The Old Testament God was a socialist; the New Testament God is a capitalist, part 05

https://blog.extraface.com/2024/08/07/5qjfpl0hg Well, some final thoughts, I think. As Orthodox Christians we can never run our personal economic system purely on what maximizes the market neither on what gives the most profit to owners and investors. Part of the point of citing the Sabbath Year and the Jubilee Year was to point out that even though the policies of those years were not free market policies, yet God decided that the care of the poor, the widow, and the orphan was a high priority item. Notice that there are also harvest laws that prohibit the harvesting of the corners of your field and gives that to the poor. A living example of that law in action is the Book of Ruth, when Ruth harvests the field behind Boaz’s employees. Mind you, Boaz went far beyond the requirements of the law. And, there are additional laws that have to do with ensuring that the economic system is “taxed” for other “social” reasons.

In the same way, we should be suspicious of a system that only seeks to maximize profit and efficiency and has no concern for social issues. That is not an appropriate approach. In other words, we cannot simply argue a particular economic system without taking into account what else is written in Scripture. We are rather good as Orthodox Christians at pointing out that regardless of any economic benefits, we must be pro-life. We must be equally good at pointing out that regardless of any economic deficits our pro-life stance must extend to the poor, the widow, and the orphan.

https://sugandhmalhotra.com/2024/08/07/v1ew9734d4 The headline I have been running for the five parts of this series has been an ironic joke. First, God is not a socialist in the Old Testament. Second, God is also not a laissez faire free market advocate in the New Testament. In fact, the irony of the headline is that the strongest “socialist-sounding” statements are found in the New Testament and not in the Old Testament. No, Our Lord Jesus Christ does not advocate socialism and neither do the Apostles. But, they certainly do not spare the sharp edge of their tongue on the rich, etc.

https://oevenezolano.org/2024/08/faq2whyxsr It is Our Lord Jesus Christ who says that it is more difficult for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. It is Our Lord Jesus who tells the rich young ruler that he needs to give his money away. St. Luke quotes Our Lord not as saying “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” but simply as saying “Blessed are the poor.” And, it is in St. Luke that we find the woes against the rich as part of the Sermon on the Mount.

Sandoz Xanax Online It is St. Luke who also records that the earliest Christian community temporarily adopted a communal lifestyle in which all shared from what they had, all ate from the common pot, and most sold what they had so that everyone could have sustenance and shelter. In fact, so important was that early community to God that when Ananias and Sapphira lied about their contribution to the common pot, God killed them. That early community did not last as a mandatory rule for all believers. But, it is interesting to note that from earliest times, those who were called to be monks lived under the rule of poverty and many lived under the cenobitic rule. This means that, to this day, they live together, having all in common and calling nothing their own. To this day, the rule of that earliest community is followed by the monks, hermits, anchorites, etc. of our faith. It is not mandatory, but it is praiseworthy. And that rule calls us to examine our personal finances, lest we become like the rich young ruler who was blinded by his belongings.

https://foster2forever.com/2024/08/z48otko2cm.html It is St. James who records the following diatribe: “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. . . But you have insulted the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? Are they not the ones who are slandering the noble name of him to whom you belong?”

I am quite well aware of the several rich people mentioned in the New Testament, including the rich women who supported Our Lord Jesus during his ministry. Nevertheless, our danger in America is the danger of the rich young ruler. When we begin to argue that we have a “right” to keep what we have earned we stray into the minefield of the rich young ruler. Look at how many of our arguments are phrased in such a way that it appears that we are merely arguing about the inefficiency of welfare or the inefficiency of training programs, or the inefficiency of any government program that takes our money. Since no program is ever 100% efficient, that argument will always, of necessity, be true.

Were I to see strong programs in the Orthodox community to help “orphans and widows in their distress,” then I would buy the arguments about government inefficiency. Were I to see a vast majority of us Orthodox regularly giving to those Orthodox ministries that work with the poor, then I would believe that those who argue against the various programs are truly concerned about alternative methods for helping the poor. But, when I see Orthodox believers who pressure their representatives to approve no programs that tax them for the sake of the poor, and yet those same Orthodox do not give to Orthodox ministries that work with the poor then I only see the rich young ruler, whose grasp on his money was so strong that he was even willing to turn away from the Kingdom of God in order to keep his money. To paraphrase St. Paul, brethren it should not be so among us.

To those who are reading this who are not Orthodox, I have chosen to address my own community in this last posting. I leave it to you to address your own community. Some of you do not have monastics the way we do, and so cannot use them as a living example of Acts 2, as I have. But, you can use your own examples with your own community. We look to obey St. James, “religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”