I keep hearing everyone (Christians) getting nervous about our president and the decisions that he has been making with regards to our economy and our way of life. They are saying that he is a socialist and that he is going to drive our nation into even more debt; that he is un-American (which cannot be possible). So I have been thinking about this a bit and had a conversation with my friend which sparked a few thoughts.
First of all you should read my post entitled "I pledge allegiance to the flag.........." and you will get further insight into this topic. Let dig into the foundation of why Christians are saying these things about our president. As stated in past posts, for the most part Christians support that which America does to fullest without much questioning, especially after the fact. This means that democracy must be the way that God wants us to have government.... and so on (read my prior post). Pertaining to this post, this means that God wants us to have a capitalistic economy!
If Christians believe that capitalism is the way God wants us to live and work, then anything that goes against that must not only be un-American but also against the will of God. So, let's look at capitalism and see if it is what God wants us to be practicing.
At the basis of capitalism is survival of the fittest. The business, or the person, that is in the capitalist system is striving to be the best at what he does in order to be better than the competition so that it can survive to make a profit and then take that profit and make itself better to create sustainability and more profitability, which then creates stability in growth. Capitalism rewards those that are the best at what they do, and defeats those which do not do it as well. Never the less the goal is profitability and sustainability.
The capitalistic society is based on money. This is the reward for being the best, or better than someone else. This money is either stockpiled, put back into the business or agenda for more profit, or both is done. So those that succeed in this economy have money, and those that fail have less and less as it goes down the line. Capitalism supports technological growth, economical growth, and all kinds of growth only as it pertains to someone making a profit. This is why we have cars that fall apart after so many years, and why we have new models every year, instead of cars that last a life time with little or no repair; there is no profit in making something that lasts forever. This is why everything we buy will eventually need to be replaced by something else that will not last..... there is no profit in making something so good that lasts (reminds me of that stride gum commercial.) This is the same reason why we are still running cars on gasoline when we should be running cars on a no waste technology that we do have. Then the Oil giants would stop making profit, which means then those that are in power need to make different allies.... and that is just messy..... you can determine your own logical connections I am sure. Never the less the reward is solely for those which are apart of the business or agenda that is surviving or is the most fit.
Those that are surviving the best and making the most profit are then the ones that have the power in a government that depends upon a budget and monetary responsibilities and monetary expenses. These capitalists may not be the direct faces that we see as the leaders of our country, but they do run the show (as you can see a little bit of recently with the failure of the car industries and the banking industries). Therefore Capitalism and Democracy play very well together. Never the less..... those that receive the reward of profitability and sustainability also indirectly receive power.
OK, so that is a basic breakdown of Capitalism (of course in sort of a biased view but never the less, nothing I said is false I do not believe.) As it pertains to Christianity, we must look at the teachings of Jesus and the Bible. I am sure you must know the Beatitudes... the meek will inherit, the poor will inherit... and so on. I am sure you know the idea that the first is last and the last is first. I think I wrote a post on suffering being the result of believing God and what Jesus stands for, you should read all of my posts to know more about what I think Christianity is or is missing.
You should as a Christian also know that servanthood and sacrifice for the poor and needy, the weak, the orphans, the widows, and so on is what it means to know God (Jeremiah 23). You should also know that as a Christian you should not store up your treasures here on earth.... (these are things that are not rules to obey but changes that happen in your life when you are truly in a relationship with God.) Christianity preaches that it is harder for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven than it is....... it teaches that selfishness and a yearning for things of this world are signs of a heart that has been turned away from God.
Basically Christianity should teach that survival of the fittest is not something that God supports, that the gaining of profits and storing of profits is not something that God supports, that the yearning for power and control should be given solely by God and should not be determined by monetary value or contributions. Summed up, I think that Christianity does not support capitalism, in fact it is precisely the opposite..... it is against it.
I am not doing this to support Obama, I actually only used that title to get some of you to read this, because I know it is a touchy subject for most of us. I am doing this again to show the fences that we put up as Christians which hold us back from living fully in a relationship with God (read my post on the fences that we put up).
If you objectively, if that is possible, read about real socialism or communism.... you may see that Jesus would most likely support those over capitalism. I know that hurts some of you to read, but you must separate the history of these two ideas from the actual ideas of socialism and communism. I am not supporting anything that has happened in history, just questioning whether our society is seeking truth from God, or seeking our own wills.
