Does Socialism align with Scripture?

[mikewhitney]

One big problem with socialism is that the government will keep taking money from you when you need to use your money for a bigger disaster happening in your own family. Nothing can be more helpful to you than losing money when you desperately need it for personal emergencies.

[rogue06]

One big problem with socialism is that the government will keep taking money from you when you need to use your money for a bigger disaster happening in your own family. Nothing can be more helpful to you than losing money when you desperately need it for personal emergencies.

Pffft. Like the average person can determine what's a bigger emergency. That's for government to tell them which one is the biggest emergency.

[Cow Poke]

One big problem with socialism is that the government will keep taking money from you when you need to use your money for a bigger disaster happening in your own family. Nothing can be more helpful to you than losing money when you desperately need it for personal emergencies.

And whoever doesn't take care of their own family is worse than an infidel.

[KingsGambit]

The role of government today is different from the role of government in the Ancient Near East, as I believe JP Holding has pointed out, so it's difficult to draw one-to-one conclusions. There are principles in Scripture, especially the Old Testament, that are relevant (the gleaning laws, year of Jubilee, the fact that the prophets condemn heavy taxation of the poor), but Acts 2 is certainly not relevant to the conversation about what a government should do. It's just not. Even Ananias and Sapphira a few chapters later were told by Peter that they could have kept the money if they'd wanted to.

[JimL]

And I get the feeling that you are an ass Jim...

That's okay, but christians, and or christian organizations, can't ensure that diabetics et al can afford their insulin or other life saving drugs, they can't ensure their ability to be able to afford healthcare, they can't ensure that corporations pay a living wage, they can't ensure the elderly are cared for, etc etc. They can help, but they can't do the job themselves. People, and religious organizations can only do so much, and what they do is great, but when you vote for a system of governance that ignores the destitute and the less fortunate then it only shows, in my opinion, that you don't really care about those people, that your personal actions are not truly altruistic, but are done for purposes of self gratification.

[JimL]

Your mind reading pills are not working again.

I don't need to read your minds, I read your words. You don't believe in taxes supporting government policies targeted to the less fortunate, and make up excuses that make you feel better about it.

[JimL]

Yeah, it's MUCH easier to support a government plan to take money away from other people than it is to spend your own time and resources helping out personally, especially when such a tiny percent of that money actually goes to people who actually need it. And I'm not at all in favor of handing out "a few bucks on the street", but providing education, training, job assistance, clothing, food.....

You seem to think that it's an either or proposition. Supporting government assistance doesn't mean you can't do your own thing as well.

[JimL]

Much less go and do likewise or else.

He probably thought you'd be smart enough to figure that out for yourself.

[JimL]

Regular reminder that Starlight is a joke.

Really. Do you really believe that the biblical god killed Ananias and Saphira for that? That event doesn't even correlate with biblical doctrine. The biblical god doesn't kill people at random for doing wrong.

[NorrinRadd]

The bible doesn't advocate for that distinction, it's something you're bringing to it and reading into it. There's pretty much nothing in the bible about the comparative value of free and voluntary action verses forced-to-do-it.

No. You seem to really believe that, but it's just plain straight out not true.

The vast majority of people I have encountered who advocate for socialist or socialist principles do so because they genuinely care about the plight of those in need. It's based on love and compassion. It's literally that simple.

You all seem really really concerned about the idea that someone might take your money from you, and seem obsessed that it's yours. The traits that come across clearly from you making this the focus of your concerns are greed, selfishness, and love of money. The greed I see here in your post and over and over again among the conservatives in this forum is the selfish love of your own money. Capitalism, is, of course, famously all about greed and tends toward the view that 'greed is good'. Accusing socialists of being greedy seems to me to be projection.

As a socialist I don't want your money or think I should have it. I think the excess wealth of the rich should go to the poor, which isn't me. There's no greed on my part involved. It's a concern for the poor, for the needy, and to right injustices that's the motivation.

I and most of the people I know are in the lower to lower-middle income range. We strongly oppose Socialism because we view it to be theft from those who have achieved financial success. We generally view "social justice" to be the opposite of "actual" justice.

[NorrinRadd]

They were killed for their failure to obey the rules of giving all they had. Pretty sure that wasn't voluntary, and is a rather extreme level of force!

Well Ananias and Saphira are in Acts 5. You're aware they were killed for not conforming?...

People with a modicum of Biblical literacy and honesty understand that those two were killed for *lying* by *claiming* to give more than they did.

[RumTumTugger]

You seem to think that it's an either or proposition. Supporting government assistance doesn't mean you can't do your own thing as well.

Who taught you mathematics, JimL; if the government takes away a portion of my earnings(and yes i am taxed, even though I'm not part of the 1%) that is money I don't' have to give to organizations who do a better job of taking care of the needs of others.

[NorrinRadd]

Socialization is what spreads Covid-19. Too much socializing goin' on out dere!

Read with the Foghorn Leghorn intonations of ol' Fritz Hollings.

[lilpixieofterror]

I don't need to read your minds, I read your words. You don't believe in taxes supporting government policies targeted to the less fortunate, and make up excuses that make you feel better about it.

[KingsGambit]

One point of disagreement with the tenor of some of the comments earlier: I don't think the biblical injunctions about people taking personal responsiblity to help neighbors means that governments can't help in this role, any more than Psalm 82:3 teaching us to defend the helpless on a personal level means that police forces shouldn't exist.