “Nothing is more obviously characteristic of the socialist impulse than the desire to redistribute wealth. However, the end – “social justice” – is less important than the means – the power to control an entire economy. In its raw, wholesale form, socialism confiscates outright. Land is seized, major landowners are shot, farming is collectivized under state supervision. The produce is taken by the state, which unilaterally sets farm workers’ wages at a considerable profit to itself. Since there are no competing employers to bid for the workers’ services, the workers have no choice but to accept what they are given. This, of course, is enslavement. Trotsky appreciated this practical advantage of socialism. When the state is the sole employer, he remarked, disobedience means death by slow starvation. The Soviet Union actually starved about seven million Ukrainian farmers during the early thirties in order to implement what Stalin blandly called his “collective-farm policy” against recalcitrant elements. Those who seek power have a natural interest in creating dependency on themselves. Where limited government and the rule of law prevail, politicians can only do this to a limited extent, through appointments and a certain amount of patronage. In this regard, socialism has opened new vistas: where the state can command a whole economy, it can make millions dependent on it for life itself. It is in this sense that socialism “works”, and the socialist ruler isn’t necessarily inconvenienced by the scarcity the system causes: the more desperate the people, the more they are at his mercy.”

And Karen Gushta notes that our founders recognized that, given human nature, envy could become a driving force in politics, and so designed the Constitution to protect God-given property rights. But if a loophole can be found to justify redistribution, modern politicians will. In fact, ‘President Obama doesn’t call it a loophole, but rather a blind spot.’  “I think we can say that the Constitution reflected an enormous blind spot in this culture that carries on until this day, and the framers had that same blind spot… The Supreme Court never ventured into the issues of redistribution of wealth and sort of more basic issues of political and economic justice in this society.” What Obama calls a blind spot seems to instead have been an intentional protection, reflecting the founders’ understanding of rights and justice.

–End of material based on the Coral Ridge booklet.–

Also, envy also has drastic consequences on us as individuals. The person who is envious believes that someone else is to blame for the fact that you don’t have. This can lead people to become habitual angry blamers, not just in the area of money. If you couple envy and entitlement, which tend to go together as it is, it can produce an especially ugly monster, as every calamity that happens can be seen as a personal injustice and someone else’s fault. Eventually, this venom ultimately gets directed at God. “It’s your fault I was made this way, given this condition in life, placed around these people.”

This also goes hand-in-hand with socialism’s worldview, as we’ll recall that historically, socialism has been an anti-God position. I have heard of situations where individuals began with genuine concern for the poor, but believed that only socialism provided the cure. After a steady diet of exclusively left-leaning opinions these individuals have chosen to distance themselves from Christianity, instead preferring the term “Jesus follower” because “Christians [are] greedy, hypocritical, and anti-progress”. This in some cases as even led to lashing out with criticism on fellow believers for things like opposing abortion or gay marriage, calling such stances fundamentalist and backwards. Is this a just a coincidence?

Socialism also poses a problem for Christians because of the cycle of fear it perpetuates. Let me explain. As already stated, socialism really feeds on two things – getting people to look around them and see inequalities and then covet, and like all totalitarian systems, it uses fear and apprehension to get people to willingly give more of their freedoms, more power, to the central authority. This central authority basically becomes like God. People then trust it for their provision – for their daily bread. When they have a need, they look to the government. If sick, they look to the government. You get the picture. If the government needs more power, it can dig up a crisis to get people scared – or manufacture one, if need be. As people get alarmed as stories sweep the news (protect yourself from the coming meltdown! terror watch is higher today! bird flu is coming! swine flu is coming! the food supply might not be safe! food prices are rising!) people panic. Then somewhere in the news, you find it… “Government proposes solution.” And like Big Brother of the novel 1984, people begin to trust it more…and love it. Is it just me or does it seem awfully convenient that there are more things out there that we’re supposed to be scared of now that socialism is gaining more acceptance?

Ultimately, this transcends socialism, fascism, communism, totalitarianism, any ism and any system out there. Satan wants us to be fearful, to lose sleep, to feel like we can’t just rest. He wants us to bicker with one another, control one another, mistrust one another. He wants us to make work an end in itself, working longer, and busier, storing up for whatever might come, and then keep working. He wants us to have more, more, and more, no matter what the cost, especially at the cost of family, friends, church, and God-given relationships. He wants us to do anything to keep us from loving one another and trusting God for provisions.

In contrast, pay attention to Christ’s words found in Matthew 6:
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
(Where you focus your time and energy is #1. Is it politics? Work? Economics? Saving? Money? Family? God?)
“The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”

What constitutes serving money? One element is using money as a form of security.

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
(Matthew 6:19–34 ESV)

As I pointed out in the remainder of the Sunday School class that this material was a component of, discipleship is at the heart of the concept of poverty alleviation. It takes time…relationships…instruction. Understanding economics is vital to this discipleship, as is addressing the sins of greed and envy. Another is to be responsible about training the next generation, as you can be sure they’ll be getting a lot of it in school. These days, it sounds like the indoctrination begins at a very early age. Another thing we need to do is to emphasize the future over present hedonism. Yet another is to clearly emphasize a work ethic. Hard work is the method God has given us to be good stewards of his creation, ourselves, and our families, but not as an end in itself – as a means of glorifying God – do all things as to the Lord, not to men. And finally, discipleship efforts must focus on the true source of security and peace. If we as Christians act fearful in the area of economics, what does that say to others?

I propose that for anyone who is really concerned about politics, the economy, money, etc. that the best way to counter the efforts of the enemy in this area is to meditate on these words of Christ. Read this before picking up the paper. Maybe take a week off of even following what’s going on in the world and instead focus on this. The world doesn’t get it. They think we need a God-like government because this life is all there is, and this world is a scary place. But we know better. We need to be wise and discerning to not be deceived by the fear and despair that is all that those without God know.

The End