[Tim sent me an article entitled "Biblical Basis for Liberal Politics" by David Chandler (Originally published in the Tule River Times "Left in America" column.)] |
Greetings Tim,
I really appreciate having the opportunity to dialogue about this.
In the article you sent me, there is a lot that is right. It would be especially right if it were written as a sermon for a Christian congregation who confesses their faith in Jesus Christ as Lord over heaven and earth. Christians (along with the Jewish people) have always been sensitive to the needs of the poor, the oppressed, the hungry and victims of any social injustice. There is a lot more that could be said about these things from the Bible, and I am sure the author is choosing just a few things to keep the essay short and readable.
Where we have a struggle as Americans is that we have from the very beginning of our nation simply assumed that the principles of capitalism that evolved long after the time of Jesus. Adam Smith, a Scottish philosopher of the 18th century, developed theories about how to create wealth. He was a Deist, not really a Christian, and his views were based on the rational arguments of philosopher David Hume. They looked at the world as having been designed to function in a certain way, with wealthy people (who already existed) using their wealth in business (investing) rather than simply keeping it for themselves. Their assumption was that such investments would have beneficial effects that would help everyone in the community by making industry possible and rewarding people who worked hard (the Protestant Ethic promoted by Reformer Jean Calvin and practiced by our founding fathers, the puritans in New England) thereby increasing productivity in a mercantile-based economy and making goods available to a greater number of people at lower costs. (Not exactly a trickledown theory, but . . .)
In Jesus' day this type of economic system simply didn't exist. Much of the economy was based on a system of bartering agricultural produce, trading animals for crops, etc. Since God was the Producer and Provider of all these things, it was taught in the Old Testament and understood among the Jewish community, that such things should be shared with others, especially the less fortunate, widows, orphans, sojourners, who did not have the means for providing such things for themselves. "We take care of our own people," might be a way to describe the ethical system they followed.
Now when Jesus came along, he preached the coming of the reign of God over all the earth. In a world where everyone believes that God is a King who freely provides for all his subjects, it is imperative that all of God's subjects freely share their possessions with others who needed them. This communal-ism was practiced by Christians in Jerusalem in Acts chapter 2, where people sold everything they had and distributed the produce to everyone according to their needs. Incidentally, this is one of the biblical foundations for the writings of that son of a Lutheran pastor in Germany named Karl Marx.
Greed is considered one of the seven deadly sins in the Church. Requiring people to pay interest on money Christians lent to each other was strictly forbidden during the Middle Ages by the Church. That, in fact, is one of the reasons Jewish families became wealthy bankers during that period of history. Borrowing from Jews and paying interest to them was NOT included in the Church's prohibitions, so people who had excess cash would invest it with Jewish bankers who would in turn lend the money out to Christians in exchange for interest, which they would subsequently pay to the original investors minus a reasonable fee for their services. The Jewish people were a sort of "middle" class in that system initially.
In fact, it was because the Pope had required certain archbishops to contribute money for the building of St. Peter's in Rome during the 16th century (which they borrowed from Jewish bankers at a price) that the Pope decided to authorize the Archbishops to sell indulgences to Christians so they could repay their loans with interest (while making a fair profit at the same time themselves from such sales). That is what led to the 95 Theses and the Lutheran Reformation.
Simply put, the Church corrupted the teachings of Jesus, and capitalism replaced communal-ism (if it ever really existed in feudal society) but at the same time provided the financial resources that subsequently led to the Industrial Revolution etc.
Socialism, as Jesus taught it, was a normative practice for people who understood that they were living under God's Sovereign Rule. In God's Kingdom, that's the way we are to do things: "Love your neighbor as yourself."
Having said that, however, there is an enormous difference between what that means and the idea of encouraging a government consisting of fallible and sinful human beings, to force people using the threat of imprisonment and violence, to give up possessions they themselves worked for and then taking those possession (minus a small "administrative overhead fee" of 20-50% to pay for all the tax collectors, the police, the courts, the government, the jails, etc required to collect and re-distribute that money and to administer and manage systems such as health care programs and other forms of social welfare assistance). Christians should be in favor of
creating a social system built on the love of God and neighbor in which I work hard so I can freely and generously provide for the needs of my "brothers and sisters," as well as strangers. In fact, in some small, "symbolic" ways this is what we do at Hope with our food pantry, adopt-a-family programs, blood drives, etc. We could do a lot more, but certainly not less.
In one sense, in such a world, there would not be any "middle class" at all. In fact, there would be only one class, and all would share equally in it and wealth would continue to increase and produce a higher standard of living for all.
As Christians, however, we do confess our belief in original sin: that by nature all of us turn inward on ourselves and away from God and neighbor, grasping and keeping everything we can hang onto. It was Cain (who killed his brother Abel in Genesis) who asked: "Am I my brother's keeper?" His assumption was "no," but God's intention was clearly "Yes."
We live out our lives in what Luther called "two kingdoms." The "Kingdom on the Right" is that of Jesus as described above. The "Kingdom on the Left" is the one that God created to establish just laws and governmental systems to manage and constrain the behavior of sinful human beings, enforce God's Laws, and maintain order. Both Kingdoms exist side-by-side, and we believe as Christians that we live in both. But when society naively overlooks or denies the reality of Original Sin or the necessity of living by faith as followers of Jesus Christ in a society based on love of God and neighbor, or when we live in a society where the Christian understanding of God's reign is not universally accepted, it may not be possible to enforce the voluntary ethic of love for neighbor.
So, to complete my thought, Jesus DID proclaim a kingdom where social justice, harmony, peace, love, and mutual sacrifice and submission are coming into existence. That kingdom will come, just as we pray for it every day in the Lord's Prayer. Government should create just laws and provide for the needs of those who are marginalized or victimized by greedy members of society and foster a culture of love and sharing wherever it is possible. In my opinion, however, it is just too unreasonable for us to believe that by allowing government to rely on the threat of force and the use of violence, that such a government run by human beings will be able to transform the stubborn hearts of sinners. The most we can hope for is that Christians will have the courage to prophetically proclaim to society that those who are most needy must be cared for and protected (which the Church has actually been doing now for some 2,000 years) and will denounce the unbridled greed that exploits weak and poor people and destroys their dignity and independence. (see below for some quotes).
Pray for President Obama.
Love, Dad
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