Love God, and love your neighbor.  If all the law and prophets hang on these, how do we as the Church carry it out?  Is it enough for Christians to live their faith and serve their neighbors, or do we need the government to enforce it?  And in the process of enforcing the second part, will it eventually prevent the first?

In the part 3, we discussed the pamphlet written for Jamaica’s socialist party.  Its title was “Socialism is Practical Christianity.”  On his Wikipedia page , the author calls himself “a socialist and an ex-Jew.”  Why would he write a Christian essay in support of socialism?  I think Karl Marx may have an answer.

Marx on Christianity

“Nothing is easier than to give Christian asceticism a Socialist tinge. Has not Christianity declaimed against private property, against marriage, against the State? Has it not preached in place of these, charity and poverty, celibacy and mortification of the flesh, monastic life and Mother Church? Christian Socialism is but the holy water with which the priest consecrates the heart-burnings of the aristocrat.”  (Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The Communist Manifesto, 1848)

First, “Christian asceticism” is not the same as Protestant Christianity.  As a whole, that hasn’t preached against private property or marriage since 1517.  (That’s when Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the Catholic church.)  Meanwhile, the Russian Orthodox Church has never preached against these.

Next, please notice that Marx and Engels are not trying to Christianize socialism.  Marx made that clear when he said, “The first requisite of the happiness of the people is the abolition of religion.”  (Karl Marx, A Criticism of the Hegelian Philosophy of Right, 1844.) 

The first requisite of the happiness of the people is the abolition of religion.

Karl Marx

In modern English, in order for people to be happy, we have to completely get rid of religion.  So much for the “Love God” part of the commandment. 

Know Your Bible

It seems to me that Marx and others are trying to use Christian arguments to convince Christian people of the merits of socialism.  The Jamaica pamphlet even finished by stating emphatically, “It is a LIE that socialism is against Christianity. How can it be when socialism is Christianity put into practice?”  Friedrich Engels actually had a reply for that. 

“It is, however, curious, that whilst the English Socialists are generally opposed to Christianity, … the French Communists, being a part of a nation celebrated for its infidelity, are themselves Christians. One of their favourite axioms is, that Christianity is Communism…This they try to prove by the bible, the state of community in which the first Christians are said to have lived, etc. But all this shows only, that these good people are not the best Christians, although they style themselves so; because if they were, they would know the bible better, and find that, if some few passages of the bible may be favourable to Communism, the general spirit of its doctrines is, nevertheless, totally opposed to it…”

–Friedrich Engels, “Progress of Social Reform on the Continent,”
The New Moral World, November 4, 1843, emphasis added.

Perhaps we should take him at his word and “know the Bible better”!

Ironic, isn’t it?

The modern progressive movement in the United States is known for not liking politics mixed with religion.  That’s what makes it so confusing when Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D, CA) argues we have a moral obligation to take care of God’s creation, or when Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D, NY) makes the case that Jesus’ family were poor immigrants.  I wonder if they, like Marx, are trying to give their policies a Christian tinge?  And now that American politicians are talking a lot about socialism, I would like to point out a couple more ironies about the socialist appeal to Christianity.

 1. Socialist uprisings tend to restrict Christianity.

The list of socialist states on Wikipedia is too long to detail one by one, so let me give you a personal testimony.  I went to a Christian college.  Among the first people I met there were two Ethiopian women, sisters, who became dear sisters in Christ to me.  The older sister had been under a death sentence in that socialist country.  She had been too outspoken about her faith.  Meanwhile, their younger brother had tried to escape through Sudan, and it was years before they learned whether he was dead or alive.  We all celebrated when, sometime during my senior year, he and their mother joined the sisters on campus for a reunion.

2.  American progressives rail against income inequality. 

I wonder what “tax the rich” evangelists would make of Exodus 20:17?  “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor’s.”  I’m pretty sure that includes his bank account, too.  I find it ironic that socialists encourage the working class to covet others’ wealth, while claiming that redistributing that wealth is the Christian thing to do.

(For balance, here’s more information about income inequality from a different perspective.)

3.  Socialist nations tend to use democracy to vote away people’s property. 

Hugo Chavez’ “Expropiase” is still ringing in my ears as I type this.  (Expropiase is Spanish for “Take it.”)  It seems quite an opposite of the Biblical command, “Thou shalt not steal” (Exodus 20:15).  But my point is not about whether socialists or capitalists violate this commandment.  Instead, I’m pointing out this irony: Expropriators of any stripe shouldn’t lecture Christians about following the Bible.

4.  Karl Marx called religion “the opium of the people.”

Marx was one of the fathers of socialism.  His quote, in context, says that religion is useful for drugging the populace into submission.  When his socialist heirs try to wrap socialism in a robe of religion, then, I feel justified in doubting their motives.

Who is Jesus?

On July 26, 2018, an ordinary 30-something from West Virginia made a startling statement to a National Public Radio reporter.  (She had co-founded of her local chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America.)

          “If anyone was ever a socialist,” she said, “it was Jesus.”

That’s the heart of the issue for Christians.  If our Lord were a socialist, we would have to embrace socialism, too.  If we could ask him directly if he’s a capitalist or a socialist, I wonder what he would say?

Joshua had an opportunity to ask a similar question in Joshua 5:13-15.  He was leading Israel toward Jericho, and he looked up to see a man with a sword in his hand.  He immediately asked, “Are you with us or with them?”  That seems a relevant question for a nation at war. 

“Neither,” the angel of the Lord replied.  “As captain of the host of the LORD I am come.” 

I think Jesus would say the same here, too.  As he told Pilate, “My Kingdom is not of this world.”  Regarding both socialist and capitalist countries, however, I’m sure he would also say, “Ye shall know them by their fruits.”  That will be the subject of upcoming posts. 

For now, let’s consider what form of government Jesus might choose.  After all, he is the King of kings.  That’s a monarchy.  He’s Lord of lords.  That would be a theocracy.  But he’s also our Savior. 

That’s as far as I got before I ran this by my worship pastor hubby.  I wanted to make sure I wasn’t stepping on any theological toes.  He came back a few minutes later and said, “The only word that keeps coming to mind is Representative.”

So that’s what I’m going with.  Romans 8:34 says Jesus is always interceding for us with the Father.  2 Corinthians 5:21 describes how he substituted his death for ours on the cross.  He’s our Representative.  And in my humble opinion, I think he’d be cool with a representative form of government.  You know, the kind we have in the U.S.A.

Links for header image credit, Bible image credit, and angel image credit.

Links to the entire series can be found online in this index.