Every election cycle we hear a recycling of the same debate. Capitalism versus socialism, which one is better? In fact, with so-called “squad” members in congress, and the influx of cultural Marxism and issues dealing with the contemporary critical theories, this has gone far beyond election years to become an almost all-year, every-year topic of passionate conversation, even among many Christians.
Many people say that capitalism makes the rich richer and the poor poorer. They say that capitalism is based on greed and socialism is based on need.1 They say that capitalism is the reason not only for financial inequality, but also for racism, sexism, xenophobia, and more. They say it’s the reason for greed, materialism, selfishness, and other vices.2
However, in pondering this information, it’s easy to identify that it’s not capitalism that is the source of these evils. Rather, it’s the human heart, the fallen nature of humanity. As long as humans are in charge of (or involved in) the capitalistic system, there will be greed, materialism, financial inequality, racism, sexism, and all sorts of evil.
What must be noted, however, is that this is an unavoidable reality not only for capitalism, but also for socialism and any other economic system one could think of or devise. Thus, by replacing capitalism with socialism, you are not eliminating these things, but instead giving them a different vehicle to use – a much more dangerous vehicle.
Starting Point: The Human Heart
This is where talk of worldview becomes important. Without the proper starting point, any hope of arriving at the correct destination is meaningless and in vain. What many in the socialist camp get wrong is their assumption that the human heart is generally good. That given the right system, people will do the right thing. With this as their starting point, it’s no wonder that those committed to overturning capitalism in favor of socialism ignore the past failures of socialist governments, simply believing that we just haven’t done it the right way yet.
The problem is that Scripture tells us in Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” David says in Psalm 51:5, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.” A proper biblical worldview informs us that since the fall of the first man Adam, the human heart is deceitful and sinful at its core. As the classic hymn goes, we are all “prone to wander…prone to leave the God [we] love.” We as a people, left to our own devices, are sure to pollute whatever system we’re entrusted with.
The Best, but Not Perfect
With this in mind, the only option that remains is to find not a perfect system, but the best one, the one that is most insulated from our ability to mess it up. And once we do mess it up (as is bound to happen), we will be glad to have the system whose misuse is the least dangerous, the least harmful, the least damaging toward all involved from that moment on and into the future.
Think about it. Whether humans are in charge of capitalism or communism or democratic socialism or whatever variation you can name, they are still members of the same fallen human race. If humans cannot fairly implement a capitalistic system without being driven by their greed, how can equally fallen and sinful humans fairly implement a socialist system without also being driven by the same selfish, greedy motives of their fallen human hearts?
Only now, instead of the members of society (consumers) acting as the driving force behind supply and demand in a free market economy (and often tempering the greed of the wealthy business owners), the elitist government officials will be in direct control of the means of production and of all financial elements, including the “equal” distribution of wealth. With all that power and capital in the hands of the few to do with what they will and distribute how they see fit, what assurance is there that it will not be abused by members of the same fallen human race? These officials, keep in mind, now have full and unquestionable authority to determine how they should distribute the wealth, including how much goes to themselves.
Redemption: Government is God?
Another worldview issue is recognizing the proper solution, the plan for redemption, to speak in worldview terms. The Christian worldview acknowledges that the road to redemption is through the cross, the sacrificial death of the spotless Lamb of God, who entered our world, born of a virgin. As the Apostle Paul writes, “Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.”3
Here, too, do many socialists fail, including Karl Marx himself. The Marxist solution is not through the redemptive work of Christ, but through the elimination of private property and the implementation of statism. In fact, not only do Marxists look to a false solution, but they also eradicate the very possibility of a positive outcome by denying the existence of the creator God.
When a system eliminates God from the equation, the government becomes God. They have total control to decide who gets what and how much or how little, and how much they can pad their own pockets. They have the authority, and because of the nature of the system, the citizens cannot complain because, well, who would they complain to? They have willingly handed that authority over to the government as their sovereign, the very arbiter of justice.
If there is nothing above the government, no transcendent standard, then there is nothing or no one to appeal to when the government steps out of line, distributes wealth unequally, treats people unfairly, retracts certain rights, imposes unjust restrictions, or commits atrocities of any sort. In fact, if there is no authority above the government, then there is no standard outside of the government by which one could even call something “out of line,” “unjust,” or even a “right” or an “atrocity.”
What the government says, just is, and there is nothing else that can be said or done about it other than to accept it. The government determines what is right or wrong, just our unjust, good or evil. To say otherwise would be criminal, a sin against the ruling authority. It would, in fact, be incontestable cause for any sort of punishment, imprisonment, or legal retribution deemed necessary by those with the full authority to impose it.
Is that the system we want? Is that the type of thing we want depraved humanity to be in charge of? That’s where socialism ends. Is this current cultural moment where we want it to start?
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