Jesus is a Capitalist [Pope Francis Errs]

“Someone in the crowd said to Him [Jesus Christ], ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.’ But He said to him, ‘Man, who appointed Me a judge or arbitrator over you?’”

In just one verse, we see that God rejects the left-wing “Jesus Christ supported socialism” heresy. When Jesus was asked to support redistribution of wealth – to tell one brother to share the family inheritance with the other – Jesus refused. Jesus would never support government or a church stealing property by force to give it to a stranger. He would not even intervene for one man to share his own family’s wealth with his own brother.

Obviously, Jesus would sternly warn the brother hoarding wealth against greed, dishonesty and defrauding his family. But Jesus preached to the person in front of him about how to live right. Jesus was never teaching one person what is wrong with someone else (except to clarify how the listener should behave by contrast).

One truth shines out from the Bible: Jesus spoke to the individual, never to government or government policy. Jesus was a capitalist, preaching personal responsibility, not a socialist.

Pope Francis condemned capitalism. Some argue that Francis’ Spanish-language Apostolic Exhortation was mistranslated. But Francis is not among those disputing that translation. Moreover, corrected translations are no better.

Francis argues for dependence upon government to redistribute wealth. And con artists in the U.S. are seizing on the opportunity to spread the misery of socialism. Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin this week called Pope Francis on his mangling of economics. Then author Reza Aslan struck back in the Washington Post, claiming that Jesus was a socialist.

>didn’t Jesus himself rely solely on others for his support, putting his trust in God?

Paul writes about this. He said some are made eunuchs for the glory of God. Within the Christian tradition, there have always been those who follow Jesus in this way. St. Francis of Assisi, the namesake of the current Pope, is universally loved.

I am happy for these people who are made eunuchs; and, I am also happy that some are made garbagemen, and some are made nurses, and some are made policemen, and I could go on and on.

How does it happen that we get the right mix of people? Well, when I was in the military, which is a very communistic organization, a central planner, the big personnel manager, made some kind of assignment based on the needs of the military and my abilities relative to others and perhaps accommodating some preferences.

What is the track record of central planning for getting the mix right? Actually, it’s not so bad. Cuba is in better shape than Somalia. Maybe, if they allowed a few basic human rights in Cuba, like religious freedom, we could normalize relations with that country. But, here’s the thing, capitalism is so much better.

Now, is the superiority of capitalism due to it being morally superior to what we might call democratic socialism? Or, is the difference merely a practical one? While I think this Pope is out to lunch regarding economics, and I would give him an F and make him repeat the course with a non-Marxist professor, I don’t hold his mistakes about economics against him as though he were an evil person. I don’t do that in part because I don’t like being called evil, an oppressor, a tyrant, and a murderer by the Pope because I have come to the conclusion I have come to regarding the superiority of capitalism. I prefer to follow the rule judge not, lest ye be judged, and also the rule he who calls his brother fool is guilty of murder.

>What about the story of Jesus and the rich young man?

That fellow Jesus never ceases to amaze me. On the one hand he seems to deny “eye for an eye” and on the other hand he seems to say “if your right eye offends thee, pluck it out.” Can you take this man seriously? Does he really say, instead of lucking out the eyes of evil people, we should pluck our own eyes out?

No, not if you read him as a Jew.

On the so-called denial of “eye for an eye,” he said this doesn’t apply to name-calling. He said if a man strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other check. To be right on the right check is to be hit with the left hand. This is an idiom. The left hand is the weak hand. It’s an insult. Let the insult go, says Jesus, unless you are hit on the other cheek. Then, “eye for an eye” kicks in.

About “if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out,” no, Jesus is not saying we should pluck our own eyes out. He is saying that if we have particular weaknesses, we should arrange our lives so as to avoid temptations we cannot resist. With this understanding of “pluck it out” in mind, let’s consider Jesus and the rich young man.

In their conversation, the rich young man says he keeps the commandments. According to Ec. 12:13, that settles it. Every Jew would know this, and especially any Jew who comes from a wealthy family so that he would have received an education. But, no, the rich young man wants to be perfect. We know no man is perfect save for one. Again, every Jew would know this. So Jesus, looking in his heart, convicted him of his sin, which was self-righteousness. This man needed to pluck out his eye.

If you have been putting off plucking out your eye, this explanation should come as quite a relief.

Now, is the superiority of capitalism due to it being morally superior to what we might call democratic socialism?

Of course the Pope is not an evil person or have any evil intentions. At least the Pope is TRYING -- which is more than we can say for most Protestant or Catholic "leaders" (gagging on the word).

Pope Francis' misguided idealism beats the apathy and neglect of most other Christian figures by a country mile.

However, I argue that capitalism -- properly defined -- is morally superior, because it based on the same individual freedom which is called "FREE WILL" in Christianity, and which is a central pillar of God's design for the universe. God has ordained that (a) we have the freedom to do right or wrong, but (b) we are accountable for the choices we make. That is exactly what capitalism is. You are free to make your own choices. But you are responsible to choose wisely. God's goal is for us to LEARN and grow and become mature, not to have other people make decisions for us.

At the same time "crony capitalism" -- what Pope Francis imagines capitalism to be from his understandably disappointing and frustrating experiences in South America, growing up in Argentina -- I would have to call EVIL.

Crony capitalism is evil and corrupt partly because it takes away the critical feature of personal freedom and voluntary choice and uses corrupt entanglement with government to extract money by force or deceit. Crony capitalism is cheating, because businesses obtain money through entanglement with the government which they could not earn honestly in the open marketplace.

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