After I read the last part of this chapter I began thinking that Christianity was a lot like communism. Was I ever wrong…Here’s what I found out.
I discovered that Communism is a political movement. Christianity is not, and was not ever, political. Christians become political, and carry their Christian views with them into politics, but the belief system isn’t political at all.
Communism advocates for the state to own all property and production equipment. (among other things). The state decides what will be produced and in what amounts. In communism, everything is owned by the state. since Christianity has nothing to do with the “state” it cannot be compared to communism. The state owns everything, and all profits are distributed equally among all people. (ideally). Oh, and by the way….religious beliefs are not part of true communism.
Okay, so maybe Christianity is like Socialism…what about that? In Socialism, all production and all production equipment belongs to the collective…not necessarily the state. You can own your own clothes and a few other items, but large companies who employ many citizens are viewed as “community owned”….since the whole community works there. These companies don’t keep their profits for themselves, they are equally distributed to everyone based on their level of participation. Somehow this is controlled by a government that consists of member of the society. This idea comes a little closer to Christianity, but it still doesn’t match up completely because it advocates some form of government in order to make it happen. Again, Christianity isn’t about government. And socialism permits religion, but doesn’t advocate for it. That might be a signal that it isn’t a perfect match.
So Christianity must be patterned after Capitalism, right? No way. True capitalism is the quest for “more for me”. Which on the good side allows for some to become very wealthy or powerful. Of course, this allows anyone to acquire wealth and power…even those who are corrupt morally. When you combine that truth with a democracy, where anyone can be elected to be the leader, you have a precarious situation. If a corrupt person becomes wealthy or powerful, then the people could be treated poorly.
So here’s my conclusion, Christianity has nothing to do with any political system, and cannot be compared to them. It can work well with any politics. That’s because Christianity has to do with the human heart, not the government. Regardless of election, system or any other government program, Christianity will work. It will benefit the society under any system.
Therefore, we can be concerned about politics, but we shouldn’t worry about it until it makes us sick. Christianity will survive…even thrive.
By the way, did you notice that Peter and John were testifying for about 1 hour before they were arrested? If you choose to stand up for Jesus Christ you can expect resistance, and even persecution. And I’m not talking about later…I mean you will see resistance right away. Of course, here in the United States we don’t see persecution like they do in other countries, but it’s coming this way…regardless of who is the next President.
Serving the one who is above all earthly governments,
PR