Thoughts and Prayers: The Religion Thread

The ‘Bling Bishop’ Is Arrested on Fraud Charges

 

That's a specific parable that says a lot of what you're thinking it says, in a sense, but Jesus' comments hit the mark, if you will. Jesus is suggesting in part that the rich young ruler hadn't kept the commandments, and wasn't interested in following Jesus, and used the man's great possessions as a test.

 

Maybe it wasn't what Az meant, but I can only go on the words written.

To the claim: If I participate in a capitalist economy by purchasing, say, a nice bed - more than I need, for sure - have I directly contradicted the gospel? Because the gospel is not an economic message. The gospel is, Jesus died for man's sins and rose again. I think capitalist systems are problematic, as are socialist systems. I don't know that any them are a direct contradiction.

 

I'd be interested for you to read this and tell me why he's wrong. (An Australian pastor, author, speaker and columnist.)

5 Reasons Capitalism is not Christian » Mike Frost

 

Individual participation in a system was not the question, the system itself was the question.

As linked above, if you have time to read, is he wrong? 5 Reasons Capitalism is not Christian » Mike Frost

 

Here's the end of Frost's commentary:

So, does all that mean I prefer socialism? Or anarchism? Or libertarianism? Yes and no. There is no political or economic system that can be labeled Christian, only systems that are less Christian than others. In your critiques of socialism, don’t make the mistake of assuming that capitalism is as pure as the driven snow. It’s as slushy and muddy as some of the other alternatives.

As I said at the beginning, Christians have managed to find a home in all kinds of political systems, including socialist Scandinavia and capitalist USA. Christians have contributed greatly to the common good in those systems as well as critiquing them sharply when necessary. Our mistake is to imagine we are ever at home in any of them.

So, I think he (and I) are kind of back to the beginning of - it's kind of irrelevant.

I can say Christianity seems to thrive better in free market economies than it does socialist/communist ones, but that makes sense: Marxism is designed as a moral substitute to religion. Capitalism simply isn't that ambitious.

 

Yes, I read it all, including the end you quoted (which he also addresses in the intro). No thoughts on his five main arguments?

 

So climate activism is a religion but American capitalism, which lionizes and fetishizes the “Fuck Bitches Make Money” lifestyle, isn’t. Cool.

 

"... directly contradicts Jesus' gospel."

Nonsense.

 

Really?? The quote seems straightforward to me, and consistent across the gospels.

What I was getting at, though, was that when society acts effectively to relieve want, the church becomes irrelevant. In the words of the old IWW song, "You will eat/by and by. ... there'll be pie in the sky when you die (that's a lie.)"

 

... I should add, that in those western European countries that have adopted some form of social democracy, churches are little more than tourist traps.

 

They sure do celebrate the hell outta those religious holidays, though. (Spoken as someone who works closely with a team of Scandinavians, who not only take six weeks vacation every summer but seem to have a public “religious” holiday or two every damn month.)