Well, I think as a church, we should be redistributing money.  Their is a reason why, in the Old Testament, they practiced Jubilee every 7 years.  It was to redistribute wealth.  So the playing field was truly leveled, and so the same people didn't control everything.

@TheGreatBout@xanga - I totally think Jesus was a socialist. He led by extreme example by personally owning nothing. He taught against charging interest (a core practice in capitalism), and even said that we should act as "one body and one blood".

Socialism isn't communism, although the basis for socialism is that there is tampering with the money market to make sure that the poor are covered. Jesus was a huge advocate for the poor, and if I'm not mistaken, quite often commanded his disciples to make sure the poor were cared for.

I think that today, in this Western, American society we live in, Christians like to forget that Jesus' commands to make sure the poor were fed were indeed commands, not friendly suggestions. By these standards, Jesus was a socialist. Just a thought.

And as for the idea that without God, we can have no human rights? This is basically facile, and universally rejected by all mainstream philosophers today and for about the last 300 years.

@TheGreatBout@xanga - Anytime we look upon gifts and call them "rights" as if they are owed to us we miss the mark of our Creators genorosity and will to bless his people so they will bless others.

There is absolutely nothing in this post that suggest we are owed anything by the Creator.  This post explicitly states that our rights come from the Creator.

It is troubling that supposedly intelligent people read a simple piece and yet derive meaning that is completely foreign and opposite to the author's intent.

@fallingraindrop@xanga - 

Girlfriend
even me a total "apostate" will have to agree with you 100% on this
subject. You are totally correct and the Old Testament really got it
right on this subject:

Jezebel believed that because Ahab was
king governing Israel, he had the authority to take another’s property
that he desired: coveting.

1 Kings
21:17-19 Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying,
18 “Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, who is in Samaria;
behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, where he has gone to take
possession. 19 And you shall say to him, ‘Thus says the LORD, “Have you
killed and also taken possession?”‘ And you shall say to him, ‘Thus
says the LORD: “In the place where dogs licked up the blood of Naboth
shall dogs lick your own blood.”‘”

I totally just want to slap
the the living hell out of these pathetically retarded egalitarian
spineless pacifistic wing nut's when they want to take the money from
people like me who have slaved 12 HOUR DAYS OF HARD WORK and give my money to worthless lazy good for nothing BUMS who REFUSE TO WORK!!!
These thieving socialists need to let us capitalistic hard workers sit
back on the couch for five years and support people like us and see how
it feels.

Why would anyone with a brain and a desire to work
hard have any desire to work hard at all in a socialistic economy???
Socialists do not know the meaning of hard work and determination.

I
think it is time for us hard working capitalists to take the advice of
Ayn Rand and just go on strike all together and let the re distributors
of our wealth do all the work for a change and let them understand how
it feel's and then they will truly understand that without us they
wouldn't have the brain power to manufacture there own Ginkgo Biloba which they so desperately need!

I disagree. Things like capitalism and owning private property can be wonderful, and we should not take them for granted. But the Church and Christ's mission will thrive regardless of what political, social, or economic systems are in place. Neither Jesus nor Christianity ought to be confined to such systems. 

I think a Christian would be shooting him or her self in the foot by being against distribution of wealth. It is a centerpoint of Christianity to share.

By the way, John Adams, like many of our founding fathers, was a Deist - not a theist and not a Christian.

@subSacred@xanga - That'll preach!

@Shy___Away@xanga - Socialism is just as much a legitimate economic system as capitalism.

Socialism violates the sanctity of private property.  Under socialism the state owns everything including the fruit of one's labor.  The state then allows the person to keep a portion of that fruit.

Since the person labors for state and not himself he is reduced to a slave.

Further, under capitalism wealth is actually created and so society becomes prosperous.  This is not the case with socialism.  Socialism leads directly to mass poverty because producers no longer have reason to create wealth.

@TheGreatBout@xanga - I think people forget Jesus showed up before capitalism and socialism.

God created the universe and gave man dominion of it.  Dominion means ownership.  The sanctity of private property and ownership of the fruits of one's labor is Godly.  Capitalism has shown that wealth is infinite in quantity.  Consequently there is more then enough wealth for everyone.

The abolition of slavery was one of the great victories of Christianity. 

Socialism turns man into slaves once again by subjugating man to the state.  When the state is empowered to take from man the major portion of the fruits of his labor, man becomes a slave.

So we see here a Founder again referring to God and using the Ten Commandments as the basis for his reasoning and as the basis for civil society and liberty.

I LOVE that!  What tight little post!!

So many people have come to the mistaken belief that there is no connection between America's once great civil society and the normative Commandments of God.

@subSacred@xanga - Well said. To demonstrate your point, Norway has a more socialist way of governance and also has a king and is mostly populated by Christians. All of the Scandinavian countries, Switzerland, France, Canada, and others are more socialist and yet they are also predominantly Christian nations showing that Christianity is not married to capitalism. They also have higher standards of living than we in the U.S. have.

"Anyone who has visited a ghetto where the residents are dependent on
welfare can see clearly the meaning of "utter confusion in the
community."

Have u studied any history to see what ghettos were like before welfare came into the scene? You make it sound like welfare has done more damage to people than it has helped. This is simply not the case. The American ghetto system was horrible before welfare was passed, will be bad as long as we sabotage it and destroy it from the inside. I mean seriously this current system was never designed to solve American poverty. It was designed to create another caste system. That said it has and continues to help some and you would do well to remember that.

"God created the universe and gave man
dominion of it.  Dominion means ownership.  The sanctity of private
property and ownership of the fruits of one's labor is Godly. 
Capitalism has shown that wealth is infinite in quantity.  Consequently
there is more then enough wealth for everyone."

Twisting the gospel much? Have u forgotten what God says to King David in Psalm 50:

 6 And the heavens proclaim his righteousness,
       for God himself is judge.
       Selah

 7 "Hear, O my people, and I will speak,
       O Israel, and I will testify against you:
       I am God, your God.

 8 I do not rebuke you for your sacrifices
       or your burnt offerings, which are ever before me.

 9 I have no need of a bull from your stall
       or of goats from your pens,

 10 for every animal of the forest is mine,
       and the cattle on a thousand hills.

 11 I know every bird in the mountains,
       and the creatures of the field are mine.

 12 If I were hungry I would not tell you,
       for the world is mine, and all that is in it.

We own nothing in this world, nothing. It all belongs to God. He did give us dominion but dominion means stewardship. It means us honoring and respecting the land, not distorting and raping it for our own twisted and selfish purposes and before I forget, Jesus had some pretty choice words for a crowd when they supported your position.

Someone in the crowd said to Him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me."

 14But He said to him, "Man, who appointed Me a judge or arbitrator over you?"

 15Then He said to them, "Beware,
and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one
has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions."

 16And He told them a parable, saying, "The land of a rich man was very productive.

 17"And he began reasoning to himself, saying, 'What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?'

 18"Then
he said, 'This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build
larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.

 19'And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry."'

 20"But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?'

 21"So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God."

 22And He said to His disciples, "For
this reason I say to you, do not worry about your life, as to what you
will eat; nor for your body, as to what you will put on.

 23"For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.

 24"Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap; they have no storeroom nor barn, and yet God feeds them; how much more valuable you are than the birds!

 25"And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life's span?