I have often heard the phrase “that’s just the way the world is”.
Here’s the way the world is, as I see it:
- This world is basically unjust. Just because you hand someone a sandwich doesn’t mean you get a reward for your effort. This is just the way the world is.
- To get a reward for their work, most people refuse to provide goods or services unless they get paid.
- Capitalism teaches that behaving in this way benefits society, and that maximizing your profit is what benefits society the most.
- Socialism teaches that the way to overcome these injustices is for the government to run everything.
- Christianity teaches that what God wants is to prioritize selfless love. Forget about what benefits society; prioritize God.
- The “right” preaches a watered down Christianity that teaches we should split our lives into two parts. Some of the time we’re preaching the Gospel and helping the poor; some of the time we’re running a business and taking care of ourselves.
- The “left” preaches that we don’t really need God at all and the government will fix these injustices.
- The Book of Revelation tells us that humanity will never fix these problems, that we’ll never invent a system of government that does, and that left to our own devices, human beings will eventually exterminate ourselves.
- From beginning to end, from the Garden of Eden to the New Jerusalem, the Bible preaches a decidedly anti-populist message. The majority are immoral; only a minority are righteous.
- This society, like almost all human society, is systemically discriminatory, anti-Christian, and oppressive. It is, however, better than many others. At least I can write this on my website without being arrested by the police.
- When Jesus says “…I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you” (John 15:19), he’s not just talking about the Roman Empire of two thousand years ago. Jesus’s message is timeless and universal.