Socialism Isn't Christianity

Christian Underground ^ | Dec. 28, 2004 | Thomas R. Eddison

[Lindykim]

The Christian Underground http://www.christian-underground.com --- Socialism Isnt Christianity By Thomas R. Eddison Dec 28, 2004  

On November 2, the American people overwhelmingly voted down the overtly anti-Christian far-left agenda adopted by the Democratic Party leadership. Now the Democrats have laid out a scheme to win back morality voters by subverting Christian doctrine with the claim that Jesus was a socialist.

"No one can read the New Testament of our Bible without recognizing that Jesus had a lot more to say about how we treat the poor than most of the issues that were talked about in this election," Senator Hillary Clinton told a Tufts University audience of 5,000 on November 10. The former First Lady told the Boston area audience of religion: "I don't think you can win an election or even run a successful campaign if you don't acknowledge what is important to people."

The strategy is to paint fiscal conservatives as un-Christian because they oppose using the state as a modern-day Robin Hood. Michael Kinsley wrote on November 7 in a house editorial for the Los Angeles Times, "Democrats seem oblivious to their platform's moral potency: innocent children suffering because their families can't get health insurance; platoons of young men and women dying in a war that didn't have to be; the pillaging of God's green Earth."

The Democrats overtly advocate a socialist agenda, which lives on today under new names, such as universal health care, the social safety net, and development assistance. And the theme is that leftists who advocate socialist government policies are generous, and those who refuse to redistribute the wealth are opposing Christian principles.

But the welfare state does not operate by the principle of moral generosity: it relies on a legalized form of theft (forcibly taking from some to give to others) and is driven by greed and envy. The welfare state breeds greed by offering wealth without work and generates envy by promoting class warfare.

The Christian principle of special consideration for the poor is a clarion call for the individual, not for the state. Jesus did not have the Good Samaritan in Luke's Gospel tell the injured man in the road to seek a government social worker. The Good Samaritan gave of what was his own willingly, not under the duress of the state. The welfare state actually encourages a spiritual laziness by implying that helping the poor is the responsibility of the state rather than a responsibility of the individual.

Consider the example of a small community of a few people to sharpen the moral clarity of this issue. Four men are stranded on a deserted tropical island. Two work hard to gather more pineapples and coconuts than they need. A third is unable to work because he has a broken leg, and a fourth is too lazy to work. While the working men have a moral obligation to share with the injured man, neither of the two who did not work have a right to take by force what is not theirs.

To claim otherwise is to deny all right to property and to make the two working men slaves of the other two. The commandments "thou shalt not steal" and "thou shalt not covet" establish a right to ownership of property. If we can't own property, giving of ourselves becomes impossible - as does real almsgiving.

Back on the island, if the lazy man steals pineapples from the two working men by force, then he commits a crime and violates the commandment "thou shalt not steal." Socialism is the theft and redistribution of wealth through force, whether it's done for a society of four people or one containing millions. That's why all totalitarians, from Lenin to Hitler, adopt broad socialist policies in order to enslave society. The liberals are misleading people into believing that forcibly redistributing wealth, something that would be a crime if one individual did it to another, is a moral good and a foundation of "democracy." In fact, the general election strategy of the welfare state is the whisper in the ear: "I'll give you more of the other guy's money than you'll pay in taxes."

That electoral whisper of the welfare state is the ultimate "big money" influence skewing today's elections, and the prime reason why the welfare state cannot easily be dismantled. Welfare-state recipients always see the crumbs that fall to them from the welfare state.

Except for a few who make their entire living off the state, the claim that you'll be able to steal more than you'll have to pay is always a lie. In fact, much of the money that the federal government forcibly takes in the name of federal aid never leaves Washington, D.C. The U.S. Department of Education will spend $67.7 billion this year for "children," but a hefty proportion of that money will pay for the army of more than 4,600 employees of the federal agency, along with numerous buildings and associated office costs. The cut of the boodle for the welfare state bureacracy can be in the 50 percent range. Additionally, much of the money the federal government gives to "individuals" to assist children are in the form of grants to state agencies, which take another share of the money in the form of bureaucratic costs. In the end, welfare state politicians only bribe us with part of the money they must first take from us. Working Americans will never receive as much as they'll pay to the tax man.

And therein lies the hope for ending the welfare state in America, so long as Christians are not fooled by this latest socialist propaganda barrage.

moderator@christian-underground.com http://www.christian-underground.com/archive/read.php?sid=88 Posted to the CU: 2004-12-28 02:40:04 CST

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[Lindykim]

ping

[stylin19a]

On November 2, the American people overwhelmingly voted down the overtly anti-Christian far-left agenda adopted by the Democratic

Is voting FOR something the same as voting against something else ?

