5 Reasons Socialism Is Not Christian

[SVPete]

5 Reasons Socialism Is Not Christian
BY JULIE ROYS
CP OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR
July 12, 2016|7:45 am

Jesus confronted the money-changers and challenged believers to give to the needy. But, would he support socialism?
...
Last Saturday, Micah Conkling, a Christian writer and podcaster, argued on my radio program that socialism is the political and economic system that best fulfills the Golden Rule. Not surprisingly, Conkling is a Millennial, the most pro-socialist generation America has ever known. ...

... But, socialism is not the answer. Though it may sound compassionate and Christian, it's actually antithetical to everything Christianity teaches.

Here's why:

1. Socialism is Based on a Materialistic Worldview

According to socialists like Bernie Sanders, the greatest problem in the world is the unequal distribution of wealth.
...
To socialists, suffering is caused by the unequal distribution of stuff — and salvation is achieved by the re-distribution of stuff. There's no acknowledgment of spiritual issues. There's just an assumption that if everyone is given equal stuff, all the problems in society will somehow dissolve.

This worldview contradicts Christianity, which affirms the existence of both a material and a non-material world — and teaches that mankind's greatest problems are spiritual. The Bible says the cause of suffering is sin and salvation is found in the cross of Christ, which liberates us from sin. ...

2. Socialism Punishes Virtue

Socialists want to distribute wealth to individuals according to their need, regardless of virtue.

As Karl Marx, famously said, "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs."

However, whenever any institution provides aid, it runs the risk of removing God-designed rewards and consequences. It can punish those who are industrious by making them pay for those who are not. And, it can reward those who aren't industrious by giving them the fruits of another man's labor. This is precisely what socialism does.

Interestingly, Marx mooched off others his whole life, and failed to provide for his wife and children.
...
4. Socialism Encourages Envy and Class Warfare

Socialists demonize the rich, blaming all of society's problems on them.

Bernie Sanders once posted to his Facebook Page: "Let us wage a moral and political war against the billionaires and corporate leaders on Wall Street and elsewhere, whose policies and greed are destroying the middle class of America."
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The rich are not causing all the problems in American society. People like Bill Gates are not acquiring wealth by stealing from the masses. They're creating great products, which produce wealth, and actually provide jobs for many people. ...

A very good article, verging on excellent.

Here are a couple of key points I think Julie Roys missed:

Socialism, from Marx on down, justifies slaughtering capitalists and land-owning farmers. Lenin and Stalin did just that, slaughtering millions of innocents, directly, through the Gulags, and through government-caused famine and starvation. Other implementations of Marxist Socialism have been similarly murderous.

Second, her 4th reason could be stated more clearly and more strongly by pointing out that the Bible, in the Law of Moses, specifically forbids favoring the poor over the rich. See Exodus 23:3 and Leviticus 19:15. Favoring "the poor" is as much a perversion of justice as favoring "the rich".

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

Socialism judges souls by their bank account. It says, "You're poor, you must be downtrodden therefore you're really good." And "You're rich while others are poor. You must be evil."

That is really the sum total of all the arguments we hear.

But what if the poor person squandered? What if the rich person was diligent?

There is absolutely no effort on the part of socialism to inspect the true individual person.

As for socialists themselves. They seem to have no intention beyond buying indulgences. They seem to think if they make enough political demands in the name of the poor and even donate to the right causes they are free to do whatever they want and still be considered "good."

[SVPete]

Socialism - as a theory and in actual implementations - deals with people as classes, not as unique individuals. Hence Stalin's infamous, "You have break some eggs ...". Stalin didn't originate the saying, he "just" broke a couple 10s of millions of eggs (= innocent people); when individuals don't matter,slaughtering innocents, even by the 10s of millions, is no big deal as long as it can be rationalized on the basis of socio-economic class.

Christianity, intrinsically, deals with people as individuals. Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, and Ephesians 4:11 & ff all speak of people as individuals given unique gifts in the Body of Christ. Even the well-known, "For God so love the world ...," concludes with, "Whosoever believes ... ."

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

I look at socialists as economic Pharisees who substitute broad economic "reforms" for broad phylacteries and make cries of "Social justice!" their prayers in the public places.

Both take biblical doctrine and expand and pervert it to glorify themselves.

[FlaGator]

I look at socialists as economic Pharisees who substitute broad economic "reforms" for broad phylacteries and make cries of "Social justice!" their prayers in the public places.

Both take biblical doctrine and expand and pervert it to glorify themselves.

Well said ^5

[Movie buff- The Sequel]

A couple more points that I would add:
1. When talking about how Socialism seeks to dismantle the American family, she neglected to bring up Hillary's infamous "It takes a village" comment, which ties into that perfectly.
2. (And this is a big one) Wherever Socialism has really taken root, innumerable Christians have been persecuted, imprisoned, tortured, and executed for refusing to deny their faith and become Atheists. For a Christian to support Socialism would be no different from a Jew supporting Nazism.