Radical thoughts

God is our source of supply - and if you look up new testament references to "supply," you will get a surprise. God seems to be a communist. What? Now - before you react, I want to define some terms. That is so very important, because so many of us use terms incorrectly when we are naming types of societies. For example, the United States is not a Democracy. We are a Representative Republic. The difference is this: "Democracy" is mob rule. If everyone votes to go rob the nearest bank, so be it. In fact, even if a simple majority votes to go rob the bank... you get the picture. We use the 'Democratic Process,' and we have democratic elections, and we do try to spread "democracy" so it's easy to confuse things.

But in a "Representative Republic," we use the process of democracy, that is, people are elected by open and free elections in which the majority wins, but the people we elect (our representatives) are there to represent us and THEY are supposed to do all the law-making, taxing, and other government functions, in line with the wishes of the people who put them into office. Our nation's founding Fathers assumed that these representatives would use the Bible, God, and the rule of decency as guides in running the nation, but of course,if they did not, we could simply not reelect them next time around. Yeah. How's that working were YOU live?

"Communism" actually only means that people hold things in common. In it's purest form, it is the first century church - Acts 2:44ff says, " 42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need."

The society they formed was interdependent. But they were driven by God, motivated by love, so they all worked hard at what they did, and then they gave it away to those who had need. I have to believe that they worked hard and gave willingly to the common good because they understood that they were interdependent and they could look around and see others doing the same.

But - in many modern-day communist countries, there is a problem. Freeloaders. It is inevitable that some will come to the conclusion that they don't need to work hard, for two reasons: 1. whatever they make will be given away to others, and 2. whatever they need will be provided by others. The key to this problem is a basic human characteristic: it is selfishness. If all you care about is what YOU get, communism breaks down fast. There is no motivation to keep working as hard as you can all the time for the common good, especially if you are the only one around you who is working hard.

So a ruler, king, leader, dictator, or oligarchy rises up and begins to control things. They SAY that they are just there to see to it that everyone works hard for the common good, and they claim to only want to see to it that a fair distribution of goods and services keeps everyone working hard and everyone fed. But in History, we see that Communist Countries have all ended up being run by an Oligarchy (one group of people who get rich while the working class gets poor) or by a dictator who comes to power and never leaves, generally bankrupting the country as his greed drives him to take more and more from the country and give less and less.

America - wake up. You have given in to a dictator, and it is wrecking us. In our case, the dictator is greed, or 'self.'

If God was the one who ruled our lives, we would work hard to honor Him. We would give to the poor to honor Him. We would share our much to honor HIM. We would be living in a state of pure communism: we would hold all things in common and none would be lazy NOR would any suffer need. I vote for a "benevolent dictator." One who is above corruption, beyond selfishness, and immune to greed.

But things might have to change. Things we have grown very used to having. For example, we might also not all have private homes. Instead, we might very well have the rooms of our houses filled with people who need a home. We might have to carpool, share the computer, own fewer things of our own. And we might very well hand money back and forth based on need rather than on work performed. Yes, the Bible teaches that a workman is worthy of his hire (pay,) but there are times when outside forces conspire and a hard-working person finds themselves in need.

And if there were competition among the brothers, it might be to see who can help people the most rather than who can collect the most toys our build and posses (privately) the best house. There are people in our country who were very much driven by the desire to employ an entire town which was out of work, and years later we have some huge corporation. This is one of the great strengths of Capitalism: you are motivated to work hard because you get a direct benefit from it. Get a good education, land a good job, and you get to start enjoying good things. But if God is truly our God, then we recognize that all good things come from Him, and as we work hard to gather good things around us, we would also work hard to see to it that our brothers and sisters get to enjoy those good things too, and in a capitalistic society that can and often does lead to a large income. Hospitality, generosity, giving, sharing, graciousness - these are all Godly traits which can and should be exhibited by Christians. Wealthy Christians as well as poor ones.

OK - enough. I know that our country isn't going to go there. Not in a hurry, anyway. I make my living selling luxury items to people with money to burn, and I am not ready to give it up just yet. But in the midst of it all, the church can rise up. Help one another. Be there for each other. And we can begin to learn to live in common - sharing selflessly - with one another.