Topical Studies
What the Bible says about
Socialism
(From Forerunner Commentary)
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Genesis 47:21-26
Before God instituted this great tribulation in Egypt, the people were a relatively free people, living where they wished and enjoying the private ownership of land. They also owned the means of production; in this case, the livestock. Egypt was not, at this time, a socialist state. Yet, as a result of this great distress that they were suffering, the money supply dried up, and the people became serfs. They became slaves to the government. They were relocated at the will of the government that owned them. Their basically capitalistic system—capitalistic because capitalism is connected with the ownership of land—gave way to a far more limiting and inefficient means of allocating goods and services called "feudalism." The people became serfs, sharecroppers. All of this in seven years! What happened in Egypt can only be described as a time of social and economic revolution. It was indeed a great tribulation.
Charles Whitaker
The Other Great Tribulation
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Proverbs 23:10
It is becoming more obvious that children are not being taught to respect private property. Perhaps this is a failing on the part of parents and/or a product of government schooling, which was set up in the early- to mid-1900s by socialist educators like John Dewey. Whatever the cause, children no longer recognize boundaries between, say, public roads and private yards. Back in the day, parents taught their children that a neighbor's driveway was his property, and that they should not use it unless they had a specific reason to be there and had the owner's consent. They were also taught not to use neighbors' yards as a short cut to somewhere else. It was also a given that a neighbor's yard was not to be regarded as a trash dump for their candy wrappers, drink cans, and other assorted litter, nor was it a community garden in which they could dig holes, take topsoil, and remove mulch, flowers, leaves, branches, and fruits and vegetables at their whim. Why are so many parents not teaching their children these basic principles? Perhaps the primary reason is that they do not consider it all that important because they themselves do not have a great deal of respect for others' possessions. In the great game called "keeping up with the Joneses," diminishing the neighbor's property increases one's own. Envy and competition, hallmarks of rabid American materialism, can cause normally good neighbors to exhibit less-than-stellar attitudes and behaviors, which children are quick to mimic. Another reason stems from the quickening pace of life; there is just so little time anymore to pass on these necessary principles. Parents are harried from the time they awaken to the time they fall wearily back into bed at night, and much of their time in between is spent away from home, not with their kids. Many parents likely justify this neglect by saying, "Who has time to take little Johnny aside and teach him the wisdom of the ages? Aren't they supposed to be doing that at school?" But just the opposite of this latter question is true: Public schools, heavily influenced by "social studies" and liberal policies advocated by the teachers' unions, push social values that sound as if they come from the Communist Manifesto rather than the Bible, the Constitution, or the Declaration of Independence. Yet a third reason, perhaps the most elusive to define, may be a nagging feeling among many adults that they do not really control anything, even what they supposedly own. This malaise arises from a multitude of factors present in American society: the aforementioned ubiquitous government power, oppressive personal and national debt, constant and fruitless bickering among politicians, the constant drumming of the media on bad news, increasing awareness of crime and terrorism, frequent and deadly natural disasters, the looming specter of recession or unemployment - in a word, a kind of hopelessness. Why teach Jimmy to take care of the car when the bank is just going to repossess it anyway? Why scold Sally about defacing her school locker when the government has billions of our dollars to fix things just like that? Why get all hot and bothered about passing on such values when life is worth so little and it may be snuffed out tomorrow? Too many believe that events are spinning out of control, and they are fatalistically just along for the ride. Despite these purported reasons not to do so, teaching our children to respect the property of others is a righteous activity. The eighth commandment, "You shall not steal" (Exodus 20:15), acts as the underlying principle of this responsibility, for trampling another's rights of ownership is essentially stealing from him. At its mildest, it is abrogating his privilege to say how his property is treated. At its worst, it is downright robbery. In the Gospels, our Savior says a great deal about stewardship, the overarching concept regarding the maintenance, use, and development of property, either one's own or another's (see, for instance, Luke 12:35-39; 16:1-8; 19:12-27; also, from the apostles, I Corinthians 4:1-2; Titus 1:7; I Peter 4:10). It is our duty as Christian parents to instruct our children about proper stewardship of first our and their possessions, and then the treatment of other people's belongings. This will lay the right foundation for the more important stewardship of God's gifts and blessings that leads to great reward in His Kingdom (Matthew 24:45-47).
