In capitalism, “the individual is important, and this is why it is consonant with the Christian world view, because you are important. Because you are created in God’s image.” In socialism, individual subordination will be justified by saying “this is for the good of the order … this is for the greater good, it’s very utilitarian.” Basically “individuals don’t matter.” What endures is the state, which “is deified. The state supplants God, in their view.”

Dr. Bernard Mauser, Associate Professor of Philosophy at Southern Evangelical Seminary (SES), and Dean of the SES Bible College spoke at the seminary’s Apologetics Conference on October 11 on why socialism is incompatible with Christianity. He sought to show that the idea that socialism is a good idea on paper, never successfully applied, is wrong. This idea, he said, is especially common among young people.

Mauser said that in fact socialism “looks evil on paper.” A principal reason is that it involves trusting government officials to know what is best for all of life. A mother knows her children well, the state cannot. When children become adults, they do not necessarily trust their parents to know what is best, how much less state authorities. More importantly, Christians should order their lives according to the precepts of Scripture, not according to the wisdom of a secular state. “Who loves your kids, your family more than you do,” he said. Even if some third party should love one’s children, they will not know them as much as the parents do.

Subverting the Culture

He referred to the important influence of Antonio Gramsci on the collectivism being advanced today. Instead of mobilizing the masses along class lines, as Marx proposed, Gramsci proposed to take over a society’s culture, converting and controlling “the main influencers” of cultural production. This includes “popular entertainment,” but also “judges, the priests, the professors, the instructors” to alter social life and put it under the control of collectivist ideologists. Marxists “have largely succeeded” in taking the prophetic role in many countries.

Important in the Marxist influence in the United States since the 1960s has been the fact that many schoolteachers have been trained in neo-Marxist beliefs. He said that these beliefs and values have been imbibed by even “Bible believing Christians.” He pointed to Jeremiah’s condemnation of the shepherds of Israel (i.e., prophets and priests) who promised peace without repentance (Jer. 6:14, Jer. 23). The prophets did not consult God’s Word in their prophecies but contradicted it.

The idea of the self-sufficient society that socialism advances is in fact “opposed to everything in God’s Word that is good and right and loving.” Instead of obedience to moral precepts, the correct social system is held to guarantee good results. This is seen particularly in Critical Race Theory’s definition of “whiteness” as values that “lead to success, like having a family, having a father that’s involved with his children, being on time, working, taking personal responsibility – all the things that actually lead to success and wealth and flourishing as a human being.” Quoting Ibram X. Kendi, Mauser said that adherents of CRT “are propelled only by the craving for power to shape policy.” The result of shirking traditional yet necessary virtues is that people in collectivist societies starve.

For Christians, love should drive all our behaviors. Rational persuasion and argument are the means of finding unity. “But we recognize, government’s not the savior, only Jesus is.” The Ten Commandments hold; thus murder and theft are wrong. But theft “presupposes private property.” Also, “family is foundational” in society, and therefore “children are to obey their parents in the Lord (Eph. 6:1).” Those who are needy are helped by voluntary charity. What is done for “the least of these my brethren” is done for Jesus. Government confiscation (including taxes to redistribute wealth) of private property for the benefit of others, however, does not “build virtue” in anyone. For recipients of redistributed wealth, a sense of entitlement rather than gratitude is the attitude which is fostered. In contrast, in early America, the family, the church, and the local community respectively were sources of support for those who were destitute. Those helped were grateful to God and neighbor.

Contrasting Jesus and Marx

Mauser contrasted “the character of Jesus with Marx.” Here he followed Richard Wurmbrand and Paul Kengor, who have maintained that Marx was deeply involved in the occult. He referred to Marx’s early poems and plays, which were “filled with violence, suicide pacts, and pacts with the devil.” In one of his poems early in life, Oulanem, is about “making a deal with the devil, selling your soul to the devil, and a suicide pact, as a result of that.” He noted that Oulanem was also the title in black metal or death metal music in recent decades. Marx “refused to work, and lived off his family primarily, but [also] others as much as possible. He felt that work was beneath him. His wife and kids lacked food and medical attention, he lost four of his children in infancy and early childhood, and his three surviving daughters all committed suicide.”

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