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An Excerpt from “Does the Bible Recommend Socialism? Ten Reasons Why Members of the Early Church Would Say No, Part 1”

The complete article is available here.

Definitions

Let’s first determine what we mean by socialism. Let’s also define the related terms communism and Marxism, and the contrasting term capitalism, or free enterprise. Then let’s examine what the Scriptures have to say.

Karl Marx
  • Socialism is “an economic system based upon governmental or communal ownership of the means of production and distribution of goods and services.”1
  • Socialism is a component of Marxism, which is “an atheistic and materialistic worldview based on the ideas of Karl Marx that promotes the abolition of private property, public ownership of the means of production (i.e., socialism), and the utopian dream of a future communistic state.”2
  • Communism is “the Marxist ideal of a classless and stateless utopian society in which all property is commonly owned and each person is paid according to his or her abilities and needs.”3
Photo by Clem Onojeghuo on Unsplash
  • Capitalism or free enterprise is “an economic system in which capital assets are privately owned, and the prices, production, and distribution of goods and services are determined by competition within a free market.”4

In our discussion, it also will be helpful to remember one more definition, one we highlighted in last week’s post. Social justice, 

also known as economic justice, is a term describing the redistribution of wealth supposedly for the common good of all. However, this comes at the expense of wage earners and liberty by demanding a society to conform. Those who work and have must give to those who don’t work and don’t have.

As we indicated in a previous post, the social justice movement (and, we might add, socialism and all other related economic systems) are “obsessed with equal outcomes at the expense of equal opportunities.”

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I trust that even from these definitions alone, you can see the clear connection between social justice and socialism, as well as ways social justice and socialism are related to Marxism and communism. An economic system resting on the principles of free enterprise capitalism stands as a safeguard against socialism, Marxism, and communism. Yet we cannot take anything for granted. Social justice propaganda often is used as a battering ram to weaken a society’s resolve against these three, none of which has worked in any society in history, wherever it has been tried (go here, here and here).

Social justice propaganda often is used as a battering ram to weaken a society’s resolve against socialism, Marxism, and communism, none of which has worked in any society in history, wherever it has been tried.

 

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Copyright © 2019 by B. Nathaniel Sullivan. All rights reserved.

Notes:

1Jeff Myers and David A. Nobel, Understanding the Times: A Survey of Competing Worldviews, (Manitou Springs, CO: Summit Ministries, 2016), 100.

2Ibid.

3Ibid.

4Ibid.

top image credit: St. Peter Preaching the Gospel in the Catacombs by Jan Styka