Posted on 12/28/2004 4:25:51 PM PST by 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
======================================== We will Pray WHEN we want School - WHERE we want Work - The Street - The Mall - Persecute Us At Your Own Peril! The Christian Underground http://www.christian-underground.com
It might not be urban legend, it's not even listed on snopes.
I don't want to start an urban legend about a non-urban legend! ;^)
I've never understood anyone with the nerve to blatantly use God for their own gain the way so many of these people do. It makes me cringe. Then again, I fully respect and fear His power. Perhaps they don't.
MM
Which is why I like Atlas Shrugged.
The practical result of all of this is that many people have no sense of personal obligation towards anyone. The more the government does for the elderly, the less able and willing children will do for their own aged parents. The more the government does for children, the less able and willing parents will do for their own children. People have no sense of responsibility for themselves, figuring that no matter what they do, the government will always be there to save them from the consequences of their folly.
The bigger the government, the more selfishness and irresponsibility and the attitude of "I pay taxes, let the government handle the problem." For a conservative to complain about the moral rot of recent decades and then to support socialism is to spit into the wind, to work at cross purposes.
I think it's unreasonable...Lets suppose you have two sandwiches and I have two picnic baskets full of sandwiches...Ten hungry people come a beggin'...You give up one sandwich for one person...I could give one sandwich since that's all you gave...I could have given nine, ate my fill and thrown the rest away...Or, I could come up with a bunch of loopholes and given half a sandwich...Na, I'm comfortable with my outlook...
From each according to his ability, to each according to his need. Sounds good. Maybe we can give it a shot.
You forgot to say -- "(sarcasm) The Soviets already gave it a shot and showed the world what that REALLY meant." -- didn't you?
"The Nazis are well remembered for murdering well over 11 million people in the implementation of their slogan, 'The public good before the private good,' the Chinese Communists for murdering 62 million people in the implementation of theirs, 'Serve the people,' and the Soviet Communists for murdering more than 60 million people in the implementation of Karl Marx's slogan, 'from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.' Anyone who defends any of these, or any variation of them, on the grounds of their 'good intentions' is an immoral (NOT 'amoral') enabler of the ACTUAL (not just the proverbial) road to hell." -- from http://FreedomKeys.com/collectivism.htm
Yeah, I figured a straight quote from Karl Marx would come with understood sarcasm. Can't take anything for granted on FR.
excellent post
BTTT
Good thinking.
Bullsh!t
Thank you!
And thank you, too! I don't mind compliments.
Dear Hillary:
That festering, stinking boil on the ass of your political party is called the abortion industry. Whaddya suppose Jesus would have to say about that? Excuse me if I don't buy in to your religious-socialism suckfest while at the same time listening to the collective voice of your Island of Misfit Toys advocate the legalized murder of 45 million babies, yes babies, since 1973.
In the immmortal words of Gunnery Sgt. Thomas Highway - go hump somebody else's leg, muttface.
immmortal = immortal
"A hundred years ago, people with cancer, diabetes and other ailments just died...Most families couldn't afford to care for their relatives..."
This is poppycock! People always received the care that was known and available for these diseases. The treatments themselves were sometimes ineffective, and people died as a result, but it wasn't because they weren't able to access medical care. Charity hospitals were plentiful and open to all comers. But all the money in the world couldn't cure cancer or diabetes. The "rich" died just as the "poor" did back then.
The kind of thinking exhibited in the previous remark just perpetuates the myth that we all were deprived of medical care until the government began to regulate and control access. This is nonsense, and plays into the lies spewed by the leftists among us.
And in a social system wherein manknd is stripped of his innate dignity, he is likewise stripped of his humanity since he is nothing more than a tiny cog among other thousands of tiny cogs. And it's precisely in an inhumane, utilitarian, souless system such as this that abortion florishes.
snip...This is a interesting question, as to whether the left can claim a Christian basis for social programs. While Christ
LK....If what I've been encountering in lib/progressive political forums is any indicator, then the answer to your question is 'yes'. It's obvious from what they're claiming that they're being told by their handlers that 'fundies' have stolen and subverted Christianity. And that in fact, the Left represents 'true' Christianity.
We're definitely living in times of tremendous deceit, paranoia, and delusion. Up is down, down is up, left is right, good is bad, and cultural Marxism is Christianity.
Christianity does the same thing. Ends personal responsibility. The work is done by Jesus/state.
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