Float Trip

Do nothing out of rivalry or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. Everyone should look out not only for his own interest, but also for the interests of others. – Philippians 2:3-4

The one thing she had no longer to do was to look after herself. – from The Place of the Lion, Charles Williams

There is nothing indifferent about the life of a Christian – except a happy indifference to self.

I plead guilty to the charge of making it all about me far too much of the time. I have testified many times about what Jesus has done for me, but the most vital thing He would do for me – if I could accept it – is to free me from any concern about my condition, my success, my status, my honor, my dignity, or my importance. It is fine to think “what will people think of me” so long as I am concerned about how my words, appearance, or actions will affect others. It is wrong when I am thinking such a thing in self-protection mode. Self does not need protecting.

If you want to know what the Kingdom looks like, this it: I trust God to take care of me while I look out for the best interests of my brothers and sisters. For the one who is able to walk that path, all fear and all limitations will melt away. We might be like Philip the Deacon, so light (isn’t that a funny word?) that we could be blown from Gaza to Azotus by the Breath. We would be held to earth not by the weight of our personal dignity or the heaviness of our troubles but by the silken tether of love -- like a helium balloon tied to a toddler’s wrist.

I have sinned grievously, hating this world and most of its inhabitants while claiming to be a follower of Christ. I have complained about how horrible life is and how much I have to suffer. I have railed against all the evil and the pain while praying for the Rapture that I might escape and never look back, leaving all the rest to their destruction. If I couldn’t get the Rapture, I’d settle for personal death as a release from all the responsibility and all the stupid pointlessness and meaninglessness of day-to-day life. Depression, in my case, is a result of my anger (sans heat) toward God for putting me in this stupid world. I’m messed up. But even thinking I’m messed up is messed up. The self is nothing if not ‘tricksey’, as Gollum might say.

I can look past self to Christ who lives in me. All I need are my orders -- really, usually, the singular – all I need is my order, the one thing I need to do next. Next, instead of getting caught up in the interior where I will be weighed down and imprisoned by the feelings of a dead man, I look to carry out that command, to look out for the interests of those around me.

Yes, I know, the world says that’s not wise or healthy. And the world is wrong.

There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death – Proverbs 14:12

Why the Religious Left is Oxymoronic

Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of his possessions were his own, but instead they held everything in common. – Acts 4:32

There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death. – Proverbs 14:12

I have heard it argued that the basic tenet of Communism – “from each according to his ability, to each according to his need” – is derived from the Early Church as described in the Book of Acts. In a sense that is true, but the idea in this case, as in many others, has been twisted by man to suit his own ends.

Christianity is a revelation of the Divine Life available to man through Christ. The foundation of the Church is love – expressed by the New Testament’s commandeering of agape to describe the indescribable self-sacrificing love of God for man, and of the redeemed for one another. To understand this intellectually is one thing, these folks in the First Century Church knew this love by the Spirit, as it was shed abroad in their hearts. Yet, even this close to the origin of Christianity, there were those who missed the point. Ananias and Sapphira failed and died, not because they did not fully share their goods but because they were deceitful, seeking to gain advantage, regarding their gift as an investment with a return. Later, Paul warned the Thessalonians against those who refused to work and wanted to live on the labor of others.

There are two ways for holding “everything in common” to work. The first is by love; the second is by compulsion. While it may seem that forcing others to “do right” is a good idea, the consequences of such a course are deadly and disastrous. In the last century, people died by the millions as a result of such policies. To the extent that socialism is embraced, at the very least, economic vitality is sapped and individual liberty is sacrificed. We have to work, no longer for ourselves, our families, our descendents, but the “greater good”. The incentive, especially for those who do not know God, is gone. Some Christians may continue to do their best, viewing their efforts as being unto the Lord, but others will quickly begin to game the system, or seek to gain control of it.

The difference between trying to force the individual to work for the benefit of another and the laws against crimes like theft, assault, extortion, or murder should be evident to all but the most obtuse. When a person commits a crime, they deny the wronged person a positive good or benefit. If I break someone’s arm or steal their television, I deprive them of something that is rightfully theirs. Socialism is crime in reverse. The government deprives me of what is rightfully mine in order to give it to someone who has not earned it. Thus socialism reduces crime by eliminating the need for someone to steal in order to acquire the benefits of someone else’s hard work.

In the long run, whether you call it socialism, liberalism, progressivism, populism, or “compassionate conservatism”, the idea of government benevolence is nonsense and detrimental to the spirit. To foster dependence on an entity such as the federal government or upon men in positions of power is to deny the sovereignty and even the reality of God.

As those who know God, we are moved by the Spirit to be fearless in our generosity and our willingness to share with our brothers and sisters, and we are eager to provide even for those outside the faith. No legislation, doctrine, or human authority can compel this love within us. We are to give as we “purpose in our hearts”. Working and investing in a free market, capitalist economy is the best means of acquiring additional money that we can share with others. In such an environment, aside from the rare pathological miser, even those who simply accumulate and invest wealth benefit the poor by making more capital available for borrowing. Supply and demand, if allowed to operate in a free flux, will keep interest rates within a mutually beneficial range the vast majority of the time.

Christians are free to be as personally “socialist” as they choose and can afford to be. But there is no such thing as Christian Socialism at the government level. A “Christian Socialist” is a Collectivist using Christianity as camouflage to make compulsory generosity appear more palatable. I suppose they say ‘God bless you’ after sticking a gun in your face and forcing you to hand over your property.

We can follow Christ and do His will under any circumstances, any form of government, or any restrictions. We have our preferences. We will strive for the best.

In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not fear. What can man to do me? (Psalm 56:4)

Oppressors can tyrannize only when they achieve a standing army, an enslaved press, and a disarmed populace. (James Madison – unsourced, via Wikiquote)