Straying from Group Life a bit today. I’m sure you’ve never had a discussion like this in your small group…
I love Twitter. I’ve learned a lot by listening to my network of peers and watching the thoughts of great ministry leaders go whizzing by. A growing trend, however, is to simply post quotes from others. These are re-tweeted until the “RT @johndoe” attributions exceed the 140-character barrier.
I’ve seen some great quotes recently from C. S. Lewis, Winston Churchill, Alan Hirsch, and Andy Stanley. Other quotes miss the mark but are pretty harmless. A few, however, raise my blood pressure and nearly demand a response. Here’s one from this morning:
“Obama is not a brown-skinned anti-war socialist who gives away free healthcare. You’re thinking of Jesus.” *
It’s a clever quote, except that it totally misrepresents Jesus, socialism, and “free.” A commentator posted Matthew 10 in an attempt to support the original quote:
“… Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.”
First, socialism can only be sustained by coercion. Resources are forcibly taken from those who have to support those who don’t. Confronted by repeated historical failures, utopian proponents of socialism simply respond “but they didn’t do it right.” There is no right way; you cannot reconcile “freely give” with “from each according to his ability” (forcibly, when necessary) without abandoning reason.
On the surface, socialism appears compassionate or even heroic. Those rightfully concerned with injustice may think that Marxist redistribution is a valid remedy to poverty, taking from the rich to give to the poor. But, Matthew (the tax collector), Robin Hood (man in tights), and Joseph Stalin (brutal dictator) were simply thieves. The difference is that Matthew (the Christ-follower) repented.
Second, there is no such thing as “free healthcare.” A doctor in a clinic may freely give his/her time (unless coerced) or a donor may freely give money or blood to support the healing of others. But the money (freely given) came from somebody who has a job, inherited resources, or (shudder) a profit on products or services. Jesus’ ministry was supported by such gifts, or his 40-day fast would have lasted until his (early) death from starvation and exposure. Jesus didn’t turn water into wine or multiply loaves and fishes on a daily basis… those were rarities. His daily bread, clothing, and housing was freely given by those who shared resources they had been provided by the Father. Jesus’ disciples were not a band of merry thieves.
“Free” healthcare (or any other politically imposed solution) does not change our responsibility to the poor. Christ still asks of us generosity born of gratitude. The ongoing work of ministry and mission depends on it.
* I did not include the name of the author of the quote, the person who re-tweeted the quote, or my friend that posted the re-tweet on FaceBook. This is not meant to be a personal attack. My objection is directed at the content, not the creator.
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks for this post! I agree that often Jesus and the Bible are misrepresented and skewed due to not taking into account the whole counsel of God into view! Unfortunately, sometimes God’s Word is used to endorse a personal agenda. I appreciate your reminder to the church, that we are entrusted with the responsibility to minister to the poor and hurting people in the world. Let us not fail to do what God has asked of us by expecting someone else to do it.
Great post. Plus, it was FREE!
Hello Dave,
It seems to me that your perspective is in defense of your current political opinions that have been tainted by your modern views of Marxism and/or communism.
However here is the plain definition of Socialism -a theory or system of social organization that advocates the vesting of the ownership and control of the means of production and distribution, of capital, land, etc., in the community as a whole.
There are no Robin Hoods, no Dictators that coerce individuals or as you put steal from the rich and give to the poor. However it is a collective agreement amongst the members of a group or society, who decides how collectively to distribute wealth. The Early Christian church is a fine example of this process. There are also many First World Democracies that function well under socialism.
Today, in our Democracy the majority tends to determine law and social norms. If the majority decides that healthcare should be available to all its citizens, than so be it. If the people view that an organization/corporation is being deceitful, or not living up to its purpose, the people through legislation can regulate that particular entity of our society.
In last 50 plus years we have experience the insurgence of the fanatical religious right in American politics for the purpose of mandating the government to establish a “moralistic” course that meets their specific agenda. Whether I agree with their tactics or not, it is the way of politics.