[Citizen James]

hmm... was there carpenters unions in Jesus's time?

[The Teen Conservative]

Oh boy...

[Blue Collar Christian]

Sadly, this is as clear as mud to too many folks.

I had a party guest at my 4th of July Bar-B-Q that tried to use the Good Samaritan scripture on me as the excuse for the welfare state, and I told him about it being an individual responsibility, and not HIS responsibility to see to it that MY money went to what HE thought was important.

The Church, the Body of Christ, is very generous. I prefer to give to my church of choice, and to the fund of choice. That, and I like to help someone that I can check up on and hold accountable for improving himself if necessary.

Without having our money taken from us by force(taxes)to give to the socialist regime, we would have that much more to use to truly help those in need, and be able to discern those that only want to be on the dole.

[Ksnavely]

that is so a definate ping

[DBrow]

This is in line with the TV spot UCC ran.

[Semaphore Heathcliffe]

related to your recent post about liberal Christianity and globalism...

[socialismisinsidious]

most excellent!
thanks for posting.

[Blue Collar Christian]

You have a link for that?

[Semaphore Heathcliffe]

just a sec...

[KC_for_Freedom]

Sadly, this is as clear as mud to too many folks.

And the liberals are so smart that they will clarify it in the minds of all the smartest people, (the ones who voted for Kerry, because he was smart enough to understand.)/sarcasm

It is interesting that communism can wrap its message in a cloak of simple logic that makes it appear that everyone will be better off under socialism, there are some very hard working self employed people who think everything would be better under socialism. Hard to understand.

[Semaphore Heathcliffe]

related thread - How Liberal Christianity Promotes Open Borders and One-Worldism

[jwalsh07]

"13. Continuing our reflections, and referring also to what has been said in the Encyclicals Laborem exercens and Sollicitudo rei socialis, we have to add that the fundamental error of socialism is anthropological in nature. Socialism considers the individual person simply as an element, a molecule within the social organism, so that the good of the individual is completely subordinated to the functioning of the socio-economic mechanism. Socialism likewise maintains that the good of the individual can be realized without reference to his free choice, to the unique and exclusive responsibility which he exercises in the face of good or evil. Man is thus reduced to a series of social relationships, and the concept of the person as the autonomous subject of moral decision disappears, the very subject whose decisions build the social order. From this mistaken conception of the person there arise both a distortion of law, which defines the sphere of the exercise of freedom, and an opposition to private property. A person who is deprived of something he can call "his own", and of the possibility of earning a living through his own initiative, comes to depend on the social machine and on those who control it. This makes it much more difficult for him to recognize his dignity as a person, and hinders progress towards the building up of an authentic human community." Pope John Paull II, Centisimus annus

[MamaTexan]

This is a part of what's been lost thanks to publik screwls.

The Founders understood this implicitly, and based our government on it.

Noah Webster, the man personally responsible for Art. I, Sec. 8, ¶ 8, of the U. S. Constitution, explained two centuries ago:
The duties of men are summarily comprised in the Ten Commandments, consisting of two tables; one comprehending the duties which we owe immediately to God-the other, the duties we owe to our fellow men.

Separation of church and state is a lie promoted to keep government from having to follow moral, or natural law.

David Barton, a contemporary historian and founder of wallbuilders, has written and legally filed an Affidavit in Support of the Ten Commandments. It illustrates the Christian foundation of our laws & government

http://www.leaderu.com/common/affadavittencommand.html

[dog breath]

This is a interesting question, as to whether the left can claim a Christian basis for social programs. While Christ urged people to give everything they had to the poor. I believe that you are correct, there is no reference in the bible to having the government do it for you. It is a spiritual issue for the individual to decide. I think, oddly enough, that many social programs have been tolerated by the electorate out of a sense of Christian charity. I think that many victims of storms, floods and sundry other occurrences of bad luck are happy that the government does involve itself in helping people on occasion.

[carlr]

"No one can read the New Testament of our Bible without recognizing that Jesus had a lot more to say about how we treat the poor than most of the issues that were talked about in this election"

The New Testament also has some things to say about adultery if Hillary is interested.
I don`t know what the percentage of the Scriptures is devoted to the poor but I suspect it is 1% or less.To ignore the remainder or the context of those verses concerning the poor is typical of the left.

The so called social gospel that grew out of 60^seccumenialism and the WCC attempts to replace the Gospel of salvation through faith with one of good works and compassion.As such it fits in with the modern liberal political thought.

[Blue Collar Christian]

Good stuff, thanx.