The Democratic Socialists of America have made the claim that God is a socialist, and that the fact that Jesus didn t charge a copay for his healing of blind people proves that he was a socialist. In this episode, I explain why this is a ridiculous and ridiculous idea, and why Jesus was not a socialist at all.
00:00:00.000So the the debate that everyone's having now, the thing everyone's discussing is it's it's and it's a great debate.
00:00:06.460It's a very intellectually stimulating debate. It's over the issue of whether or not Jesus is a socialist.
00:00:16.060The person who runs the Democratic Socialists of America made this claim recently in an interview.
00:00:23.000And and then former comedian Stephen Colbert said the same thing on his show a couple of days ago.
00:00:27.940He said that God is a socialist and he cited as proof the fact that Jesus didn't charge a copay before healing blind people.
00:00:37.740So that obviously indicates that he was a socialist.
00:00:43.120So, all right. Let's let's tackle this question.
00:00:49.100Was Jesus a socialist? And here here's my argument.
00:00:52.740No, you nitwits. No, he was not a socialist.
00:00:58.300End of that's it. That's the end of the show. We'll just leave it there because I don't.
00:01:02.520It's hardly it's hardly a statement that that warrants a response because it's so absurd.
00:01:07.940But I realize that this is a popular idea even among some Christians.
00:01:13.280So I guess maybe I should elaborate a little bit more than that.
00:01:16.520So if I had to elaborate, then this is this is what I would say.
00:01:20.940In fact, I'll give you three reasons why Jesus is not a socialist and why this whole idea is completely ridiculous.
00:01:29.800And I'm going to move pretty quickly through the first two reasons.
00:01:32.660I think they're sort of self-evident and I want to focus more on the third.
00:01:35.600So, first of all, Jesus did not endorse any economic or political system at all.
00:01:44.300So that's the first way we know he wasn't a socialist because he never said anything about about any kind of government system or economic system,
00:01:53.240which means that he wasn't a socialist, but he wasn't a capitalist either.
00:01:57.420To say that Jesus was a capitalist would also be ridiculous.
00:02:58.780And now we have 2,000 years of Christianity and we have the scripture that we can go back and reference.
00:03:05.600To see very clearly that he was not a political revolutionary.
00:03:08.680Yet still somehow, even people today are as surprised and I guess disappointed as people were back in Jesus' time that he is not a political revolutionary.
00:04:31.800Most important, the whole idea behind socialism really is to find a way to solve poverty.
00:04:39.580The fact that socialism is a solution for poverty, which only leads to more poverty, should really tell you something.
00:04:48.140And it tells us not only that socialism is a horrible system in and of itself.
00:04:53.360It tells us that poverty is not a social disease that the government can cure.
00:05:00.660And so anytime the government sets out to cure it, to get rid of it, and to instate some kind of utopian society where poverty doesn't exist,
00:05:09.720anytime the government tries to do that, it has disastrous results because it cannot happen.
00:05:14.020And that's not the way that Jesus wanted us to look at it.
00:05:18.160Jesus does not want us to address poverty through bureaucracy.
00:05:22.220That's not the primary way that he wants us to address it, which isn't to say that government should have no role whatsoever in helping the poor.
00:05:32.060It's simply to say that the responsibility of helping the less fortunate falls primarily on the individual, not primarily on the state.
00:05:41.320But I think that it's clear that that's the, that's the, um, practically speaking, that's the best way of going about it.
00:05:49.140But also from a spiritual perspective, from a religious, from a Christian perspective, that is obviously what Jesus believed as well.
00:05:55.800So I've, we've kind of been through these verses before and other, discussing other topics, but let's go through them again, because obviously they're very relevant to this topic too.
00:06:05.620So here's a few verses I think we should look at.
00:06:08.180Instances in scripture where Jesus is talking about the poor and what we're supposed to do about the poor.
00:06:15.960This is obviously, it's obviously a topic he talked quite a bit, he talked about quite a bit.
00:06:20.020So if he really wanted us to instate some particular economic system in order to help poor people, he had plenty of opportunity to mention it and he never did.
00:06:33.640Matthew 25, 40, and the king will answer them, truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these brothers, you did it to me.
00:06:42.020Matthew 5, 42, give to the one who begs from you and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.
00:06:47.600Luke 12, 33, sell your possessions and give it to the needy.
00:06:51.580Provide yourselves with money bags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys.
00:06:59.600For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
00:07:03.360Luke 21, 1, Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins.
00:07:13.300And he said, truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them, for they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.
00:07:22.600Luke 14, 12, he said also to the man who had invited him, when you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid.
00:07:34.280But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.
00:07:44.380Luke 3, 11, and he answered them, whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.
00:07:53.560So just a few examples, five or six examples there.
00:07:55.760Notice that the words government, state, law, policy, tax, least of all socialism, do not appear in any of these verses.
