I was asked to speak at a Christian conference in Ontario, Canada on the topic of “Biblical Economics.” The lecture was going along just fine until I mentioned that from a Biblical standpoint, the civil government was NOT to be involved in health care in any way. That’s when things got a bit hostile. People began yelling out objections in the middle of my presentation. We went back in forth for about five minutes in a kind of impromptu “open-forum” until I finally suggested we continue with the presentation and I’d stay after to answer questions.
About 45 people crowded the stage afterward and in rapid succession endeavored to find any kind of defense whatsoever for my claim (that I had also made) that any form of Socialism (forced redistribution of wealth by the government), was immoral and contrary to Scripture.
One lady exclaimed, “I don’t know anyone who doesn’t support universal government-funded healthcare. Everyone in my church supports it. Our pastors all support it! Heck, Jesus was a Socialist!”
I often hear this claim that Jesus and the Apostles (and the rest of the early church) were all Socialists who supported living in a kind of Egalitarian Utopia where no one had private property, everything was held in common and all things were totally shared and equal.
Thankfully, one of the great Economic experts in our day and age, Lawrence Reed, the President of the Foundation for Economic Education, has debunked this myth in a new FREE e-book / audiobook entitled, Rendering Unto Caesar: Was Jesus a Socialist?. I am very pleased to be able to share this resource with you, and I strongly encourage you to read it and share it with others. This would make a great family discussion with your children.
Our goal at ChristianWorldview.net is to encourage you to think and live Biblically, and we are grateful for this excellent new tool to help us to “take every thought captive” as it relates to Economics and so-called, “Christian Socialism.” For more resources, please check out our Economics page.
Israel Wayne is an Author and Conference Speaker and Director of Family Renewal, LLC. He is also the Site Editor for www.ChristianWorldview.net.
Thanks for your thoughts and the link to the ebook.
When I was teaching at a Christian school in New York one year, I was presenting economics from a biblical worldview. We had some interesting discussions with those 11th and 12th graders. I will always remember the comment at the end of the year that I had some very “different” ideas about the economy, property, and free markets. How sad this student had adopted the socialism of the day and could not see another view. She was fairly new to the Christian school.