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
Teaching Respect for Property
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Matthew 20:25
The term "Nanny State" has come to describe a government that insists on over-regulating the individual to force him to act according to the government's wishes, rather than allowing the individual to make his own choices. Such a government is essentially trying to create a self-defined utopia via legislation. Men believe the answer is more laws, better enforcement, or a more comprehensive government plan. However, the true answer is to change the heart. Since human governments cannot do that, they must resort to controlling their citizens' behaviors. On the other side of this coin, we have the expectations and responses of those being governed. As they see a nation spiraling out of control, they begin demanding that the leadership "do something." So they elect leaders who promise "change," who promise to fix this or that financial or social problem through legislation, and bit by bit, everybody's freedoms are curtailed. Political leaders soon become the arbiters of how every citizen should live. It all starts with the people demanding that the leaders "do something." Along with this are those who believe the government exists to take care of them. Many people want—even demand—government programs, benefits, and all manner of largesse to protect them from the vagaries of life. They begin believing that it is the government's job to give them healthcare, childcare, retirement, and education; to fund obscene art exhibits; and to stop hurricanes. They want a Nanny State, so it will take care of them. Thus, the government begins policies of redistribution—also known as "communism," or "socialism" in its soft form—where it takes what is produced and doles it out according to what it judges to be "fair." Even though communism was clearly a failed experiment, many people still favor a form of it because it means that they do not have to be responsible—that someone else will take care of them. Wherever governments of men are in place, pressures will mount for the responsibilities of the governor to expand and the responsibilities of the governed to contract.
David C. Grabbe
The Nanny Church (Part One)
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Luke 22:24-26
God does not want anybody in His Kingdom who is only good at following orders. He wants sons and daughters who have taken on His values and character and made them their own so that they will always choose the right way of their own volition. His purpose requires that we be able to choose between life and death, blessing and cursing (Deuteronomy 30:19). If our every word and deed are regimented—whether by God or by a human government—then we do not develop character. Thus, God is working with us to help us make the right choices without having to be controlled externally. The carnal mind, though, really only understands external control. In Christ's teaching, He uses the Gentiles to exemplify those who do not know God, who govern by "exercising lordship" and "exercising authority." Matthew's account says that they "lord it over" the people. Then Jesus declares that those who exercise authority in this way are called "benefactors." The basic meaning of the Greek word is "a worker of good." Lording authority over people could be considered "good" only in the sense that it enforces order and discipline rather than chaos. Yet, the real issue is how that order and discipline are brought about. If it is done in the Gentile way, it is achieved through force, coercion, oppressive legislation, threats, and fear. However, if God's way is followed, order and discipline may take longer to accomplish, but they will endure because they come from within the people rather than being imposed on them. Another way that "benefactor" can be understood is as "one who provides for another." In collectivist political systems, the government is seen as the benefactor of the people because it "guarantees" things like jobs, food, healthcare, retirement, security, and so on, in return for allegiance. The Gentiles rule by causing the people to depend on them for everything, and they appear to be generous and benevolent by "giving" things back to the people. In either application, Christ says, "but not so among you." Recall that His teaching began with the disciples arguing over who was the greatest. They were focused on their position and their status—like those who do not know God—and Jesus had to direct them back to their responsibility. His instruction to those who would have authority in His church was to serve, not to rule. The service of the church is geared toward helping the members toward "the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" (Ephesians 4:13). He clearly does not mean "serving" by establishing iron-fisted control and ruling the members by fear, nor does He mean "benevolently" doing for them what they can and should do for themselves. Both of those extremes stunt character development, leaving the people unprepared to live eternally. Instead, He means serving by applying those gifts that have been given for the edification of the body (verse 16), and not taking more authority than He has given.
David C. Grabbe
The Nanny Church (Part One)
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Acts 2:44
While some try to see a biblical basis for socialism in the experience of the early church, the overwhelming perspective of the Bible upholds private property rights. As early as Abraham (Genesis 23:17-18), God's people are shown buying and selling all manner of property. Moreover, the laws God gave to Israel concerning property assume individual ownership - indeed, one could say that the tenth commandment (Exodus 20:17: "You shall not covet your neighbor's house," etc.) makes property ownership a sacred right. Each person is to be satisfied with what God has blessed him and not crave what his neighbor owns. Bits of biblical property law appear throughout the Old Testament, as in Deuteronomy 19:14: "You shall not remove your neighbor's landmark, which the men of old have set, in your inheritance which you will inherit in the land. . . ." Simply put, each individual or family owned specific plots of land whose boundaries were not to be violated. God later promises terrible retribution on Judah for doing just this: "The princes of Judah are like those who remove a landmark; I will pour out My wrath on them like water" (Hosea 5:10). A main feature of the Jubilee was the repossession of land by its original owner, even if he had been forced to sell it due to debt in the intervening years (Leviticus 25:13-17). God set down rather strict rules regarding the sale and purchase of family lands so that Israelite society would have its base in individually owned properties that remained within families through inheritance. For example, when Ahab pressures Naboth to give him his vineyard, the Jezreelite responds, "The LORD forbid that I should give the inheritance of my fathers to you!" (I Kings 21:3). After Naboth is dead through Jezebel's machinations, and Ahab has taken possession of the vineyard, God harshly condemns their blatant abuse of authority, cursing them to ignominious deaths (verses 17-24). In the New Testament account of Ananias and Sapphira's sin, Peter voices the basic, biblical principle of private property ownership: "While it [their land] remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it [the profit] not in your own control?" (Acts 5:4). Even while the brethren "had all things in common" (Acts 4:32), private property rights were not set aside. The entire New Testament operates under this view, to the point that the Mark of the Beast involves abolishing true Christians' right to buy and sell (Revelation 13:17). God believes in ownership: "For the world is Mine, and all its fullness" (Psalm 50:12). He allows us to own things under Him to teach us wonderful lessons pertaining to stewardship and authority so that we can learn to be more like Him and eventually exercise great responsibility in His Kingdom (see the Parable of the Minas in Luke 19:11-27). Sadly, the ever-weakening right to property in this nation is another state of affairs that exposes just how far America has drifted from God and biblical principles.
