Marxism Versus Christianity
Marxism is the system of socialism of which the dominant feature is public ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange. It is the antithesis of capitalism which is defined as “an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and distribution of goods, characterized by a free competitive market and motivation by profit.”
Karl Marx, the founder of Marxism viewed religion as the “opium of the people.” He admitted, “My object in life is to dethrone God and destroy capitalism.” And he added, “The first requisite for the happiness of the people is the abolition of religion.” It is a historical fact that where Marxists seized power, Christians were always persecuted and atheism was enforced.
The Marxist redefines good and evil. So, sin is changed from rebellion against God into striving for individual ends. Utopia represents Heaven, ultimately created on Earth – by man. The collectivist state becomes god. And the institution of private property rights becomes the original sin.
But the Scriptures clearly oppose the Marxist atheistic beliefs. It teaches of a One God that redeemed men from sin by offering His only Son to carry the penalty of their sins (John 3:16). And it teaches that redistributing private property for political purposes is immoral for it undermines accountability and individual freedom that were given by the Creator to His children.
The Bible requires hard work (Colossians 3:23; Proverbs 12:24; 14:23), frugal living (John 6:12; Proverbs 31:27), and honest business transactions (Colossians 3:9; Proverbs 10:9; Luke 6:31). And it endorses liberty and limited government which are necessary elements of capitalism (2 Corinthians 3:17). Without private profit, people lose the incentive for creativity and hard labor (Proverbs 27:23; Matthew 25:14-30).
Christ taught free market principles. The parables of the talents offer wise investment advice (Matthew 25:14-30; Luke 19:12-27). Christians are to entrust resources to those multiplying them and extract resources from those wasting them. These teachings clearly contradict the Marxist principle of progressive taxation and taking from the most productive to support those that don’t work hard and waste their resources. The Scriptures never approve of involuntary socialism administered by secular governments.
Some use the passages in the book of Acts 2:44–45 to teach that Christianity is compatible with socialism and promotes communal living arrangements but those passages describe a specific temporary period of persecution for the church and the need to meet the emergency. None of the Bible authors, prophets, or disciples proscribed communal living. In fact, the early church was taught to discriminate in its economy against the lazy and unworthy members (2 Thessalonians 3:10; 1 Timothy 5:8, 16).
Marxism has never worked in real life. Thus, the answer for world problems is simply God’s plans and not man’s plans. Atheism, power, control, and laziness have experimentally failed in history to mend the human race’s problems.
In His service,
BibleAsk Team
