Sunday, November 06, 2005
Does Christianity Specify A Societal Organization?
Mere-Orthodoxy picks up on an old post from their mentor - John Mark Reynolds and argues
One of the more troubling aspects of the very good arguments made in this post is that it fails to address the obviously socialistic communities described in Acts. Such socialism supported even to the point of apparent coercion, in direct contrast to one of the more powerful arguements in the post.
I am playing devil's advocate here. I am a free-market guy, and I would make many of the same arguments in support of it that this post does. And given that this is in the name of a "Christian world view" I suppose it hasn't crossed the line totally into unsafe waters. But as I said on Thursday
Just as free market economics stems from a Christian world view, so socialism is fundamentally at war with Christianity.I agree with the arguments made, but this post worries me. First of all, note the very careful wording of that these statement, notably the phrase "a Christian world view." Christianity and scripture does not, I think, argue for one economic system or another.
One of the more troubling aspects of the very good arguments made in this post is that it fails to address the obviously socialistic communities described in Acts. Such socialism supported even to the point of apparent coercion, in direct contrast to one of the more powerful arguements in the post.
Socialist nations are often abusive in terms of power even when they start off with so-called noble intentions.This statement forces one to ask if Ananias and Sapharia experienced abusive power.
I am playing devil's advocate here. I am a free-market guy, and I would make many of the same arguments in support of it that this post does. And given that this is in the name of a "Christian world view" I suppose it hasn't crossed the line totally into unsafe waters. But as I said on Thursday
Consider the question of caring for the poor. Socialism seems like a good answer, and the idea presented in Acts. But we have seen in communism that it is as corrupt and vile as capitalism -- its not about the system, its about the people. Will transformed people automatically order themselves in a socialistic manner? I'm not sure, you see transformed people would be sufficiently generous in a capitalistic setting that it might not matter.I think we have to be very careful what we attach Christ's name to, even in the highly conditional form it was done here.
But the point here is the gospel is not about politics, its about transformation, politics simply follow in the wake of that transformation.
