Dan Popp
Church and statism
By Dan Popp
Some [who] oppose immigration reform are sitting in those pews, and you have to tell them that this is a manifestation of our living the gospels. — Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, to Roman Catholic leaders May 6th, 2010
Madam Speaker, with all due respect: the gospel is not lawlessness, which is essentially what you propose with your amnesty — er, "reform" — bill. Nor does the Good News consist of enormous energy taxes that would have a disparate impact on the poor, as Senator John Kerry preaches. Least of all does the word of Christ bear any resemblance to Reverend Obama's message of robbery and dividing up the spoils.
Jesus told us many times that there will be unequal rewards in the Kingdom of God based on our stewardship, ingenuity and diligence with what He's given us. Heaven will be an unequal place — get over it, He taught. You can't read the gospels and come away with the idea that what Christians really need to do is kill the capitalists and confiscate the means of production. (More about that later, I hope.)
But there is one thing Jesus of Nazareth and Karl Marx agree on: that their teachings are antithetical.
The idea that "Christian" and "Communist" are synonyms would be shocking to Karl Marx. Not only did he deride religion as "the opiate of the masses," he seems to have believed in the total separation of church and statism. He said:
"Religion is the impotence of the human mind to deal with occurrences it cannot understand."
And, "The first requisite for the happiness of the people is the abolition of religion."
But Brother Karl wasn't just generically anti-theist. He singled out one religion for greater contempt. Can you guess? "The social principles of Christianity preach cowardice, self-contempt, abasement, submission, humility, in a word all the qualities of the canaille."
Christian, Herr Marx called you trailer trash.
Doesn't that imply that Jesus, whose submission and humility we're attempting to emulate, is the biggest "canaille" of all?
Marxism keeps the poor in poverty, destroys their support systems (families and churches), disemploys them, saps their work ethic and their dignity, restricts their options, taxes them surreptitiously while claiming to be their champion, thwarts private efforts to help them, incites them to envy, aborts them, and when all else fails, refuses medical treatment or kills them outright.
Though Marx insulted the poor, Christ blessed them. Jesus' followers have been trying to help the poor for 2,000 years, inventing orphanages and hospitals, and working in countless ways around the world to lift the poor out of poverty. Socialism offers the poor only dependency or death. Christianity offers them dignity and eternal life.
If these two things are similar, why didn't Karl know it? Why didn't Marx recognize his fellow traveler on the road to Collectivist Utopia? Why did he hate Comrade Christ? Instead of railing against God, why didn't Marx infiltrate the church and use it for his own ends, as Liberation Theology later did — and as many neo-barbarians are trying to do now?
Marx said, "My object in life is to dethrone God and destroy capitalism."
Jesus said, "He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters." (Matthew 12:30, Luke 11:23) Inquiring minds want to know: Why don't "Christians" believe Christ? And why don't "Marxists" believe Marx?
But to the wicked God says:
"What right have you to declare my statutes,
Or take my covenant in your mouth,
Seeing you hate instruction
And cast my words behind you?
When you saw a thief, you consented with him,
And have been a partaker with adulterers.
You give your mouth to evil,
And your tongue frames deceit.
You sit and speak against your brother;
You slander your own mother's son.
These things you have done, and I kept silent.
You thought that I was altogether like you;
But I will reprove you,
And set them in order before your eyes." — Psalm 50:16-21 NKJV
© Dan Popp
May 27, 2010
Some [who] oppose immigration reform are sitting in those pews, and you have to tell them that this is a manifestation of our living the gospels. — Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, to Roman Catholic leaders May 6th, 2010
Madam Speaker, with all due respect: the gospel is not lawlessness, which is essentially what you propose with your amnesty — er, "reform" — bill. Nor does the Good News consist of enormous energy taxes that would have a disparate impact on the poor, as Senator John Kerry preaches. Least of all does the word of Christ bear any resemblance to Reverend Obama's message of robbery and dividing up the spoils.
Jesus told us many times that there will be unequal rewards in the Kingdom of God based on our stewardship, ingenuity and diligence with what He's given us. Heaven will be an unequal place — get over it, He taught. You can't read the gospels and come away with the idea that what Christians really need to do is kill the capitalists and confiscate the means of production. (More about that later, I hope.)
But there is one thing Jesus of Nazareth and Karl Marx agree on: that their teachings are antithetical.
The idea that "Christian" and "Communist" are synonyms would be shocking to Karl Marx. Not only did he deride religion as "the opiate of the masses," he seems to have believed in the total separation of church and statism. He said:
"Religion is the impotence of the human mind to deal with occurrences it cannot understand."
And, "The first requisite for the happiness of the people is the abolition of religion."
But Brother Karl wasn't just generically anti-theist. He singled out one religion for greater contempt. Can you guess? "The social principles of Christianity preach cowardice, self-contempt, abasement, submission, humility, in a word all the qualities of the canaille."
Christian, Herr Marx called you trailer trash.
Doesn't that imply that Jesus, whose submission and humility we're attempting to emulate, is the biggest "canaille" of all?
Marxism keeps the poor in poverty, destroys their support systems (families and churches), disemploys them, saps their work ethic and their dignity, restricts their options, taxes them surreptitiously while claiming to be their champion, thwarts private efforts to help them, incites them to envy, aborts them, and when all else fails, refuses medical treatment or kills them outright.
Though Marx insulted the poor, Christ blessed them. Jesus' followers have been trying to help the poor for 2,000 years, inventing orphanages and hospitals, and working in countless ways around the world to lift the poor out of poverty. Socialism offers the poor only dependency or death. Christianity offers them dignity and eternal life.
If these two things are similar, why didn't Karl know it? Why didn't Marx recognize his fellow traveler on the road to Collectivist Utopia? Why did he hate Comrade Christ? Instead of railing against God, why didn't Marx infiltrate the church and use it for his own ends, as Liberation Theology later did — and as many neo-barbarians are trying to do now?
Marx said, "My object in life is to dethrone God and destroy capitalism."
Jesus said, "He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters." (Matthew 12:30, Luke 11:23) Inquiring minds want to know: Why don't "Christians" believe Christ? And why don't "Marxists" believe Marx?
But to the wicked God says:
"What right have you to declare my statutes,
Or take my covenant in your mouth,
Seeing you hate instruction
And cast my words behind you?
When you saw a thief, you consented with him,
And have been a partaker with adulterers.
You give your mouth to evil,
And your tongue frames deceit.
You sit and speak against your brother;
You slander your own mother's son.
These things you have done, and I kept silent.
You thought that I was altogether like you;
But I will reprove you,
And set them in order before your eyes." — Psalm 50:16-21 NKJV
© Dan Popp
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