I apologize, dear readers in my two(!) month long hiatus from the blog. School has taken up a considerable amount of time, as well as the ever present attempt to try and find work. Living in a small city and having a country at nearly 10% unemployment doesn’t help the situation either.
However a few people have asked me to get back into typing on the blog and so I shall. The topic today begins what I’d like call “The Christian and…” In these posts I will be tackling issues or ideas that Christians face or that the world throws at us. I plan on doing a post on education in the future, but I’d like to tackle the issue of capitalism today.
Why capitalism? People have said to me, “Erik, I don’t know how you can be in support of unbridled capitalism or capitalism in general. Especially since you’re a Christian…capitalism promotes greed, wealth, and of course a love of money. How can you support a system that does that?”
Here’s why: In my opinion, capitalism is the best fit for the world we live in simply because it acknowledges our fallen spiritual state and works within it to produce the best results.
Capitalism knows we are greedy, self serving narcissists who want material wealth. It wouldn’t function without that drive. Even the Bible states we are this way! Due to the fall of mankind (Gen. 3) we (humanity) have become self centered, thinking of no one but ourselves (Phil 2:21). Paul warns that in the end times this will be commonplace (II Tim 3:2). The disciples were self-centered (Mark 10:37) and even the crowds treated Jesus like a vending machine (John 6:26). Paul warned of the love of money and the desire to have wealth. (I Tim 6:6-10) Yet if you read those verses, you have to find the key words: desire…love.
The key word in that whole passage is desire. A desire to be rich. A love for money. Donald Trump is not a sinner because he has a huge amount of money in his bank account. Being rich is not a sin. In fact the Bible states that being rich is an opportunity to bring God glory (II Cor. 9:10-11). On that note, being poor does not mean you are spiritually better off than your next door neighbor with the three car garage. It is the heart that God looks at (I Samuel 16:7), not your wallet.
We live in a world undergoing extreme economic hardship. The market corrects itself over time, governed by a Christian ethos or not. Capitalism is naturally a cyclic process…until the government steps in. When the government sticks its nose in the process this cycle is disrupted. In the name of social justice (and not wanting people to lose jobs which in turn creates public discontent) the government jumps in shelling out cash. As we have seen, this has done nothing but prolong the process. Unless you have had your head in the sand the last few months, you’ll know that the government now runs a large chunk of the auto industry, the banking industry and now has its eyes on healthcare. This is all being done under the premise of “controlling unbridled capitalism” to make it fair for everyone. For example the Obama administration recently spent money it didn’t have on a stimulus package to save jobs. Unemployment has gone up nearly 2% since this package.
Capitalism survives on the concept of self-interest. Before you start screaming how this goes against the Christian credo remember that no one system is perfect. Reread that sentence. I am not advocating that capitalism is perfect. Not having a job sucks. Losing your job is horrible. I know…I am there right now. Every system is flawed to a certain extent since it is derived from fallen individuals. If Wall Street and Main Street were tempered by the actions of Bible believing business men who took God’s Word to heart, then the risks of a financial meltdown are less likely. Economic collapse is still possible because no system is perfect.
But to blame the whole system of capitalism as faulty is ludicrous.
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