Can a Christian be a Communist?

Albion said:

I know what you meant by an anarcho-syndicalist society.


But despite external appearances, their system would not be any kind of socialist or even anarcho-capitalist society, if that's what you had in mind when mentioning "a libertarian left society."

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They work in a plan economy, so extreme left wing. I dont see them as anarcho capitalist.

Danigt22 said:

They work in a plan economy, so extreme left wing. I dont see them as anarcho capitalist.

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Well, you mentioned the "Libertarian left," and that concept I don't recognize unless it's a reference to anarcho-capitalism.

Albion said:

Well, you mentioned the "Libertarian left," and that concept I don't recognize unless it's a reference to anarcho-capitalism.

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They never form a goverment, mostly are small comunities were everyone work together and are free to go whenever they want. They exist, most people dont like them since you have to do alot of work to have basic stuffs.

Not David said:

Doesn't the Leader of the Communist Party on Russia go to Church often?

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It's very possible.

Humans are capable of all kinds of paradoxical ideologies.

Not David said:

Doesn't the Leader of the Communist Party on Russia go to Church often?

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Traditional communism has atheist assumptions stemming from philosophical naturalism/materialism. That's one of the pillars of Marxism.

No.
A Communist can become a Christian, and gradually cease to be a Communist - one who demands that others give up their wealth, ostensibly to feed the poor - and he can give up his own wealth while refusing to envy the wealthy around him. But if a Christian becomes a Communist, he will gradually cease to be a Christian. He will take the injunction made to him personally to give to the poor, and apply it to everyone else, finally excepting himself.

Aussie Pete said:

The Russian Orthodox Church was the official "church" of the former Soviet Union. It was a pathetic attempt to show that the USSR had religious freedom - which was enshrined in the constitution.

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Huh? Churches were shut under the Communists. Lenin was their god. They were atheists. The Babushki kept the faith alive.

Not David said:

Can a Christian be a Communist?

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I don’t know what a communist is, but I think all who are Christians can be Christians.

Not David said:

Isn't Gennady Zyuganov, General Secretary of the Communist Party, Orthodox tho?

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Not to my knowledge, though he could have been formally baptized, but it would be irrelevant. To “be Orthodox” either means to strive to live the Orthodox life, or nothing at all. It is possible to be nominally a thing, while in reality opposed to the ideals and propositions of the thing.

Yeshua HaDerekh said:

Huh? Churches were shut under the Communists. Lenin was their god. They were atheists. The Babushki kept the faith alive.

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The communist regime had a constitution. In the constitution there was freedom of religion. There were many underground Christian groups. I read "Tortured for Christ" by Richard Wurmbrand and Gulag Archipelago by Solzhenitsyn. I heard Andrew "God's Smuggler" preach in Sydney Australia. That does not make me an expert by any means, but I know a little of what went on in the USSR.

"After its initial stance of resistance to communist oppression, the Russian Orthodox Church as an institution ultimately survived communist rule through tense acquiescence, with its senior ranks deeply infiltrated by the security state, and opponents driven out. It was in this form that the Church emerged in the 1990s." From an article by Peter Welby, consultant on religion and global affairs.

Please God free every soul to come to You.

Aussie Pete said:

"After its initial stance of resistance to communist oppression, the Russian Orthodox Church as an institution ultimately survived communist rule through tense acquiescence, with its senior ranks deeply infiltrated by the security state, and opponents driven out. It was in this form that the Church emerged in the 1990s." From an article by Peter Welby, consultant on religion and global affairs.

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I heard this is why ROCOR refused to bend the knee to the ROC.

Orthodox_Christian said:

A Christian could be a voluntary socialist (by own will, not forced) but not a communist. Communism is atheism. In the Amish communities, they all are voluntary socialists where they share everything that they need. Interesting I thought.

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The Amish aren't socialists at all. They help one another but they don't "share" anything. Everything is privately owned and personal wealth is kept. There's no compulsion to do anything with wealth. You can look at the Bruderhof and Hutterites as socialist type Anabaptists. However, I wouldn't even call them socialists because they're based on separation from the world due to religious convictions.

Danigt22 said:

I mean, if a libertarian left society would exist. The amish would be a benchmark on how that society will look. A lot of work, for having the basic things you can have with less work in our system.

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The Amish are quite wealthy generally. They do work hard but they gather wealth from that work. They don't share as much as you think they do.

Hermit76 said:

The Amish are quite wealthy generally. They do work hard but they gather wealth from that work. They don't share as much as you think they do.

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Being left only means your economy is planned. It has nothing to do with the distribution of wealth. For example "The Galactic Empire" in Star Wars is extreme left wing.

Albion said:

No, it doesn't. You can bet the ranch on that one.



Well, footnotes are not part of the Bible, but I'd love to see such a cockeyed Bible translation as you are describing, if it really does exist.

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I have a Bible that literally describes and says socialism. I'm not lying. It's the NLT Life Application Study Bible. Printed in 1996 or 1998 I think so it's the 2nd version?

Danigt22 said:

Being left only means your economy is planned. It has nothing to do with the distribution of wealth. For example "The Galactic Empire" in Star Wars is extreme left wing.

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They're economy isn't planned

Okay. You have a "Bible" that presents itself as something that is not literal but supposedly, allegedly, conveys the "meaning" behind what the Bible says instead--according to the views of the writers of that particular book, that is.

It is not actually a version of the Bible, not translated from the original languages, and is something of an editorial rather than a translation.

I've seen a few other and similar products on bookstore shelves. One that I remember which was no doubt much more extreme was called "The Revolutionary's Bible" or something in that vein. It appeared some years ago when the "flower children" thrilled to anything that denigrated ordinary society and its values. And there are also so-called Bible translations for the environmentally conscious among us, etc.

Orthodox_Christian said:

I have a Bible that literally describes and says socialism. I'm not lying. It's the NLT Life Application Study Bible. Printed in 1996 or 1998 I think so it's the 2nd version?

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This is the version of Bible my old non-denominational pastor used before I became Orthodox.