As a Christian from a liberal tradition Matthew 25:40 (40″The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’ ) wraps up the desire for me to follow in the footsteps of Christ and challenges me to question our insatiable appetite in this country. The entire 25th Chapter of Matthew is Christ’s expectations and identification of his followers as well as identifying the misdirected who claim to be something they are not! It does not call his followers to force others to a level of conduct or to dictate Puritanical law. But it continues to remind me that I have a personal responsibility to uplift and support the down trodden and as a citizen to influence our government to do the same.
I see no issue with quoting “Obama is not a brown-skinned anti-war socialist who gives away free healthcare. You’re thinking of Jesus.” I believe it better serve for you to say that even though we have Healthcare and other social programs we still have a personal Responsibility to the poor and that Christianity is not enslaved to any one type of Government or economical system!
Will… thanks for the thoughtful and detailed response. You and I disagree about what constitutes “working.” Socialism often seems to work… briefly… but I maintain that only coercion can sustain it.
I should have spent less time pointing out the downside of socialism and more on the responsibility of Christ-followers… especially in small groups. More in the next post.
Hey folks. I’m the friend that posted this RT and I’m always delighted to see something I posted stirred up good discussion. As I commented on my facebook post: “Jesus certainly isn’t a socialist in the sense we generally mean today (just as the healthcare he offered differs widely from ours – his was far from universal) but the comment was too ironic and thought-provoking not to share.” That said, Dave, I think your insistence that “socialism can only be sustained by coercion” is both right and wrong. It is right, because it is foolish for anyone to believe the fallen humanity would share its property selflessly without coercion, but it is wrong for a reason that is more subtle. The comment obscures our view of God’s intentions and ultimate destiny for human society. Socialism, defined as shared ownership of goods (as Will rightly suggests) has worked on a voluntary basis in at least one holy instance: the early church. Would I ever endorse socialism as a policy for my church or nation? Absolutely not, because I don’t think these populations are made up strictly of those who have actually come to believe and behave that all they have is on loan from God. I wouldn’t even count myself as having arrived at this Christlikeness. But the experience of the early church reminds us that a day is coming when we will not have to rely on laws or systems to restrict human sinfulness, because a people in the image of God, a people characterized by God’s extravagant generosity will rule the world with justice under God. Heaven, you might say, is a socialist state that requires no coercion. Anyone interested in more thought provoking quotes, that’s my specialty at http://www.twitter.com/chrisbjames
Chris… thanks for the original post… I love your quotes, even the ones that make my blood boil! “Socialism” even if correctly defined, cannot sustain itself for the very reason you shared. “On a voluntary basis…” is the problem: it’s always temporary (… on this earth anyway). Thanks for this additional thought. I owe you a beer.
The original tweet is entirely correct in regards to Obama, however: Obama is not antiwar, he’s not a socialist, and he’s not giving away free health care (nor did he ever claim to be doing so). I think we could safely say that Jesus is antiwar and that he healed people for free. I’m not sure we could call him a socialist, but I don’t think he’d find many nice things to say about capitalism.
I agree with James. But to add my own voice, I think you are mixing up socialism as practiced politically as opposed to it being a social movement, which is what the church openly practices. Like Obama, I doubt Jesus would have many nice things to say about capitalism.
Sir, there would be VERY little provided by anybody, even Christians, without social coercion. It’s a necessary part of any society that collectively protects the poor and the weak when individuals naturally won’t. (By the way, although I disagree with you but your post was very well written.)
Tom… you make a great point. One of the reasons I like small groups is the mutual accountability… spurring one another on to good works. We encourage each other to live under Christ’s authority. Social coercion is NOT the same as tyranny, under which an individual or group forces others to give under threat of pain. Suggesting that Christ (and the early church) advocated this was my objection.
Thanks for the comment!
Dave–Excellent blog!! The worldview of Christ is so skewed! I too, hate to see misrepresentation of Jesus to a world looking for justification of their sin.