RE: Christianity and Capitalism

You make excellent points. Capitalism or any economic structure or
political structure is not necessarily Christian. The idea of mankind as a
whole sharing the wealth and resources of the world can be done through many
mechanisms. The concepts of ownership being against biblical teachings may
be true when it comes to hording. Example might be Bill Gates and other
billionaires. Owning ones own home is not against biblical teachings.
Owning a car so that I can go to work and earn enough money to feed my
family isn't either. Capitalism does not necessarily equate to corporate
ownership. If one person has $1000 he can't build a church with it. But if
1000 people have a $1000 each then together they can build one. This is
joining of capital. The people of the church then own the church. I
suppose some might think this is unbiblical. Better that the government
take the $1000 from each of them and then build a theater for the NEA to
have free sex shows. (sarcasm included) . A man making $50k a year donates
$5k for charities such as 9/11 fund or UNICEF, etc. People like Bill Gates
donate a billion and everyone thinks he has done something great. But
what's a billion out of $40+ billion? The wealthiest people rarely donate
10%. If people who have hearts put their money together to form capital for
good purposes (this is what charities are) then God's work is being done.
It is up to each of us to ensure that the way we spend our money is right
and just by spending on things that do not hurt others and charities that
actually help others. When all we do is invest for the sake of creating a
retirement portfolio without regard to what those companies one invests in
is doing then capitalism can be abused. Invest wisely and with a Christian
conscience. Give all your money to the government and the only thing you
will ensure is that the only people that will have anything is the
government, and unlike ones ability to choose your investments or spending,
you won't have a choice where the money will go.

As for Karl Marx, let us not forget that long before he flirted with
socialism there were French and British royals who had theorized about how
to control the populace by ensuring bare minimums for the people, but at the
cost of peoples freedoms. Somehow I don't think the child enslavement
principles of the early writers of socialism would be accepted by Christ.
Just the thought of having your child forced to work in sewers is insane.
But that's what they wanted. And all for the good of the society.

When Christ gathered together the food to feed the masses, how many had
their food forcibly taken from them? How many gulags did he use to ensure
the well being of his people? How many dissidents did he kill, all for the
good of the whole? How many rich did he murder to ensure that the poor had
something? Is it wrong to acquire vast amounts of wealth only for the sake
of wealth? Of course. It doesn't even make good economic sense to horde.
Money or resources not put to use has no value.

Basic law of nature. Concentrate any element into a small area and as that
amount grows, but the area does not, you will likely a negative reaction.
Everything in the universe must stay in motion and spread out over time.
This is the very nature of the universe. Socialism stagnates with time.
During the Soviet era there were fields that due to the lack of
infrastructure and equipment were farmed by college students, obligated to
the state for their education, who would bring in the crops only to allow
them to sit on the fields rotting before the trucks would come to bring them
to the train stations. And even when the trucks were there in time, they
would end up at the train station rotting because the trains weren't there
are there wasn't any fuel for the trains. The average yield was around 32%
of actual planted crops. This alone was staggering, but complicating the
matter was Chernobyl which took out a significant portion of their available
farm land. That too was suffering from the same ineptness inherent in
governmental bureaucracies.

When it comes to the idea of having a mix of socialism and capitalism, bear
in mind that there is NO country that is completely capitalistic, nor
socialistic. Some lean one way more than the other. The Great Depression
has been analyzed countlessly and most agree that the major failure was the
fact that the capitalist system was running unchecked by any government
regulation. Since then most companies has some level of regulation placed
upon them by the government. Assuming the SEC does their job and the
congress does theirs then corporations should not have the power to bring
the whole thing crashing down again. Of course the energy sectors soon to
be coming dilemna will be unpreventable and regardless of the economic
system it is likely that the bricks will fall. Lets just hope that when
that time comes those with something left are smart enough to spread around
what they have to allow a fresh start.

Don P

  -----Original Message-----
  From: asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu [mailto:asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu]On
Behalf Of Robert Schneider
  Sent: Tuesday, March 07, 2006 07:58
  To: asa@calvin.edu
  Subject: Christianity and Capitalism

  In the debate going on over capitalism and socialism, I would like to add
a little historical perspective. Capitalism and Christianity have not grown
up together as siamese twins. The Bible and in particular the NT makes it
clear that the community is responsible for ensuring the good of all of its
members. That is obvious in the Torah and the prophets, and it is obvious
in the teachings of Jesus. Luke's description of the beginning Christian
community in Acts is of one in which all pool their resources and share
equally (see Acts 2:43-45; 4:33-36, a description of the Reign of God
brought to reality that even Karl Marx would agree with). Jesus was a
revolutionary in the eyes of the ruling and wealthy classes of his day that
exploited the poor and dispossessed; his aim was to make the Torah/prophetic
declarations a reality--the Kingdom of God, and that was threatening to the
powers that be.

  "As the earth is the Lord's and everything in it," it was and is the
biblical message that all that any believer possesses is held in trust from
God and is responsible to God for it, and God makes it clear through
revelation that the accumulation of wealth in and of itself is an evil.
Jesus put it in the bluntest and most upsetting terms: "It is easier for a
camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the
kingdom of God." In reading and teaching the gospels I've come to realize
that the only sins that Jesus explicitly condemnes are hypocrisy,
self-righteousness, and the accumulation of riches.

  The early church fathers and their medieval successors had some strong
words to say about private property and they weren't positive. As early as
Augustine of Hippo, they taught that lust for power and greed are the twin
offsprings of the original sin of disobedience. Cain, they said, was the
first human being to appropriate property and make it his own. The lending
of money at interest was condemned (which is why medieval Christian kings
borrowed from Jewish moneylenders), and this prohibition was not changed
until the later Middle Ages, as the new economic system we would come to
call capitalism emerged.

  I do not think that Christianity favors any particular economic system
that has historically been tried, and it sits in judgment against all of
them, for all of them fall short of the glory of God, and the teachings of
Scripture. I think it is a mistake to insist that the economic systems we
have experienced in our lifetimes should be baptized, confirmed and
ordained. Perhaps, as economist Kenneth Boulding has written, some third
way will emerge that incorporates the better elements of both socialism and
capitalism (if we can get past the polemics about either), and may take our
flawed systems closer to the biblical pattern.

  I write this with some hesitation in that I think the subject matter may
be veering away from our focus, though I guess one can call economics a
social science.

  My wife is reading Lerner's book and I look forward to hearing from her
what he has to say about this. For a Christian view I recommend Ched Myers
little book, "Sabbath Economics." It will give you another view of a lot of
things in the Bible about economy and community we tend to spiritualize and
thus dismiss.

  Bob Schneider
Received on Fri Mar 10 08:57:14 2006