Socialism is the government's attempt to solve, or appear to solve, the problems of its society. It is paid for by taking resources from individuals, making them less capable of solving their own problems, especially their unique problems.
Socialism makes for bigger government, increasing its power relative to the individual. The one who solves the problems is the one who makes the decisions. Hence, the decision maker will more closely resemble the lowest common denominator of a mostly godless society, and the god-fearing individual is not permitted to make his decisions independently.
Socialism is a greater dependence on man, with a reciprocally diminished reliance upon God.
So instead of socialism of any kind, we should instead have lawless anarchy? I mean, if the government shouldn't take public resources to use for public goods, that means no infrastructure, no law enforcement, no court system, no military, etc.
After all, the system in which each individual resolves their own issues by themselves, and in which there is the smallest possible government at all, is that in which there is no government whatsoever--anarchy.
Every person for themselves. Each person is a law unto themselves.
Is that really godly? I mean, biblically speaking, the only form of government God ever established in human history was a welfare state: Israel. There are literally commandments that came directly from God involving the redistribution of wealth by the government.
"
You shall tithe all the yield of your seed that comes from the field year by year. And before the Lord your God, in the place that he will choose, to make his name dwell there, you shall eat the tithe of your grain, of your wine, and of your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and flock, that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always. And if the way is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry the tithe, when the Lord your God blesses you, because the place is too far from you, which the Lord your God chooses, to set his name there, then you shall turn it into money and bind up the money in your hand and go to the place that the Lord your God chooses and spend the money for whatever you desire—oxen or sheep or wine or strong drink, whatever your appetite craves. And you shall eat there before the Lord your God and rejoice, you and your household. And you shall not neglect the Levite who is within your towns, for he has no portion or inheritance with you.
At the end of every three years you shall bring out all the tithe of your produce in the same year and lay it up within your towns. And the Levite, because he has no portion or inheritance with you, and the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, who are within your towns, shall come and eat and be filled, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands that you do." - Deuteronomy 14:22-29
"When you have finished paying all the tithe of your produce in the third year, which is the year of tithing, giving it to the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, so that they may eat within your towns and be filled, then you shall say before the Lord your God, ‘I have removed the sacred portion out of my house, and moreover, I have given it to the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, according to all your commandment that you have commanded me. I have not transgressed any of your commandments, nor have I forgotten them. I have not eaten of the tithe while I was mourning, or removed any of it while I was unclean, or offered any of it to the dead. I have obeyed the voice of the Lord my God. I have done according to all that you have commanded me. Look down from your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless your people Israel and the ground that you have given us, as you swore to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.’" - Deuteronomy 26:12-15
Indeed, the one who did not tithe, is accused of robbing God,
"
Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.
For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you say, ‘How shall we return?’ Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house." - Malachi 3:5-10
The whole point of the tithe in the Torah was the redistribution of wealth from those who had, to those who had not.
I don't know where some Christians get this idea that a government using public resources for public good is evil, and that the "Christian" way of doing things is everyone for him or herself. But that's certainly not the biblical way, and historically, it's never been the Christian way either.
-CryptoLutheran
