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<\/a>Our first guest post!\u00a0David Schell, a\u00a0friend and fellow Huntington University alum, has granted me permission to reprint his post \u201cIs\u00a0Socialism Biblical?\u201d<\/a> I appreciate his generosity. I also appreciate his courage, since I intended to formulate a response (edit: click here<\/a> to check out my response). If you are interested in publishing something here at The Pickled Pencil, email me at brandonkharnish@gmail.com\u00a0and let\u2019s talk about your ideas.\u00a0I hope you enjoy this post!<\/em><\/p>\n A note about David: He earned his B.S. in Film Production in 2013. In 2013-14, he taught\u00a0Language Arts at Panorama Middle School in Colorado Springs, CO. He is currently working on his M.Div at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. ***<\/p>\n This morning, one of my wife\u2019s friends sent her a link to a blog post condescendingly titled \u201cDear Liberal <\/a>\u2018<\/a>Christians\u2019: No, it\u2019s Not<\/a>\u00a0\u2018<\/a>Christian\u2019 for the Government To Redistribute My Money\u201d<\/a>. I call the title condescending because the word \u201cChristian\u201d is in scare quotes. Like a frightening number of other\u00a0blog posts from\u00a0all across American Christianity on both sides of the political spectrum, in the title alone, this post suggests that those who do not agree with the author are not Christians.<\/p>\n It\u2019s tempting for me to join Ms.\u00a0Kirchoff in saying that my political position is so much closer to what scripture teaches that those who don\u2019t agree are so far wrong that they\u2019re not even Christians. But what happens if I do that? I will insult my fellow Christians by refusing to give them the benefit of the doubt that their faith is sincere. There will be no chance made available for grace, and (if what I am saying is true) it will close them off to being guided into more truth and simply enrage them.<\/p>\n The post in question followed the tone in the title by being patronizing \u2013 including the utterly delicious phrase \u201cIn short, no. You\u2019re wrong here too. Sucks, don\u2019t it?\u201d which, having admittedly typed similar sentences, I have no doubt felt utterly delicious<\/em>. Then the author engages in name-calling, referring to a liberal Christian who might be reading her post in the second person as a \u201cmiserly crapweasel.\u201d<\/p>\n She ends the post with this: \u201cYou\u2019re just being an easily exploited rube with zero critical thinking skills. No, your Jesus fish will not absolve you of this one.\u201d Now, unless this post is only for people who agree with her, she\u2019s wasting her time here because if liberal Christians, as she says, have \u201czero critical thinking skills,\u201d they won\u2019t even be able to properly engage with her post and will just leave angry comments.<\/p>\n Ms. Kirchoff\u2019s Argument<\/strong><\/p>\n But what of the actual content of the post, tone aside? It\u2019s mostly an argument from silence. The most biblical paragraph in the entire post is this one:<\/p>\n Jesus called his disciples to care for the least of these. The poor, the hungry, to clothe the naked, to visit prisoners, etc. This is Christianity 101. We all know it. As Christians we\u2019re called to be Christ-like, to be his disciples, to preach his word. All good things. Put a giant check mark next to your Jesus fish.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n So far so good. But what happens next is both surprising and not particularly biblical. It is essentially the libertarian argument that taxation is theft. Essentially\u00a0the argument here (you can read it for yourself to verify my depiction) is that\u00a0Jesus\u2019 command \u201cto care for the least of these\u201d is\u00a0for individuals and not for governments.<\/strong><\/p>\n The central question, then, is whether Jesus wants the poor uplifted, the hungry fed, the naked clothed, and the prisoners visited, or whether he merely wants Christians to engage in these activities because they\u2019re good things to do.<\/span><\/p>\n So would Jesus be happy with a government that spent its money (that is, its tax revenues) caring for the poor? Would God<\/em> be happy with a government that redistributes unequal wealth to make sure that the poor aren\u2019t poor?<\/p>\n I think engaging with scripture might get us further than an argument that \u201ctaxation is theft\u201d \u2013 which is, perhaps, the first premise we\u00a0should examine in the light of scripture. The better question, I think, might not be \u201cIs taxation theft,\u201d but\u2026<\/p>\n Is Taxation Biblical?<\/strong><\/p>\n Yes.<\/p>\n Unlike about 99% of other topics, the Bible is univocal regarding taxes: \u201cPay them.\u201d The Bible does not speak to whether taxation is theft at all, which (I think) is why Ms. Kirchoff didn\u2019t\u00a0bring any scripture into her discussion. Here are a few examples of scripture\u2019s position on taxation: For the same reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities are God\u2019s servants, busy with this very thing. Pay to all what is due them\u2014taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Mark 12:14-17<\/a><\/strong> (paralleled in Matthew 22 and Luke 20) And they came and said to him, \u201cTeacher, we know that you are sincere, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality, but teach the way of God in accordance with truth. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not? Should we pay them, or should we not?\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n But knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, \u201cWhy are you putting me to the test? Bring me a denarius and let me see it.\u201d And they brought one. Then he said to them, \u201cWhose head is this, and whose title?\u201d They answered, \u201cThe emperor\u2019s.\u201d <\/span>Jesus said to them, \u201cGive to the emperor the things that are the emperor\u2019s, and to God the things that are God\u2019s.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u00a0<\/span>II Chronicles 24:6<\/a> So the king summoned Jehoiada the chief, and said to him, \u201cWhy have you not required the Levites to bring in from Judah and Jerusalem the tax levied by Moses, the servant of the Lord, on the congregation of Israel for the tent of the covenant?