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
The Obsolescing Right
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1 Corinthians 13:13
Paul writes, "The greatest of these is love." In its own way, faith is primary, as it precedes the others, but it does not remain the most important. Faith, however, is the foundation on which the other two operate (see Hebrews 11:1). Hope, we could say, makes the other two fly. It gives impetus to them. We can believe or have faith in something, but if we do not hope in it, we will do nothing. We can believe that love is the right thing to do, but we will never take action on it unless we hope, unless we have a solid expectation of the fulfillment of whatever we love. Depending on how powerful it is, hope can move us along with intensity and enthusiasm to see how all our knowledge of God can be acted upon and fulfilled to its greatest capacity. The first thing to note is that our hope did not accrue to us because of our merit; it was given to us. It was not owed to us; it came as a gift. We did not ask for it. In fact, we could not ask for it because we did not even know what to ask for. This is important to see in light of the welfare mentality that has infected quite a large segment of society. Satan hammers this mindset into our minds from the time we are born. Governmental systems like socialism are evolved or devolved out of this mindset, but it began with Satan the Devil. It tells us that we are owed things: People owe us things, God owes us things, and governments owe us things. This plays terrible tricks on our attitude toward God, our parents, society, and government. It warps our approach to other people, making us seem far more important than we really are. It makes us neglect our duties and responsibilities, and the result is that we look for government or for God to do everything for us. It perverts our hopes by destroying initiative and the inclination to serve. God called us with a purpose in mind, and eventually, that purpose is to serve Him and all of mankind fulltime. But we must be motivated to do so, but if our hope is always that somebody else will do it, somebody else will take care of it, somebody else will take care of me, initiative and responsibility are devastated. God has granted us the capacity to hope to motivate us to do things on our own, to use initiative to step out and act. So God, in His mercy, gave us a living hope. Even as we had no control over our conception in our mother's womb, we had no part in this either. It was entirely a creative act on the Father's part to start us on the road toward a new creation, a creation He has purposed from the very beginning.
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Resurrection From the Dead
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1 Thessalonians 4:10-12
It is beyond question that Christians should be compassionate. We are to give to the poor and aid the needy (Matthew 19:21; Luke 14:13; Galatians 2:10; etc.). We are to lend a helping hand to those who have stumbled and bear the burdens of the weak (Acts 20:35; Galatians 6:2; James 1:27; etc.). It is sin to us if we know to do good and fail to do it (James 4:17; Proverbs 3:27-28). But how far does this go? A certain tension exists in God's Word on this point. On the one hand, God indeed commands us to give, help, aid, comfort, and support others in their need. He even set up the third-tithe system to care for those truly in need. However, He is also a proponent of personal responsibility. Where should charity end and personal responsibility begin? Even in the land of self-reliance and rugged individualism, we live in a partial welfare state. Government and private handouts are common and relatively easy to get. Citizens can be propped up for long periods if they fit a certain category of need, such as being jobless, a single parent, handicapped, and the like. The nation provides "cushions" of all sorts to soften a person's landing when he falls. Other, more socialist nations are far ahead of the U.S. in this regard. This has a short-term appeal, but it is regressive and spiritually dangerous over the long haul. Even though they feel a kind of shame for being on the dole, long-term welfare recipients develop an attitude of entitlement called the "welfare mentality." In time, they feel that they deserve help from others and become offended if they do not receive it. They also take offense if someone suggests that they should be looking for work or learning a new skill or weaning themselves off public/private assistance. Why should they? They are getting something for nothing! The danger appears when this attitude begins to bleed over into a Christian's relationship with God. Sure, God's grace is freely given (Romans 3:24; 5:15), but does that mean He requires nothing of us in return? True Christianity is not "give your heart to the Lord, and you shall be saved!" True Christianity is "Repent, and believe in the gospel" (Mark 1:15)! Jesus packs so much into these few words! This "gospel in a nutshell" expands to include conscious effort to change and grow in the grace, knowledge, and character of God every waking moment of our day. Christianity is not a lazy-person's religion. It is a God-centered way of living that demands our constant attention so that we can "put on the new man" (Ephesians 4:17-32; Colossians 3:1-17) and "shine as lights in the world" (Philippians 2:15). A welfare mentality—"the way of get"—is the antithesis of God's way of give, of outgoing concern, of esteeming others better than oneself. It can manifest itself in many