Socialism is fundamentally at odds with the Christian worldview as it seeks to force people to be submissive to big government as opposed to serving Jesus Christ. No one serious about their Christian faith can ever support socialism. Though socialism may sound compassionate and Christian, it's actually opposed to everything Christianity teaches.
So, exactly what is socialism anyway?
The dictionary definition of socialism is “government regulation and control of the economy”. Simply put, a socialist government takes away your liberty to decide how you wish to spend what you earn; it assumes you are not smart enough to decide what you need. Socialists think you are stupid. Under capitalism, your income is yours to earn and spend as you wish. Under socialism, it is the government’s decision, and it will provide for you what it thinks you need. Then socialists will tax you to confiscate the rest and give it to someone else.
One of the best examples of this are the grades students earn in school. Let’s say you receive an A in history because you read the textbook, attended class, and scored 98% on the final exam. Your fellow classmate skipped class, didn’t study, and flunked the final. Under the socialist doctrine of “equal outcomes,” the teacher would give some of your 98% score on the final to your classmate who scored a miserable 35% on the same test. Now, both of you will have an average final test score of 66.5%... resulting in both of you receiving the same C grade for the class.
How do you like socialism so far?
Economist Walter Williams once wrote… “Can a moral case be made for taking the rightful property of one American and giving it to another to whom it does not belong? I think not. That’s why socialism is evil. It uses evil means (coercion) to achieve what is seen as good ends (helping people). We might also note that an act that is inherently evil does not become moral simply because there’s a majority consensus.”
But today’s brand of dishonest socialism is about more than just government control of the economy. In fact, socialism has killed millions of people in the last century. Let me explain…
Socialism Embraces Both Atheism and Abortion
True socialists hold that religious beliefs are detrimental to human progress. Karl Marx, the father of socialism was a flat-out atheist. He wrote that future societies could survive and develop to their full potential only if they were freed from the shackles of religion. These newly liberated peoples would have no churches or religious orders or societies and would permit no mention of God or religion in their schools. Marx, who was considered the father of socialism, considered religions of all kinds, and specifically Christianity, as the “opiate of the masses”.
After the 1917 Russian revolution, Vladimir Lenin (who became exposed to radical political ideas at Kazan university) became the first premier of the United Soviet Socialist Republics and quickly implemented his version of Marxist socialism. One of his first acts was to eliminate all religions in Russia and begin the conversion of the population to atheism. And in 1920, abortion was approved by his new socialist government. Under Lenin, Russia became the first country in history to sanction both atheism and abortion as government imperatives. All of the Soviet socialist countries followed suit, as did China under Mao in 1949.
Socialists who promote and operate the abortion industry… who willingly accept the demented notion that abortion does no harm to anyone… are fools in the eyes of God. Case in point… there have been over 1.5 billion abortions worldwide since 1980. One of the fatal flaws of socialism is that it will eventually lead to mankind's destruction by limiting the birthrate to a level less than what the human race needs to sustain itself going forward.
Of course, this all contradicts Christianity, which teaches that our greatest problems are spiritual, not material in nature. As the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30) teaches us, those with good character tend to accumulate more; those with a bad character often lose what the do they have. Our quality of life is not determined by how much “socialist stuff” we have, but by our relationship to Christ.
Socialism Promotes the Sin of Envy
One of the main pillars of socialism is envy. Socialists demonize the rich, blaming society's problems on them. Socialists (no matter how much money they have themselves, envy what they don’t have… other people’s money.) Socialists wrongly condemn an entire class of people simply for possessing wealth and worse, encourage those who are poor to overthrow the rich.
God so hated the sin of envy that the 10th Commandment is about coveting what others have.
“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s” (Exodus 20:17)
Scripture also strongly warns the rich and powerful not to oppress the poor…
"Whoever oppresses the poor shows contempt for his maker . . ." (Proverbs 14:31)
Christians should have no part of the socialist gospel of envy. St. Paul presents a clear image of the way a Christian should view money. He wrote the rich “are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share.” St. Paul envisioned a church of industrious, generous believers who are reliant upon one another rather than the government. Socialism is based upon unbridled greed, materialism, and the envious thought that it is not fair that someone else has more than you do.
Socialism Seeks to Destroy Marriage & Family
Socialism, from its beginning, has sought to destroy marriage and family. Grove City Professor Paul Kengor explains this in his book, Takedown: From Communists to Progressives, How the Left Has Sabotaged Marriage and Family. Essentially, what socialism seeks is for the state to replace the family. That way, it can indoctrinate children into its socialist way of thinking and remove from them any notions of God and religion.
Friedrich Engels, co-author with Marx of the "The Communist Manifesto," once wrote that the society he envisioned would be one where "the single family ceases to be the economic unit of society. Private housekeeping is transformed into a social industry. The care and education of the children become a public affair."
Today, anti-America socialists believe the government should provide early childhood education, beginning with 3 and 4-year-old children so they can be removed from the family and indoctrinated with socialist-leftist lies, stripped of their ability to think critically, and that government is somehow superior to God himself.
The socialist-leftist persistent attacks on the sanctity of marriage are more evidence that this is true. Biblical marriage is a three-way covenant between God, the man, and the woman… not a civil contract between same-sex partners.
Socialists Embrace Antisemitism
NAZI is an abbreviation for the German word Nationalsozialist. The full name is Nationalsozialist Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, which translates in English to National Socialists German Workers Party. The Nazis certainly hated the Jews to the extent of launching the holocaust… killing millions of Jews and many Christians as well.
Today’s leftist-socialists hate the country of Israel and anyone who supports it. Socialists believe capitalism is at the root of all Western evil. Today’s socialists are indoctrinated to hate capitalism in all its forms and see the Israelis as perpetrators of this unfair economic system. They also believe that the Israelis are trespassers on land that should belong to the Palestinians. Since socialists see the world through a purely secular lens, they are either unaware of or reject the Biblical truth that God gave the Jews the Promised Land (Israel).
Finally…
There's nothing Christian about socialism — and there's absolutely no way Jesus would ever support it. Socialism leads to misery, poverty, disease, and spiritual death. Look no further than Los Angeles, California for evidence this is true.
In his new book, The Case Against Socialism, U.S. Senator Rand Paul writes that “…there is a tendency or maybe even something that is inherent to socialism that leads to thuggery,” Paul said. “Socialists don’t want to see the lessons of Mao, the lessons of Stalin, the lessons of Hitler, showing that they weren’t accidents of history, but the natural conclusion of socialism.” Today, nothing has changed… Maduro’s socialist economic and human disaster currently playing out in Venezuela painfully illustrates Mr. Paul’s point.
Socialism has horribly failed in every single country it has been tried because it is based on the foolish ideas of man as opposed to the timeless wisdom of God!