I don't know a solution to this thing that I think is a problem, but I think that maybe recognizing that it is a problem may spark us as a whole to do something about it. I think that Obama may realize at least partly that capitalism breeds deceit, dishonesty, greed, self-interest, and ultimately pertaining to economy and our country, quick and easy progress but long-term problems and moral confusion as it pertains to self interests and what is right and wrong when it comes to possessions and other people. Profit runs the country, and its leaders. Profit rules the world. Profit even has infiltrated the Church and Christianity. Who has more people in their church? Which church is expanding its walls? Which church has sustainability when it comes to monetary success? Is the Church of Blessing the true Church of Christ? Is health, wellness, wealth, comfort, answering of prayers really the result of being a Christian? The idea of Profit and and earned rewards has infiltrated the teachings of the Bible enough so that we as the church now pray the prayer of Jabez and expect that because we confess Jesus, we are entitled to blessings and entitled to be the economic leaders of society. When in fact if you read the Bible, those that follow Christ are to lay down all of their possessions to follow him. Those that followed Christ in the Bible became poor, broken, beat up physically, outcasts...... (Jesus, Paul, Stephen, John......... and so on and so on). How does Christianity supporting capitalism reveal the truth of Christ???
I'd like to see what some of you think about this topic. I wrote this on a whim.... so judge me as so. I'll write a research paper if you'd like!!! Please respond with you comments, ideas, concerns, and so on. (remember many of my arguments have been made before in other posts, so if you haven't read them yet, it may help you to understand where I am coming from on some of these issues.)
First of all you should read my post entitled "I pledge allegiance to the flag.........." and you will get further insight into this topic. Let dig into the foundation of why Christians are saying these things about our president. As stated in past posts, for the most part Christians support that which America does to fullest without much questioning, especially after the fact. This means that democracy must be the way that God wants us to have government.... and so on (read my prior post). Pertaining to this post, this means that God wants us to have a capitalistic economy!
If Christians believe that capitalism is the way God wants us to live and work, then anything that goes against that must not only be un-American but also against the will of God. So, let's look at capitalism and see if it is what God wants us to be practicing.
At the basis of capitalism is survival of the fittest. The business, or the person, that is in the capitalist system is striving to be the best at what he does in order to be better than the competition so that it can survive to make a profit and then take that profit and make itself better to create sustainability and more profitability, which then creates stability in growth. Capitalism rewards those that are the best at what they do, and defeats those which do not do it as well. Never the less the goal is profitability and sustainability.
The capitalistic society is based on money. This is the reward for being the best, or better than someone else. This money is either stockpiled, put back into the business or agenda for more profit, or both is done. So those that succeed in this economy have money, and those that fail have less and less as it goes down the line. Capitalism supports technological growth, economical growth, and all kinds of growth only as it pertains to someone making a profit. This is why we have cars that fall apart after so many years, and why we have new models every year, instead of cars that last a life time with little or no repair; there is no profit in making something that lasts forever. This is why everything we buy will eventually need to be replaced by something else that will not last..... there is no profit in making something so good that lasts (reminds me of that stride gum commercial.) This is the same reason why we are still running cars on gasoline when we should be running cars on a no waste technology that we do have. Then the Oil giants would stop making profit, which means then those that are in power need to make different allies.... and that is just messy..... you can determine your own logical connections I am sure. Never the less the reward is solely for those which are apart of the business or agenda that is surviving or is the most fit.
Those that are surviving the best and making the most profit are then the ones that have the power in a government that depends upon a budget and monetary responsibilities and monetary expenses. These capitalists may not be the direct faces that we see as the leaders of our country, but they do run the show (as you can see a little bit of recently with the failure of the car industries and the banking industries). Therefore Capitalism and Democracy play very well together. Never the less..... those that receive the reward of profitability and sustainability also indirectly receive power.
OK, so that is a basic breakdown of Capitalism (of course in sort of a biased view but never the less, nothing I said is false I do not believe.) As it pertains to Christianity, we must look at the teachings of Jesus and the Bible. I am sure you must know the Beatitudes... the meek will inherit, the poor will inherit... and so on. I am sure you know the idea that the first is last and the last is first. I think I wrote a post on suffering being the result of believing God and what Jesus stands for, you should read all of my posts to know more about what I think Christianity is or is missing.
You should as a Christian also know that servanthood and sacrifice for the poor and needy, the weak, the orphans, the widows, and so on is what it means to know God (Jeremiah 23). You should also know that as a Christian you should not store up your treasures here on earth.... (these are things that are not rules to obey but changes that happen in your life when you are truly in a relationship with God.) Christianity preaches that it is harder for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven than it is....... it teaches that selfishness and a yearning for things of this world are signs of a heart that has been turned away from God.
