Christianity is Socialism - Part 1 of ???

There are all sorts of concerns out there from a number of people about the political and economic direction of the US of A, that our country is becoming increasingly socialist in its policies. To many people (I will not say all), this is a "bad" thing. And, I both agree and disagree with this sentiment.

I would like to give you a gentle reminder that both the Old Testament (namely the book of Leviticus, but also in almost ALL of the prophetic writings) and the New Testament (primarily Matthew 25:31-46 but also in many other passages in the gospels and epistles) speak very strongly in favor of social justice, namely the care for the oppressed, the sick, the poor, the “alien” in your midst, the disadvantaged, etc. Jesus himself quoted Isaiah’s text for inaugurating the Kingdom of Heaven as a socially just kingdom. In light of this strong biblical basis, the Christian faith (and the Jewish faith) is definitely in favor of social justice and, in fact, from the Matthew passage, social justice is an important criteria in order to be considered a child of God. To therefore decry “social justice” as a Marxist idea or a communist idea is denying the importance that social justice has within the Christian faith.

HOWEVER, this also presents a danger to the Christian and Jewish faiths. Leaders like Obama and others in our current governmental structure obviously know what I have just described. If I remember correctly, Obama had a conference call with a number of religious leaders, waving the banner of “social justice” as being part of the duty of the faithful in order to promote his health care plan. “Social justice” is used frequently to gain the favor of the religious people in this country to get behind any number of socially conscious bills and legal documents. And the Christian people of this country say, “Oh, yes! That’s what Jesus preached! Let’s do it!” I have heard statements from people within my own Christian denomination (Mennonite) that consider Obama and his policies as being on par with the beliefs of the church and seem to march in lock-step with the socialist agenda of the government.

The danger is that the church then gives over their power, their authority, and their means to the government, making the government the church’s proxy to bring about the social justice of God’s kingdom. The church then follows the government and becomes, essentially, an agency of the government instead of an independent conscience to the government. This is dangerous because it is definitely recognized in the Bible (check the prophets, the book of Revelation, even the historical stories) that, even though the government has been given worldly authority by God (book of Romans here, chapter 13) this does not guarantee the government is necessarily going to follow God’s leading. Even King David, a “man after God’s own heart”, as righteous as he was, did stupid stuff that God did not condone. My own denomination’s confession of faith (found at http://www.mennolink.org/doc/cof/intro.html ) in Article 23 points out that nations become “idolatrous and rebellious” of the will of God and fail to live up to God’s standards. There are several historical examples of this, starting with the Crusades, proceeding with the Reformation of the 1500’s, proceeding through the Salem Witch trials in our own country, going through to even Adolf Hitler in 1930’s Germany, and so on. History is rife with examples where the church has endorsed a government only to have that government fail miserably in representing the kingdom of God.

In our own country, we are hearing “social justice” but what about the taxation levels for those people, like me, who, while I’m not poor, still live almost paycheck to paycheck? Is that socially just? What about the disadvantaged elderly that are sick? Does saying “Oh, you don’t have that much longer to live, we won’t treat you” count as social justice? What about taking tax payer money to condone the murder of the innocent unborn? Is that taking care of “the least of these”? I am not saying that any plan of the government will necessarily do any of these things, but these are questions that the church needs to ask before endorsing the government's "social justice".

The key is that the church should stand up for social justice and even be a conscience to the nation and to our government, calling them to action. But the church should not then let the government lead. The CHURCH should be in the lead, calling over our shoulder “Hey, government! Keep up, will ya?” and the government should be making it EASIER for the church to do this. Instead, by taxing the people, you take away the funds that can go to the church. By taxing the people, you take away the funds that conscientious Christians would use for “social justice”.

I could go on, but I think you get my point. Social justice, as an ideal, is a “good thing”. But only in the context of the kingdom of God. The USA is NOT, I repeat, NOT the Kingdom of God, never has been, never will be. It is founded on Kingdom principles, but the Kingdom is not bounded by the national boundaries of this world and therefore transcends the government. It should be up to the KINGDOM to bring about social justice because it has a much bigger view (a view from the eyes of God our Creator) than the limited view from Washington, D.C. And the church, as the Body of Christ (not necessarily equated with the human institution called "the church) is the agent of the Kingdom in this world. As I've said in another post, "It's our job".

On and off over the next while, my wife and I will be trying to blog on the differences between the socialism as presented in Scripture and the socialism that gets implemented by secular society. Hopefully, this article sets the stage from which this conversation can take place.