Socialism, Communism, and Jesus
Justice, equity, and the removal of class discrimination. Everyone contributing to the greater good according to their ability, and all sharing equally in the benefits of labor. Private property is unnecessary since everyone is an owner of all things and is given everything they need. A Bible case could be made for each one of these ideals, and so one might get the impression that Christianity and Socialism – or Communism, which is an extreme form of Socialism – can coexist. While the goals of these systems are commendable, the Bible is clear that achieving these things is utterly impossible without God. Every other system amounts to building a house on a foundation of sand.
The Bible says, “Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.” Why would anyone object to a society that truly followed this rule of love?
The socialist would say “not so fast.” They would argue that “we’ve tried religion and it doesn’t work,” and that “a new religion is needed” (though there is nothing new about modern socialism/Marxism). “If religion could have fixed things,” they would say, “it would have done so long ago.”
The abject failure of popular religion to solve the problems of the poor and powerless is undeniable. However, the Bible explains why this situation exists: mankind has rejected his Creator. Can we now fix everything by building more systems on a foundation of atheism or agnosticism? Socialism attempts to resolve social ills by rejecting and replacing Biblical ideals of family, God, government, and church with something else entirely.
Modern socialism considers the Bible’s view of these institutions as fundamentally oppressive. The man cannot be the “head” of any household, the parents cannot be the “head” of the children. Gender is a fluid concept determined only by the individual. Personal gratification must not be hindered in any way by the bonds of marriage. Personal ownership means someone else can’t own it, so no one should own anything. We are accountable only to God (if He exists), not man, so religion is oppressive if it condemns my actions. Not all socialists accept all of these ideals, but one need not perform deep analysis to find that Socialism and the Bible point in opposite directions.
Also, one does not need to study the failure of past experiments to predict the outcome of the latest socialist fads, because they all continue to insist in a morality that comes from man’s collective (subjective) reasoning rather than on any objective truth. In these systems, a group of “enlightened” people decide on what is true and tolerable, and this group cannot tolerate any contradiction or resistance based on any higher standard. The Bible makes it clear that God is at the top of the Universe, and that His unchangeable law reigns supreme. We live on His ground, and breath His air. He is the source of our rights, and no man has the right to take them away.
The American Declaration of Independence was a collective triumph in human history because it finally articulated for the people of the United States what had always been true everywhere: that man was created to live free. If man cannot choose evil, he is not truly free. Mankind often chooses evil, and this evil makes him a slave to sinful pursuit. The Bible says that it is this very evil that causes the death and oppression we see in the world. We can and should use every available means to solve these problems, but we must do so within the boundaries that God has outlined in the Bible. Taking away a person’s property and livelihood in the name of some greater good is not acceptable. Taking away the right of free speech is not acceptable. Taking away a person’s life is not acceptable.
Socialism and Communism stand opposed to the Bible, and therefore God the Creator. This alone makes them doomed to failure.
(Matthew 7:26, Romans 13:10 NIV, Philippians 2:3, Romans 6:16, Psalm 24:1-5, Acts 17:28, 1 John 3:17, Matthew 25:31-46, 2 Chronicles 25:4, 1 Timothy 6:18, Mark 14:7, Psalm 10, Psalm 2)