Basically Christianity should teach that survival of the fittest is not something that God supports, that the gaining of profits and storing of profits is not something that God supports, that the yearning for power and control should be given solely by God and should not be determined by monetary value or contributions. Summed up, I think that Christianity does not support capitalism, in fact it is precisely the opposite..... it is against it.
I am not doing this to support Obama, I actually only used that title to get some of you to read this, because I know it is a touchy subject for most of us. I am doing this again to show the fences that we put up as Christians which hold us back from living fully in a relationship with God (read my post on the fences that we put up).
If you objectively, if that is possible, read about real socialism or communism.... you may see that Jesus would most likely support those over capitalism. I know that hurts some of you to read, but you must separate the history of these two ideas from the actual ideas of socialism and communism. I am not supporting anything that has happened in history, just questioning whether our society is seeking truth from God, or seeking our own wills.
I don't know a solution to this thing that I think is a problem, but I think that maybe recognizing that it is a problem may spark us as a whole to do something about it. I think that Obama may realize at least partly that capitalism breeds deceit, dishonesty, greed, self-interest, and ultimately pertaining to economy and our country, quick and easy progress but long-term problems and moral confusion as it pertains to self interests and what is right and wrong when it comes to possessions and other people. Profit runs the country, and its leaders. Profit rules the world. Profit even has infiltrated the Church and Christianity. Who has more people in their church? Which church is expanding its walls? Which church has sustainability when it comes to monetary success? Is the Church of Blessing the true Church of Christ? Is health, wellness, wealth, comfort, answering of prayers really the result of being a Christian? The idea of Profit and and earned rewards has infiltrated the teachings of the Bible enough so that we as the church now pray the prayer of Jabez and expect that because we confess Jesus, we are entitled to blessings and entitled to be the economic leaders of society. When in fact if you read the Bible, those that follow Christ are to lay down all of their possessions to follow him. Those that followed Christ in the Bible became poor, broken, beat up physically, outcasts...... (Jesus, Paul, Stephen, John......... and so on and so on). How does Christianity supporting capitalism reveal the truth of Christ???
I'd like to see what some of you think about this topic. I wrote this on a whim.... so judge me as so. I'll write a research paper if you'd like!!! Please respond with you comments, ideas, concerns, and so on. (remember many of my arguments have been made before in other posts, so if you haven't read them yet, it may help you to understand where I am coming from on some of these issues.)
I'm so glad you wrote this. And I may not be the most learned as a lot of people in both politics and Christianity, but I do know what I believe in. As controversial as it might sound, communism and socialism would be a great thing, in a utopian world. Everybody does their duty or job in which they are skilled, contributes to society, and gets paid around the same amount of money - people are free to be who they are without being ashamed of making a lowly five-figure income or being on the "bottom of the totem pole". Unfortunately, greed and fakeness (if that's a word) is such a huge part of who humans, Americans specifically, are. This being said, neither of these two forms of government would ever work in the world we live in. On the same note, I wholeheartedly agree about capitalism (in my opinion)- it is based on greed as well. While I don't have a solution to the problem, I don't think there is a solution - actually - I think people will always find a way to "cheat the system" and profit by being lazy, greedy or just b/c they are selfish. Anyhow, it makes me so sick to my stomach when people who voted for McCain, and when Obama won, they stated in their tweets, or facebook status that "God chose the candidate, and I will support him" only to later criticize and further bash every move the President makes. This is so hypocritical to me.
ReplyDeleteWith a loved one, you shouldn't look at all the bad traits that they posses - you look at the good things about them, and you pick and choose the ones to discuss with them (that are potentially harmful vs. just annoying). I think this is a very similar thing. Our country is in such debt and in a position with the war that no matter who was President, he/she would be criticized.
To those who previously tweeted or said that "Since God chose who he wants as president..." and now choose to destructively criticize Obama's every move, I say, then, don't you trust God as much as you did when you posted that message? And don't you trust that God is allowing the events of past, present, and future to unfold just as he specifies? I certainly do not agree with everything Obama is doing, or what he stands for, but I believe that God is sovereign and will accomplish what he sees fit, and it is all part of his plan.
My philosophy? If you are going to complain about something, then you'd better earn the right to complain about it by doing something to change whatever it is.
Hey steve how u been? I read your blog, which was very very good in my opinion. I have some comments on it that I can't post on blogspot cuz I'm not a member, so I hope you don't mind me posting here.