\u201d In Nehemiah 5, a group of people complains that they have to borrow money to pay taxes, and Nehemiah doesn\u2019t tell them not to worry about taxes, but rather condemns the charging of interest.<\/p>\n Furthermore, tax collectors are hated in the New Testament period, but Jesus eats with them.<\/p>\n You can read all the verses in the Bible with the word \u201ctax\u201d in them here<\/a>.<\/p>\n In short, scripture does not speak to whether taxation is theft, only to whether Christians ought to pay. The answer to that question is a resounding \u201cyes.\u201d<\/p>\n Is Anything You Have Yours Anyway?<\/strong><\/p>\n Acts 2:32<\/a>:<\/p>\n Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions<\/strong>, but everything they owned was held in common. (emphasis mine).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I can understand people who aren\u2019t Christians being concerned about having their property and\/or money taken and given to the poor, but I can\u2019t see where Christians have any space to take issue with their money going to help the poor.<\/p>\n The Story of Zacchaeus Luke 19:1-10<\/a> gives us a little snapshot of a government official \u2013 a chief tax collector \u2013 named Zacchaeus<\/p>\n who definitely redistributes wealth.<\/p>\n Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, \u201cLook, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor<\/strong>; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Then Jesus said to him, \u201cToday salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. (Emphasis mine)<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Now, I\u2019m sure Ms.\u00a0Kirchoff would be quick to point out that Zacchaeus was giving away\u00a0his own<\/em> money, not other people\u2019s, but there\u2019s one problem with this argument: Zacchaeus was a tax collector. \u201cHis money\u201d was money that had been taken, in the form of taxes, from other people, with the threat of Roman soldiers \u2013 which speaks to Ms. Kirchoff\u2019s argument in her parable in which an obscenely large portion of money goes to administrative fees. In Zacchaeus\u2019 case, this portion is 50%.<\/p>\n A brief side note:<\/strong> The argument that private charity is always more efficient than government support is incorrect. The Center on Budget Policy and Priorities calculated<\/a>\u00a0that in the cases of SNAP, housing vouchers, school meals, SSI, and EITC, over 90% went directly to beneficiaries.<\/strong> Meanwhile, Samaritan\u2019s Purse, which has a 4-star rating on CharityNavigator<\/a>, spends only 88% on program expenses.<\/p>\n But how does Jesus respond to Zacchaeus\u2019 promise to redistribute money that he took from other people to the poor? \u201cToday salvation has come to this house.\u201d<\/p>\n The Rich Ruler<\/strong><\/p>\n Luke 18:18-22<\/a>:<\/strong><\/p>\n A certain ruler asked him, \u201cGood Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?\u201d 19 Jesus said to him, \u201cWhy do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. 20 You know the commandments: \u2018You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; Honor your father and mother.\u2019\u201d He replied, \u201cI have kept all these since my youth.\u201d When Jesus heard this, he said to him, \u201cThere is still one thing lacking. Sell all that you own and distribute the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.\u201d<\/p>\n When Jesus heard this, he said to him, \u201cThere is still one thing lacking. Sell all that you own and distribute the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Where did this ruler get his riches? This is just a guess, but I suspect he got his riches the same way all rulers for all time have gotten riches: taking them from other people.<\/p>\n But who are the rulers in the United States? In theory, it\u2019s the voters. It\u2019s us.\u00a0<\/em>Taxes, here, are not overwhelming compared to \u201cSell all that you own and distribute the money to the poor.\u201d If anything, a 38% tax \u2013 with 100% given to the poor (not nearly the case in the United States) is not too far, but not nearly far enough<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Does the ruler obey Jesus? No. The ruler chooses to not obey Jesus. The ruler chooses not to follow Jesus. The ruler chooses to vote against having all (or any) of his money redistributed to the poor.\u00a0So if we say that we are followers of Jesus, we probably shouldn\u2019t complain about a portion of the taxes we are told to pay anyway going to help those in need.<\/p>\n The Testimony of the Older Testament<\/strong><\/p>\n During biblical times,\u00a0every family had land. It was inherited, passed down from generation to generation. That\u2019s why Ahab trying to buy Naboth\u2019s vineyard was such a big no-no. There were laws that said that even if a family was in terrible debt and they sold their land, in the year of Jubilee, the person who bought it had to give it back, at no cost to the original owner.<\/p>\n Isaiah 5:8<\/a> says this:<\/p>\n Ah, you who join house to house,<\/span> Isaiah 5:8<\/a> is a condemnation of wealthy landowners who buy up everyone else\u2019s land so that they can be rich all by themselves and everyone else has to work for them. The people in this passage are condemned because they take the wealth that should rightly belong to everyone and collect it for themselves.<\/p>\n Furthermore, the Older Testament has laws about gleaning (see Ruth). Leviticus 19:9<\/a> says,\u201dWhen you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest. You shall not strip your vineyard bare, or gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the alien.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n But they planted the field! They worked the field! And now they\u2019re supposed to give up a portion to the lazy people who didn\u2019t do any work at all other than to just pick it up?<\/p>\n
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\nRomans 13:6-7<\/a>
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\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>who add field to field,<\/span><\/span>
\nuntil there is room for no one but you,<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>and you are left to live alone<\/span><\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>in the midst of the land!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n