00:08:14.740Here is Jesus over and over and over again talking about here's what we should do about poor people.
00:08:21.200He never says anything about passing a law, never even mentions it.
00:09:51.220But in terms of your, you know, your possessions, your tunic, your, your food, your, you know, your individual possessions, give those to the poor.
00:10:02.680So those two obligations are not the same.
00:10:06.220And I would also mention that our obligation to help the poor is especially not fulfilled by sitting on the side and lobbying the government to take more money from your neighbor to give to the poor, which is, it's, it's very interesting that so often the people who are pushing for these systems, that's what they want.
00:10:29.000They're not even saying, take more from me.
00:10:31.360They're saying, no, take more from all of those people.
00:10:35.100All of these socialist college students, for instance, who have no job, no assets, nothing to tax, yet they want more.
00:10:42.320They want, they want things for themselves too, right?
00:10:44.900They want, they want their student loans paid for.
00:11:13.360There's also a really interesting thing in scripture that you notice.
00:11:16.420And I think we often kind of gloss over.
00:11:19.880And that is that Jesus tells us constantly to give to the poor.
00:11:25.780Yet, he also says that, he also says, blessed are the poor.
00:11:30.500He warns us against wealth, tells us to give up everything, tells us to give up our attachment to worldly possessions,
00:11:38.460tells us to give our wealth to the poor, who he says are blessed because they don't have that wealth,
00:11:46.120and who it seems could possibly be harmed by wealth.
00:11:50.700Because he obviously says that wealth is a dangerous thing because it can lead you to an attachment to the world and away from eternal life.
00:12:01.580So, all those things are kind of confusing, isn't it?
00:13:47.820But even more important than that, they are lifted up by this humanizing love that you're showing for them,
00:13:56.860and then you are also lifted up by it.
00:13:58.520You also benefit from this act of love.
00:14:03.100Now, the problem is, and as I said, I'm not suggesting that the government has absolutely no role whatsoever ever in providing some form of assistance for some people.
00:14:38.420Someone, a poor person, does not experience and is not elevated by the fruits of love when he cashes a check that was sent to him by some government office.
00:14:51.140Has anyone ever felt this, the power of love when they're given an EBT card?
00:15:00.020Is that, are people lifted up by this feeling of love from the bureaucratic entity that handed them this card?
00:15:08.620No, I think what happens is that it's sort of the opposite, that poor people are treated like numbers and statistics.
00:15:16.860They are treated like a problem that must be solved.
00:15:22.160They are not treated like human beings who must be loved.
00:15:26.140So we're doing the opposite of what Christ tells us to do when we neglect the poor in our own communities and trust that the government will just take care of it.
00:15:38.540Even if the government's taking care of it with our own money.
00:15:41.220And so we feel like, well, that's, that's kind of the same.
00:16:13.720And even though Jesus does not endorse or support or advocate for any particular economic or political system,
00:16:22.440it seems clear to me that an economic or political system that better enables us to use our own money and help those in our community,
00:16:32.360that that is clearly going to be the superior system, not just from economic and political standards, but from Christian standards.
00:16:40.300Because it better enables us to do what Jesus is telling us to do.
00:16:45.920I mean, this is something that has especially been on my heart the last year or so.
00:16:53.320Because you think about even, you know, when you're walking downtown in the city and you pass by all these homeless people,
00:17:03.060and there's always that, when you pass by a homeless person, there's always that feeling of discomfort,
00:17:09.580and you feel a little wary, like you want to give them money,
00:17:12.220but then you also realize that a great majority of homeless people have drug and alcohol problems.
00:17:19.940It's why they're homeless, many of them.
00:17:23.260And so if you give them money, it seems like there's probably a very good statistical chance that they're going to use it on drugs or alcohol.
00:17:29.000And so there's always that, should I give them money, should I not get,
00:17:32.740to just pass by a homeless person to give them nothing, feels cruel,
00:17:35.780but to give them something that might then be used on drugs or alcohol,
00:17:41.280maybe that doesn't seem like the right thing either.
00:17:42.700And so I think like most people, that's something that's always been, I'm always going back and forth on that.
00:17:49.840And I do think that, and I try to, whenever possible, I think the best thing when you see a homeless person,
00:17:56.100if you can, buy them a meal, you know, give them food.
00:18:00.300I try to keep like little care packages in my car, just bags of, you know, just toiletries and snacks
00:18:07.040and maybe gift cards to some fast food place or something so that if I do see a homeless person,
00:18:12.660I can give them that, which I think is, of course, better than money.
00:18:19.600But recently I've realized, let's say I don't have a care package to give them.
00:18:23.480Let's say I can't, I don't have time to go get them a meal.
00:18:25.400And, you know, recently I, what I, the last year or so, what I've come to realize personally
00:18:31.460is that you pass by a homeless person, just even if, you know, even if you have a couple of dollars,