9-30-24<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oh, no! \u2013 Another political message? No\u2026 it\u2019s not. I hate the clogged mailbox, and the repeated TV commercials, and the \u201cblind\u201d phone calls, and the annoying e-mails, as much as anybody.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, I invite you to rest easy. But this topic is one that transcends partisanship (or should). It is something for us to think about whether or not an election is imminent. If there is a danger associated with Socialism \u2013 and I believe there is \u2013 perhaps societies should have been thinking, and acting, since the 1840s when this current version of governmental pick-pocketry was foisted on our culture.
We can dispatch all the kindly excuses for Socialism advanced by well-meaning folk, especially the moon-eyed \u201cChristian Socialists.\u201d Yes \u2013 some of its root impulses are to help the unfortunate. Yes \u2013 there are systemic inequities in our societies. Yes \u2013 if I may run immediately to the arguments of religious folk \u2013 the Bible admonishes us to care for the widow and the orphan, the \u201cleast of these.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But, as we bankrupt ourselves and lose our freedoms, there are NOs that we should listen to, and consider, instead. No! \u2013 Government is not, should not be, and cannot be the major agency to distribute charity. No! \u2013 If there are inequities in societies, we <\/em>should fix <\/em>them, not arrange for governments to take from us\u2026 without our input, often, or permission, especially when contrary to our standards and beliefs. No! \u2013 The Bible admonishes us<\/em> to care for the widow and the orphan and the \u201cleast of these.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n St Augustine, whose writings have nurtured me more than any church father between St Paul and Luther, opened my eyes to these points\u2026 and he wrote about 1450 years before the destruction of free enterprise and Christian social values was even a gleam in the eyes of Karl Marx. A rough contemporary of St Patrick \u2013 they never met nor likely knew of each other \u2013 he had evangelic effect, but largely though teaching, writing, and the force of logic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In his Confessions<\/em>, Augustine addressed the words of Jesus that \u201cthe poor you will always have with you.\u201d He dismisses what many people still think without thinking. The Savior was not a defeatist; He did not mean that charity is futile. Neither was He a cynic. Is poverty inevitable? \u2013 is that what Jesus said, a cold-hearted acceptance of inequity? No! Could He have meant that we should have benign neglect toward the poor? No!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rather, Augustine argued that Jesus wanted to remind us that our hearts must always be inclined toward charity \u2013 that anyone we might deem less fortunate in areas of resources, health, emotions must evoke love and care on the part of Christians. (And we know that the proper translation of \u201ccharity\u201d in Scripture is \u201clove.\u201d)<\/p>\n\n\n\n These views cannot be mere lessons in ancient Post-Manichaean, Neo-Platonic, Patristic theological debates; nor should they enable weaponization of Scriptural truths to serve in contemporary political arguments, as I said above. No, we are living in a time of world history larger than things like inventions and labels. Mighty achievements like the nuclear bomb, miraculous advances in medicine, and tools like computer chips and Artificial Intelligence are mere details. They are virtual toys, with impacts as substantial to us as pyramids were to the ancient Egyptians, or as astronomy was to the Persians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2026 meaning, those civilizations ultimately crumbled and were covered in dust, as ours someday will be. Scabrous pathologies like Socialism are not the actual enemy: not the disease, but the symptom. We live in an arc of history that is self-indulgent; Socialism is a result. We are self-destructive; Socialism draws standards down instead of elevating. Since the Renaissance, the post-Christian world has promoted \u201cself\u201d in the arts, philosophy, and religion. Luther declared that even in his time, Modernism was a false god \u2013 and it since has slid to worse manifestations. He declared, as much as our contemporary age is shocked to admit it, that Faith is the enemy of Reason.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And our world for 500 years has made the choice, Reason over Faith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the meantime, Socialism (and its theories under different names) has crept into all aspects of daily life. Western societies basically do not look to God anymore for help or strength or wisdom: the Government has co-opted all such functions. The logical extensions of economic Socialism \u2013 state-run schools; government mandates in all spheres of life; monopoly-capitalism \u2013 are entrenched. The Government sees all, knows all, controls all. We remember also what Jesus <\/em>said about Money and the \u201croot of all evil.\u201d The Savior did not say that money is the root of all evil\u2026 but that the \u201clove of money is the root of all evil.\u201d In the same manner also may we see that the denial of Christian charity \u2013 the organized thievery of Socialism \u2013 is a cause, not the solution, of the disintegration of society and the corruption of the church. + + +<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jesus\u2019s reminder, and its holy application, is what suffers. The victims are our souls, more than a poor widow or hungry orphan. The Savior\u2019s message was that our hearts should always be inclined to love, then help, our fellow men and women. People are in distress? Families in trouble? Instead of looking to government programs, we should act as sensitive friends and families and\u2026 churches, communities of believers.
The mindset of Socialism has crept into other spheres of life. I have come to resent the campaigns of stores, banks, TV shows, fast-food restaurants, and sports teams that announce financial pledges to this-or-that charity. They also rob us of our personal choices and our own impulses to help people or causes.<\/em> We can make those decisions because we have the desire to, not because some corporation wants to pick our pockets (and usually for their cozy relationships, PR, and tax benefits).
Hey! Charge less for groceries and services\u2026 and let us<\/em> decide what charity we seek to support. \u201cSocialism\u201d is the blanket-term that covers all sins, and has permeated thought, word, and deed in our post-Christian world. The Apostles, we know, pooled their resources \u2013 while they were being persecuted; but thereafter raised money, spent money, and financed their missionary journeys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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