My own take on the matter is that Jesus saw people who got rich out of a sense of obligation and who really didn't desire wealth. By telling them to sell their goods and donate the proceeds to the poor, he was freeing them from a false value system (i.e., propitiating Mammon as an obligation.)
It's funny that no-one's mentioned the Parable of the Talents so far. I guess that's because those who believe Jesus was a socialist interpret it in a different but not necessarily unBiblical way.
It was because they were mixed that Jesus was crucified.
Jesus calls us all to repent or perish. This is our #1 obligation in the Bible because we are all sinners in need of salvation. No one is appointed to create Heaven on Earth through the redistribution of wealth, which is what Socialism is all about.
Abraham Lincoln once remarked that as the Lord made man to live by the sweat of his brow, there would always be those who try to live off the sweat of someone else’s brow. This is what Socialism is.
I think that Jesus is too smart to subscribe to any politics and those whom try to sign him up are destined for a very warm future.
Notice that with this parable, Jesus illustrates two simple principles: 1) God will entrust to us certain resources such as responsibilities, material possessions, family, etc. based on our ability to use these resources responsibly; and 2) God will require an accounting of how we have managed the resources that He has entrusted to us. This application calls us to make a concerted effort to be faithful stewards with every precious gift that God bestows upon us and make sure that we use those gifts to further His Kingdom.
On the first point, Jesus states pretty plainly that the Kingdom of God is based on a system that is the antithesis of socialism/communism. Marxist socialism says "from each according to his ability and to each according to his need," but Jesus says that in the Kingdom of God, people are given "to each according to his ability". Notice also, that rather than taking a redistributive approach of taking from "wealthy" to give to the "poor", the lazy unproductive servant loses even what little he had and it was given to the most successful servant that had the most money.
In all of Christ's teaching, He calls on individuals to be generous toward each other and especially those in need. He also stresses the freedom of employers and workers to enter into agreements via a free market rather than some collectively enforced arrangement. (Matthew 20:1-16) He also teaches about the importance of evaluating costs, value, and available resources before undertaking a project or investment. (Luke 14:27-33 and Matthew 13:44-52) Clearly the teaching of Jesus regarding money adheres to a market-based capitalist philosophy much more than a socialistic viewpoint.
It always amazes me how atheist who do not believe in God profess to be such authorities on the bible.
Some people are economic idiots; some people are theologial idiots; Gregory Paul is both. His first mistake is in characterizing capitalism as "social darwinism", but that is necessary for him to get to the supposed contradiction in his thesis.
Only a person who knew absolutely nothing about the New Testament would even try to make such a claim. Certainly no one who had actually read all of the Book of Acts (of the Holy Spirit).
He turned water into wine and made limited bread and fish feed many.
He didn’t propose progressive tax rates on the rich to create social programs.
Jesus calls us to life. He actually calls it abundant. Hopefully, you’re all finding it.
I don’t recall Jesus telling us to build prison camps-and in the real world, that is what every socialist system winds up being. I guess those who would place Jesus’ name on their schemes forget that His blessing shows on the outcome-not the intent.
There is never support for communism/socialism. There is no “force” in the concept of charity, ever. It ceases to be charity, when it is government force.
Socialism/Communism is always forced confiscation from the producers...and it rewards evil with the money—sloth, bad behaviors, etc. It is immoral by Christian standards and Natural Law Theory.
Play Video:
Did Jesus endorse capitalism, weapons?
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=334573
Huuuuh errrrr....He is unique, believe it or not ,he claims to be a special embodiement of God revealing people the face , the person,of the hiden “God” who created everything and that nothing can see. And that’s what christians believe.
About his doctrine and teachings anyway some parabols like the one about the talents or also the 11th hour’s worker...are not at all “socialists”.
On a more foundamental level it appears that , according to the Holy Gospels, that each one is seen as an individual person and will receive grace according to hese needs and capacities “ad modum recipientis”....which is very far from the flat notion and dangerous socialist fantasy of a strict equality.
So this point is pathetic and laughable but shows well, once again, that socialism has always, since the beginning, pretended to be a kind of new (fake) religion, parody of religion, with hese fake dogma and true fanatic ideologues which tried to replace christianism
"Paul, Paul, why persecutest slanderest thou Me?"
No.
When you come right down to it, Jesus is a theocrat.
Crown, throne, scepter, King of Kings and Lord of Lords....
Modern accounting is based in part on the records maintained by Christian monks.
Socialism is an inherently humanistic doctrine that teaches that humanity can remove the curse of sin from itself by government dictat. If Jesue was a socialist, He wouldn’t have died for our sins.
Socialism replaces God. It is a state religion.