A Brief History of Socialism (And Why It's Not the Answer)
When I first wrote my book Do Justly, I did not even think of explaining why I don’t believe socialism is the answer to the world’s problems. But in the last couple of years, I have seen that more and more people—especially young people—believe socialism is a good idea. I think many of these people have good intentions. They truly think socialism will help people, especially the poor, the disabled, and minority groups. But when I go to the Bible, it seems pretty obvious to me that socialism is not what God wants.
So I added an appendix to my book, and I'm sharing this here.
First off, a little history. Karl Marx, the father of communism, looked on socialism as a transition between capitalism and communism. In case you don’t know, capitalism is an economic system where businesses are privately owned, instead of controlled by the government. Communism is a system proposed by Karl Marx where everything is owned commonly. There are no social classes and no state. Karl Marx believed that to get from capitalism to communism there would need to be transitional socialist government. Put simply, socialism is government-owned property and industry and the forced redistribution of wealth. Any time a country has tried to implement communism, it’s led to disastrous effects and the deaths of lots of innocent people. And socialism is stepping toward communism. Now, of course, some Socialists are more radical than others. Not all Socialists today actually want communism. But from a Biblical perspective, there are still problems with socialism.
Here are some of them:
Socialism wants to get rid of private property. Socialism wants to get rid of privately owned property, but the Bible teaches that people do have the right to own things, and stealing is wrong. Some people are blessed with more than others, and that’s okay.
Socialism forces caring for the poor, instead of it being voluntary. Socialism wants the forced redistribution of wealth. That is, they want to heavily tax the rich and then give that money to the poor. But the Bible says that “God loves a cheerful giver,” (2 Cor. 9:7). God wants us to be generous and give to the poor, because of love, because we want to, not because the government forces us to.
Socialism encourages laziness. If the government gives food and money away and makes things very difficult for businesses, how does that encourage hard work? The Bible says that if someone won’t work, neither shall that person eat (2 Th. 3:10). As Christians, we should be generous and willing to help others in need. But if someone is physically able, they should be working. The government should not just be giving handouts.
Socialism thinks it can make a perfect world. The government is not the savior of the world. Its job is not to fix all our problems. Biblically speaking, the main function of government is to punish evildoers, especially murderers (Rom. 13:4). As Christians, we know from the Bible that the world is cursed because of sin, and we will not be able to make a perfect world. Jesus said that the poor will always be with us (Mark 14:7). We should be caring for the poor and oppressed, but we know we won’t be able to completely eliminate poverty. But Jesus came and died and rose again to save us from our sins. He is the true Savior of the world, the only One who can save us from our deepest problem: our sin. And He has promised that one day He will return and make all things new.
Well, always remember, "He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it," (1 Thess. 5:24).
All for Him,
Savannah
So I added an appendix to my book, and I'm sharing this here.
First off, a little history. Karl Marx, the father of communism, looked on socialism as a transition between capitalism and communism. In case you don’t know, capitalism is an economic system where businesses are privately owned, instead of controlled by the government. Communism is a system proposed by Karl Marx where everything is owned commonly. There are no social classes and no state. Karl Marx believed that to get from capitalism to communism there would need to be transitional socialist government. Put simply, socialism is government-owned property and industry and the forced redistribution of wealth. Any time a country has tried to implement communism, it’s led to disastrous effects and the deaths of lots of innocent people. And socialism is stepping toward communism. Now, of course, some Socialists are more radical than others. Not all Socialists today actually want communism. But from a Biblical perspective, there are still problems with socialism.
Here are some of them:
Socialism wants to get rid of private property. Socialism wants to get rid of privately owned property, but the Bible teaches that people do have the right to own things, and stealing is wrong. Some people are blessed with more than others, and that’s okay.
Socialism forces caring for the poor, instead of it being voluntary. Socialism wants the forced redistribution of wealth. That is, they want to heavily tax the rich and then give that money to the poor. But the Bible says that “God loves a cheerful giver,” (2 Cor. 9:7). God wants us to be generous and give to the poor, because of love, because we want to, not because the government forces us to.
Socialism encourages laziness. If the government gives food and money away and makes things very difficult for businesses, how does that encourage hard work? The Bible says that if someone won’t work, neither shall that person eat (2 Th. 3:10). As Christians, we should be generous and willing to help others in need. But if someone is physically able, they should be working. The government should not just be giving handouts.
Socialism thinks it can make a perfect world. The government is not the savior of the world. Its job is not to fix all our problems. Biblically speaking, the main function of government is to punish evildoers, especially murderers (Rom. 13:4). As Christians, we know from the Bible that the world is cursed because of sin, and we will not be able to make a perfect world. Jesus said that the poor will always be with us (Mark 14:7). We should be caring for the poor and oppressed, but we know we won’t be able to completely eliminate poverty. But Jesus came and died and rose again to save us from our sins. He is the true Savior of the world, the only One who can save us from our deepest problem: our sin. And He has promised that one day He will return and make all things new.
Well, always remember, "He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it," (1 Thess. 5:24).
All for Him,
Savannah
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