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Podcast
Capitalism And Socialism
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Hi, I'm Dave DeWitt, and today I'd like to share a few thoughts about a biblical perspective
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on capitalism and socialism. I've been thinking about how we got here economically. Why is
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it we live better than the pharaohs of Egypt and the Caesars of Rome economically? Why
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do we have advances in medical procedures, pharmaceutical medications, personal and commercial
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transportation, clean water, computers, cell phones, cable, flat screen, HD, TVs? Actually,
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any detailed description I would give of our world would be out of date by the time you
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heard this podcast. We have so much food and such a variety that obesity is a major problem
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all the way up and down the economic spectrum from wealth to poverty. Just look around your
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kitchen or bathroom and compare it to those that were there all through history until
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very recently. My grandchildren are going to say something like, remember back in the
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old days when people had to actually physically drive their cars themselves? So how did we
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get here from a biblical perspective? Where did the modern—it seems like we've moved
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pretty much past the term postmodern—but where did the modern world come from? I want
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to suggest the most basic answer is it came from the nations outlined in the statue in
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Daniel chapter 2. Daniel chapter 2 verses 32 and 34 says this, quote, the head of that
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statue was made of fine gold, its breast and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze,
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its leg of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. He continued looking until
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the stone which was cut out without human hands and it struck the statue in the feet
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and of the iron and the clay and crushed them, close quote. Daniel explained that these were
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successive kingdoms on earth leading up to this supernatural stone which represented
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the second coming of Christ and its millennial kingdom described in Matthew 24 and Revelation 20.
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The head that was Babylon representing the epitome of the ancient empires. Babylon was
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followed by the breast and arms of silver. This was the media Persian Empire which created the
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idea that the laws of the maids of the Persians were greater than the emperor. Next came the thigh
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of bronze which was the Greek Empire. The Greeks gave us an emphasis on logic, reason, philosophy,
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and democracy especially through Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Next came the legs of iron which
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represent the eastern and western legs of the Roman Empire. The Romans gave us better roads,
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tunnels, bridges, freshwater systems, better cleaner homes. Then via invasion they brought
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that north to the Goths, Vithagoths, Anglos, and Saxons and Norsemen. These became the British,
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European, Scandinavians, and then the Americans. Now we are in or approaching the feet of Daniel's
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statue. Modernism came to the world through the nations of Daniel's statue and what Jesus called
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the times of the Gentiles in Luke 21-24. Historically, Rome conquered Europe and England
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and with it introduced vastly improved technology. But that changed only gradually through the Middle
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Ages until the Industrial Revolutions which propelled Europe and its offspring America
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into the modern world. France via revolution and England more peacefully moved away from a
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monarchy. The remaining monarchies of the Western world, the Kaisers of Germany, the Tsars of Russia,
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the Ottomans of Turkey, the Habsburgs of Austria, and Hungary fell during World War I. The Western
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nations were left without a king and had to develop ways to govern themselves. Two basic
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systems emerged. Russia and after World War II Eastern Europe adopted socialism. Socialism says
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production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole.
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So wealth is controlled by the government and theoretically equally distributed to everyone.
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Socialism was enforced by communism because it could not stand on its own. The West moved toward
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capitalism. Capitalism is when a country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for
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profit rather than by the state. Capitalism catapulted the West into modernism. When you
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give individuals the opportunity to create and possess personal wealth, the society gets
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technologically and economically, though not morally, better. Capitalism is the engine that
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runs the modern ship. Without an engine the ship stops dead in the water. Or if you prefer as I do
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an airplane without an engine will crash. But a ship or an airplane with engines propelling it
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forward will also eventually crash. It'll run into something. A ship needs a rudder, an airplane
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needs controls. These controls have come from socialism. Without being regulated by the community
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capitalism will run amok. You can argue that capitalists will learn that it's prosperous to
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be generous, but that's never solved the problem of helping those who are unable to financially
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pull themselves up by their bootstraps. Capitalists are just as sinful as socialists. But don't get
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the idea that the two systems are co-equal opposites. Not so. Capitalism is an engine.
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It drives the ship forward. Socialism does not empower anything. It only controls,
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and its control is stifling. It'll never motivate anyone to do anything. But controls do not propel
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the ship or the airplane. The control of socialism is useless unless there's a capitalism energizing
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the society. Also when socialism and capitalism focus on attacking one another, social progress
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flounders. What if the rudder of the ship or the controls of the airplane attack the engine?
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Controls are only useful when their control stays out of the way of the engine's ability
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to provide power. And power is only valuable if it's controlled. Control is only valuable if it
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controls power without interfering with that power. But what's the Bible say about all this?
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The Bible does not directly address the subject of capitalism or socialism. The
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kings of Israel were not capitalists, and the Mosaic law was not socialism. Jesus and the
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apostles did not describe capitalism or socialism. Paul's command to work with his own hands so that
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he may have something to share with anyone with need is not capitalism. And the voluntary
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distribution of food in Acts 4 is not socialism. Nonetheless, we can see both the value and the
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dangers of wealth accumulation in the Bible. The Bible has many statements that favor the
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acquisition of personal wealth. For example, the wife in Proverbs 31, 16 to 18, considers a field
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and buys it from her earnings. She plants a vineyard. She girds herself with strength and
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makes her arms strong. She senses that her gain is good. Her lamp does not go out at night. In
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Ecclesiastes 5, 18, Solomon said, here's what I've seen to be good and fitting to eat, to drink,
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and enjoy oneself in all one's labors, in which he toils under the sun during the few years of
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life which God has given him, for this is his reward. In 1 Corinthians 9, 7, Paul wrote,
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who at any time serves as a soldier at his own expense, who plants a vineyard and does not eat
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the fruit of it, or who tends a flock and does not use the milk of the flock. 2 Thessalonians 3, 10,
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for even when we were with you, we used to give you this order. If anyone is not willing to work,
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well, he should not eat either. But the acquisition of wealth is also accompanied
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by warnings requiring control. For example, notice how this is presented in Proverbs 21,
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5 to 7. The plans of the diligent lead surely to advantage, but everyone who is hasty comes
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surely to poverty. The acquisition of treasures by a long tongue is a fleeting vapor. The
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pursuit of death, the violence of the wicked will drag them away because they refuse to act
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with justice. James warns the rich about living in luxury while treating their laborers poorly.
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He said, behold the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields and which has been withheld by you,
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cries out against you. In conclusion, we must first of all recognize that Jesus and the
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apostles focused on heavenly, not earthly treasure. Both testaments of the Bible also
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exhort us to hard work and receive the temporary benefit of that work here on earth, as long as
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it's controlled by a righteous morality. Right and wrong, our modern world has turned this into
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an opulent society of capitalism controlled by socialism. These are not co-equal opposites,
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but they're both essential for prosperity. Capitalism is the engine, but it will not
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be sufficient by itself to control itself. Socialism offers control,
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but it will not by itself produce anything. Thank you for listening. A longer paper on
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the subject with footnotes for the quotes is available on our website relationalconcepts.org.
