Does that mean you’re changing your vote?!?!

If only we could put our feet up and allow the government to take care of that “giving back” portion…

That’s the problem though isn’t it? We all want to put our feet UP instead of putting our feet FORWARD and actually doing something… taking responsibility for ourselves and the part we are called to play in society.

My mom sent me a quote yesterday from Gerald Ford:
“A government big enough to give you what you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have.”

How true is that? It’s not Government’s role to ‘give us what we want’, the price is too high. We need to be responsible and accountable for and to each ourselves and each other.

Wow, Buddy I agree with you! Socialism does seem to be (for many) a replacement for Christ-centered kindness. But to me, Christ-centered kindness is so much more involved than what socialism offers. If only we could put our feet up and allow the government to take care of that “giving back” portion….

~Tara

Unless those people who call themselves Christians (among those of other moralistic traditions) begin to consider voluntary “socialism” seriously then enforced socialism is inevitable.

The thing with this is that’s how the far left, who are typically Atheists, will react. I think there is a innate pull in humanity (even the rocks cry out) that leads people to be compassionate and caring for those who are less fortunate. When you do not have Christ as a foundation to rely on, the best solution is Government intervention.

but it there is still nothing remotely resembling this competitive system in the Gospel.

Right, and there’s nothing there to help with the problems of internet infrastructure and cell phone abuse either…

Unless those people who call themselves Christians (among those of other moralistic traditions) begin to consider voluntary “socialism” seriously then enforced socialism is inevitable. We already are there.

I’ve said it before – the church will continue to lose it’s validity when we have multi-millionaire preachers, clergy living in mansions and (more importantly) very, very wealthy ‘believers’ who think that capitalism has it’s roots in the Bible. IMHO think it is still the best evil of all the worldly evils out there but it there is still nothing remotely resembling this competitive system in the Gospel.

All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.
Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement), sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.

Big difference here, the first sentence “All the believers were one in heart and mind”. This was communal charitable living out of a common purpose and genuine generosity. Sharing what they had because they shared a bigger purpose. There was no mandate except for honesty.

Socialism is governmentally enforced mandated charity; where wealth is spread equally to all except for those who do the spreading (they get substantially more). Even Marx figured out that it was flawed and doomed to failure, thus the impetus for the creation of the Communist Manifesto. We are not capable of weilding this kind of power over people. Charity must be a willing, selfless act, one from the heart or it’s no good to anyone.

Look at the model God gives us, the way He loves us. He wants our love in return, but He will not mandate it. In the same way,we should be taking care of those who need (the poor, the hungry, the widow) but because that’s where our heart is, not because we are compelled by the state to do so.

This topic was prominently discussed on “Real Time w/Bill Maher” this past week. I didn’t catch the guy’s name – independent Senator from Vermont – but he had some interesting things to say about the topic.

How is socialism different from the practices of the early, 1st Century church?