forms of behavior: failure to recognize God-given blessings and opportunities to prosper, laziness, sponging off others, rarely helping or entertaining others, making excuses for one's financial state, expressing contempt for "menial" jobs when unemployed, having unrealistically high standards or expectations, etc. All these assume that we deserve something. To put it bluntly, rather than others owing us something, the only thing we truly deserve is death (Romans 3:10-20, 23; 6:23)! If we are Christians, however, we have been forgiven and set on the right path toward God's Kingdom (Ephesians 2:1-10). To us, God gives the promise that we need not worry about our life, food, or clothing (Luke 12:22-34). God will take care of us! David says, "I have been young, and now am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his descendants begging bread" (Psalm 37:25). Leave those worries behind! Receive with gladness and gratitude what God gives. Then we can concentrate our efforts on seeking His Kingdom and His righteousness, and part of that is ridding ourselves of the despicable and satanic notion that we deserve a free ride. Therefore, "work out your own salvation in fear and trembling" (Philippians 2:12)!
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
Welfare and Christianity
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2 Thessalonians 3:10
Some fellowshipping with the church say that the church is responsible to take care of them. No, it is not. A Christian is responsible to provide care where there is an honest need, but not for one created by laziness. Paul says plainly in II Thessalonians 3:10: "If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat." Jesus declares, "My Father has been working until now, and I have been working" (John 5:17). He is our example. Paul also writes in I Timothy 5:8, "But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his own household, he has denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel." In the United States is a well-developed social and governmental movement that some commentators derisively name "nannyism." Political pundits also refer to it as "cradle to the grave" social care. As a nanny state, Canada is ahead of America but lags behind England, Germany, and France, and far behind the Scandinavian countries. Tax rates in Europe are high due to the many costly social programs, yet this nannyism is at the root of Europe's growing social problems. Nations like Germany, France, Italy, England, Spain, and Sweden have native birth rates below replacement levels, and presently, their populations are aging into retirement. What did their politicians come up with to provide a large enough tax base to support their social programs? They opened their borders wide to Muslim immigration, and we hear the results on the evening news. This provides evidence that for every social action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Nannyism also contributes to a decline of self-reliance and personal responsibility as it becomes more prevalent in the United States. This nation was settled and developed by self-reliant, self-motivated people. Yet, today, too many people seem frozen in place, waiting for the government to do something for them, a dependency called by some a "welfare mentality." People learn to work the system and somehow manage to be perpetually on the dole, refusing to make their own way through work. Nannyism and the resulting decrease in self-reliance and increase in irresponsibility are gaining speed as the return of Jesus Christ nears. This phenomenon occurs regardless of the form of government because it is a human nature problem, since it involves regulation and control of the populace. It gives credence to another general principle: Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Public irresponsibility is now seen nearly everywhere. For example, our roadways are littered with cigarette butts and the debris of thousands of fast food restaurants thoughtlessly tossed from passing vehicles. Not to worry, though: "The government is paying somebody to clean up the garbage. I am not responsible; they will take care of it." Regulation of society is necessary, but the place where it should begin—and as much as possible end—is in the self. Responsible people have a quality—indeed, a virtue—that the irresponsible do not have: They care. They care about what God thinks. They care about what others think. They care about beauty and cleanliness. They care about peace and order. They care about the health and safety of others. Such people will regulate themselves; they do not need many laws issued by the state to tell them what to do because their caring virtually assures that they will do the right thing. Self-reliance and responsibility is learned. The best place for it to be instilled is at home and as early as possible. When teaching children to be responsible, we must begin by instructing them to care for small things: for their toys, for their clothing, for their bedroom, for simple jobs. They must learn to be concerned about what Mom and Dad think of them, which begins to teach them the fear of God, the foundation of true wisdom (Proverbs 9:10; see Psalm 34:11). As their sense of responsibility strengthens and as they learn to care about the outcome of their lives, their desire to succeed through their own efforts increases, diminishing the likelihood that they will succumb to this curse on our society, the welfare mentality.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Nannyism and Caring
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