Socialism Isn't Christianity

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

[Tempest]

Charity means to give of goodwill. It does not mean legalized extortion by the goverment under penalty of imprisonment.

[FreeKeys]

"Some writers have so confounded society with government, as to leave little or no distinction between them; whereas they are not only different, but have different origins ... Society is in every state a blessing, but Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one." -- Thomas Paine, Common Sense, 1776

"Socialism, like the ancient ideas from which it springs, confuses the distinction between government and society. As a result of this, every time we object to a thing being done by government, the socialists conclude that we object to its being done at all." --Frederic Bastiat, ca. 1837

"I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents." -- James Madison

"Compassion comes from the heart, not the government." -- Edward Britton

"Government is not compassion ... Government is nothing more than structured, widespread coercion ..." -- Glen Allport

"The greater the desire to perform humanitarian deeds through legislation, the greater the violence required to achieve it." -- Ron Paul

"Benevolence in public institutions has a short half-life no matter how noble its original intentions." -- Richard A. Epstein, Principles for a Free Society

"Helping the poor through the government is like feeding the sparrows through cows" -- Walter Williams

"It is easy to be conspicuously 'compassionate' if others are being forced to pay the cost." -- Murray N. Rothbard

"Government is not reason, it is not eloquence -- it is force." -- George Washington

"The greatest tyrannies are always perpetrated in the name of the noblest causes." -- Thomas Paine

"Jesus would never use government surrogates to force the people to 'help others'." -- Philip Freneau

[MississippiMan]

You're absolutely correct. Christians are the most generous people on the planet, as proven by the recent "generosity" surveys, but we do it OUR way, often by going and directly helping the person in need with a hand UP. Another key issue is the biblical admonition to WORK, which liberals so conveniently neglect to mention.

In any event, when liberals start giving out advice about Christian issues, they inevitably reveal themselves to be filled with abject ignorance on anything related to Christ. Gore listing his favorite verse as John 16:3 will be hard to top as an example of this phenomenon.

MM

[Blue Collar Christian]

"...the concept of the person as the autonomous subject of moral decision disappears..."

The is further facilitated by the excusing of resposibility, i.e. murdering your unwanted children, OKing homosexuality, rights for illegal aliens, outlawing self protection, etc..

[jwalsh07]

All men have rights, but they don't have a right to my bank account. Other than that, I would concur.

[KStorm]

All Hillary has to learn is that if I give voluntarily, it isn't extortion. If it's taken from me, it's stealing.

[bowzer313]

"Socialism is not Christianity, but ideally, if everyone was as personally ihclined t be generous as the Bible calls for, the world was appear to have socialist qualities."

I'm sorry, but it is just this kind of ignorant statement and idiotic thinking that gives an undeserved legitimacy to socialism. If "giving" to the poor is coerced, in any way, then it is not giving at all. Charity is not forcing me to bankroll your pet organizations at the point of a gun. And denying the productive among us the fruit of their own labor through forced redistribution is theft, pure and simple. The Catholic Church used to recognize that socialism and communism are, at bottom, violent and malevolent ideologies that are opposed to God's commandments, based as they are on flawed atheistic and scientistic moral precepts. I live for the day when the religious of the world finally get it through their heads and hearts that their is NOTHING attractive or beneficial about leftism in ANY of its manifestations.

[LoneSome Journey]

and not HIS responsibility to see to it that MY money went to what HE thought was important.

This is the very problem with democrats. To them, you do not possess sufficient intelligence to make such a decision. Only the state, and that state is controlled by democrats/socialists, is qualified to decide how to spend your money. And as a matter of course, the state, thus the democrats/socialists, are to never be questioned about how they choose to spend your money.

When we look at who provides the greatest amount of their resources to aid others, its always Christians and Conservatives who give the most. liberals/socialists/democrats are always talking about giving money to others, but that money always comes from someone else, not themselves. If liberals truly believed in giving more, they'd give it freely and willingly, not waiting for either a new tax or tax credit.

[Blue Collar Christian]

MM, you said the "W" word! You're right though.

If my money feeds a man who will not work, I may be sinning by disregarding 2Th 3:10b "If a man will not work, he shall not(should not be allowed to)eat."

That John 16:3 thing was rumored of both Kerry and Bush, where www.snopes.com says "not true" on both. I never saw it on Gore. Bet it's a bust too.

It is easy to allow the libs to paint themselves into a corner with their own scriptural references if you are familiar with the Bible. They can't get much mileage out of it when their audience studies the Bible and can talk back.

[Republic If You Can Keep It]

innocent children suffering because their families can't get health insurance;

OK, we need tort reform & malpractice caps

platoons of young men and women dying in a war that didn't have to be;

Another leftist who doesn't understand the difference between good & evil. He'd prefer Saddam still be filling those mass graves.

the pillaging of God's green Earth.

There's plenty of goodness in that Earth. To Kinsley, "pillaging" means using the Earth's resources for mankind's good.

[calex59]

We might want to ask some of the Hollywood elitists how much they are giving to the relief effort in Indonesia. Now is the time for them to shine and demonstrate how it should be done, but of course they think that the "giving" should be done by the Government, not them.

[Blue Collar Christian]

Them are some keepers.

[Blue Collar Christian]

Did you see that the U.N. was labeling the U.S. contribution to this disaster "puney"?

[MississippiMan]

OOOF. After all this time, I'd never heard that the Gore quote was urban legend.

And yup, that's the perfect verse regarding the W-word, which is a classic four-letter word in the minds of so many liberals.

MM

[Semaphore Heathcliffe]

"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience."

-- C.S. Lewis

[Iscool]

This is a interesting question

Yes it is...And many here seem to think the answer is simple...I am grateful that we have somewhat of a system that will provide care for friends and relatives of mine that are unable to care for themselves...My parents both took advantage of Medicare before they passed on...I likely will follow the same path...

A hundred years ago, people with cancer, diabetes and other ailments just died...Most families couldn't afford to care for their relatives...

Even today, what Church congregations could afford to care for their elderly??? It doesn't seem so un-Christian like when non-Christian money is used to keep the Christians going...I don't make a lot of money but yet I don't mind paying taxes for Americans, to a degree...

But it's funny how the ones that make so much they can't spend it all, do the most whining...And these same people complain to High Heaven about America's social programs but you never hear a peep out of them about sending billions to terrorist and communist countries...

[FreeKeys]

All men have rights, but they don't have a right to my bank account. Other than that, I would concur.

"Politicians never accuse you of 'greed' for wanting other people's money -- only for wanting to keep your own money." -- Joseph Sobran

[Semaphore Heathcliffe]

But it's funny how the ones that make so much they can't spend it all, do the most whining...

Taking your word for it that this is actually the case, these same people are getting taxed out the wazoo. Is it unreasonable to expect they'd complain the most, since they're footing most of the bill?

[NurdlyPeon]

I have a feeling that this Hillary crap is just the opening round. In the next few years, we are going to see the RATs trying to twist and pervert religion to their cause. To me, this is a far greater threat than the direct "ban it in the courts" approach. The threat from the courts we can see and we can fight. But this insidious, subtle, reasonable-sounding perversion could be much more difficult and damaging.

[FreeKeys]

there are some very hard working self employed people who think everything would be better under socialism. Hard to understand.

Their confusion arises from a sincere desire to be good AND from a failure to distinguish between the two (opposite!) kinds of selfishness.

"Selfish" has two entirely different meanings. One is: "taking advantage of people against their will." The other is: "taking care of yourself and your family first and foremost and to whatever degree YOU deem appropriate." Obviously, one kind is bad, but the other kind is good. They just don't stop and think long enough to realize it.