words like liberal & socialism tend to make conservatives & capitalists cringe. But it seems the older I get the more I realize the importance of socialist views. Already many of you cringed, starting to scream internally, but seriously we can look at the 1st generation of Christians to see where socialism really took hold.
After the ascension of Christ, the new believers were witnesses to his work on earth and when he left, they took the energy of this God movement to unprecedented levels. They started usurping the government & culture of their day by giving their possessions to one another and getting rid of things they didn’t need. Why did they do this? They did it bc this Holy Spirit prompted them to take care of another, to be thy brother’s keeper so to speak. And check it out, bc of this, Christ became known to unknown people.
we like to throw labels around and frankly socialism is a label few people want in western worlds, but for me, if this means I can refocus my possessions and needs to help those around me, then count me in.
fyi – I’m not there yet. I’m not this radical. I like my things. I hope I can overcome this western mind-set.
thoughts?
7 Comments
November 2, 2009 at 9:10 pm
dear brother in Christ,
As a student in political science, government, and history, I can speak on different political philosophies, and while I agree there are differences, the point is, in nature, it’s about watching out for your brother. Whether the government does it and we advocate it, or we as Christians do it, both are subject to corruption and good, but provide a redistribution. I won’t agree to all socialism but at the core, helping those around me is a good aim. Socialist programs, ie medicare, wia, etc, socialist in nature, provide services that are helping thy brother. Thanks for your response
November 2, 2009 at 11:30 pm
Helping the poor = great idea. I don’t do it enough, and I wish everyone would do so more than they do. Being forced to help the poor = bondage, not freedom.
November 3, 2009 at 5:24 am
Brother, I’m with you on this one. The only concern I have is that we’ve left our individual responsibility in the hands of a, broken in many ways, government. The reality is, there would be no need for government mandated “social” policies if the Church, would be the church… If we would truly take to heart, “Loving my neighbor as I would myself,” the need for “forcing” people to do the right thing, wouldn’t be necessary. However, due to the fact that we as christians are often broken ourselves, and God still chooses to use us, I’m left with the final thought. Until we start doing what were suppose to be doing, I 100% support the use of government funding to get it done. The world would be a better place if we were all a little more social, and a little less selfish.
November 3, 2009 at 3:45 pm
The problem with socialism is that the government controls it’s fate. Socialism has never worked to the degree it was supposed to. The Health General of Canada recently said that they needed a major overhaul on their health system (socialistic form of government) lets be honest Europe doesn’t help their impoverished people with their socialistic form of government. The whole UK has the highest percent of poverty in the “Modern Western World”. It has never achieved what it was supposed to.The UK (which is mostly governed by a socialistic form of government) boasts the worlds largest poverty rate. And Germany(Same form of government as UK) , who after the war adopted more of a socialistic form of government recovered very quickly and now have one of the worlds largest economies. However, they also since 2005 boast the largest number of unemployment in their nations history. It hasn’t worked yet so why should it in the US? We should not confuse socialism for Christ’s salvation of the economy. If we as Christians do what we are suppose to that will be a big enough change to make a serious impact. We don’y have to wait for a governmental change to make us act more christlike.
November 3, 2009 at 4:52 pm
I am thoroughly enjoying the conversation from both sides of this argument. Let me preface by stating that I am not a strong advocate of Socialism, which is a form of government. What I am a fan of is the intentions of people who hold those views, or better said, people who care for other people. A lot of times we, as Christians think that liberals or Socialists are trying to ruin this great country – they are not, they are trying to help thy brothers.
The differences come in defining who are brothers are. Conservatives & Christians tend to think that brothers can be of the Christian circle or those who need help but only those who help themselves.
Liberals might expand that definition in terms of who needs help. Working in a “social” program I get to see the good and the bad. Some people really need help, they work hard, but daggone-it, they’re poor and will always be poor unless someone can remove a barrier. And since the Christian community doesn’t do enough to remove those barriers, then yes, government programs can help those people.
Sides disagree on how to help those people as well and to what extent. As everyone has perfectly alluded to, if the Christian community would enhance their skills in this area, then certainly we wouldn’t have to rely on government assistance, as I trust the Christian community moreso than government…that said I do not completely distrust government even though it can corrupt, so too can Christian institutions as evident in its history.
November 3, 2009 at 7:43 pm
I pretty much agree with what you’re saying (although I still think you’re a North Korean communist spy).
So the question really is about the approach. Do we approach this on a global scale, expand government even more so and give them power to redistribute wealth, or do we start small and focus on our community.
One program that has yielded great results this year is the adopt-a-block that many area churches have been involved with. I assume you’re familiar? We’ve taken on the trailer park behind the lion’s den, and began building relationships as well as helping them out with basic needs — wheel chair ramps, book bags and school supplies, food, even free hair cuts from my wife. All of these things we do without any attempts to evangelize, but we’ve gained some church members and new believers anyway.
November 4, 2009 at 2:40 pm
Keith,
Yes I’m quite aware of churches adopting neighborhoods and this is a GREAT approach. While it could be late to the game, if we stick to it, then surely we can be a global force. In Virginia I helped start a nonprofit contingency that now has the blessing of the City Council, the Mayor’s office, and the City Police; all in the most violent neighborhood in the area. It’s about empowering people and giving them access & education to where they wouldn’t have had it previously.
And frankly, I don’t mind the government assisting in that process so long as there is oversight & accountability until the church as a whole steps up to the plate. The next issue becomes to what degree and there’s our argument. We like infrastructure, certain bureaucracy, education (didn’t know that education at one time wasn’t publically funded WOW), libraries, military. These are all social programs & services that we all agree on. So it’s not as if we don’t believe in them…
We need to encourage oversight from our government to avoid corruption, but we must also embrace goals that are good in spirit – that is, those that truly help our neighbors….and the Church can step up to….and I believe she is.