ReplyDeleteIn God's kingdom, there is certainly no room for profit. All competition is spawned by love and cooperation, not by profit margins. Each person is encouraged to do what they are good at, and people willingly share their achievements out of the love in their hearts. Progress is made even faster than in a capitalist society in this respect, because a drop in the stock market or a war is not going to happen to set anything back!
As far as Obama goes, i think he is helping the follow up of the traditional way America keeps its influential grasp on the world... You see, when America has trouble abroad on the international stage, our government has a certain way of dealing with this. We step in, step up our military presence in nations far and wide, cause some kind of conflict, come to the rescue and save people in the name of defending peace and democracy. Just like the Vietnam era, anti-Americanism jumps to an all time high as we're out there flexing our muscles, and so, a hero comes along and wins a landslide victory in an election here at home. He gradually restores American pride, and all of the sudden - America becomes a noble hero. This is how America keeps her grasp on power in a developing world.
The only problem this time around is, everybody is awaiting the second coming of Christ, everybody is following the sound of the trumpets. Everybody sees America as the dominating influence of the One World Government the bible speaks of. Heck, I even believe it. But this is certainly bad news for Americans. Muslims, Indians, and the Jewish people are also awaiting the coming of their Messiah. So in much of the world, dealing blows to America and her corporate fascist allies is the best thing they can do! It's amazing how many people are seeking to play out the story of the great tribulation... Obama understands the importance of embracing our nation for the developing world.... We all need to do ALOT more sharing and not focus so much on economic prosperity if we are to survive this century to come. It is not a shift toward any one type of government - it is simply using the power of our constitution to protect the interest of every American. If any shift in government occurred, it occurred at the turn of the 1900's, when America somehow transformed from a republic to a democracy. America was never founded as a democracy - most people don't even realize this.
Democracies don't last. Capitalist society's are not the way to go. Communism and Socialism are intended for the people, no matter what the governments interest may be. This is why you will see Communism and Socialism easily outlast any democracy. America was founded on democratic principals, no doubt - but it was not founded as a true democracy. We will surely suffer the same bitter defeat as the mighty Romans did so long ago.
So in conclusion - Ask not what your country can do for you, in fact - fuck your country lol. Keep yourself and your family in the light of God, and pray that when the time comes - you will be given the chance to repent for even being born in this mass of evil to begin with. Amen brother
I think capitalism would actually work if it were done with honesty and integrity. You just need to instill God's values into all aspects of our society. I wish! If my business was big enough to have regular employees, I would provide very well for them. In other words, it's not right for corporations to pay their CEOs 6 and 7 figure salaries when the little guy only makes minimum wage. Yes, those CEOs have worked their way to the top, and worked very hard to get there, but we're all doing our jobs unto the Lord. We all need to do the best job we can no matter what job we have, and not expect to make a ton of money doing it. Then, get rid of the unions that make way for high paying wages. The economy would fix itself. I know this doesn't sound like capitalism, but I also believe that if a man doesn't work then he doesn't eat, except for the ones who are unable to. A man should be able to grow his business and profit from it as long as he does it in accordance with God's word. If all businesses read "Business by the Book" by Larry Burkett, and applied it, we'd be in great shape!
ReplyDeleteReply to Number 1,
ReplyDeleteGreat comments thank you. I like your philosophy, however as a writer I wonder if people consider writing as "doing something"?? Interestingly enough I am deeply webbed into the greatest profiter and master of capitalism this world has ever seen, Wal-Mart (just because they do it better than anyone else though, doesn't mean that I think they are the worst culprits of greed. I in fact think they may be one of the companies that thinks more about the little guy than most when all the facts come out). It is interesting, because I would not do what I do at work if all the people who work for me made the same money as I did. Our minds have been trained that it's not worth it, and I agree..... That is just what living in capitalism does to you, you are stuck in it no matter what (especially in the business world).
I think that my title of this blog precisely was chosen to get the people who practice this hypocracy you speak of to read this blog and think about what they are saying. Thanks for your intuitiveness. And I agree with what you say about support and criticism. We are pig headed, and those same people who are bashing Obama now will be upset and flabbergasted when the next president is being bashed by someone else....... they wont understand..... and a lot of us fall into this trap. It is immature and sad. Not that I haven't participated in the past, but I think in the past few years and as i get older I see the constructive route more clearly. Anyhow, I am talking to much, keep on replying I appreciate your thought!!!