Rich and poor have this in common: The Lord is the Maker of them all (Prov 22:2). Nowhere does the moral demand of justice require economic equality. The very sense of justice that all humans have results from being created in God’s image. His nature is the source of all true understanding of justice. Yet, God simply does not create humans equally–with the same level of talent, financial resources, or opportunity. Paul teaches that we have gifts that differ according to the grace that is given to us (Rom 12:6) The idea that economic justice requires leveling the economic playing field is a corruption of the human sense of justice.

Ideas have consequences. Bad ideas have victims. That is why God’s people are called to shed the light of God’s truth on destructive culture-shaping ones, like the idea that the Christan’s call to social justice means rejecting consumer driven capitalism in favor of economic equality. This episode begins by illustrating how quickly an evil, destructive idea can take over a culture and then addresses the falsehood that social justice means pursuing economic equality.

Hugh Whelchel in his book, How Then Should We Work explains how quickly the worldview of a culture can change:

“In the late 1980s a group of about 175 leaders met in Warrenton Virginia to strategically launch several initiatives through various channels of cultural influence to support what they hoped would bring about substantial cultural change. These friends formed the beginnings of the homosexual movement and were responsible for helping it find its stride in the mid-90s as every channel of culture was systematically inundated with the message of equal rights, tolerance, and civility for homosexuals.”  

“Their strategy was employed in five important markets of social influence which touch every citizen in America, government, education, organized religion, the media and the workplace. In the business channel vigorous attempts were finally successful for same sex couples to be recognized with benefits equal to married couples. In the education channel books like Heather Has Two Mommies and Daddy’s Roommate about same-sex parenting found their way into schools and public libraries. In the media channel “Ellen” and “Will and Grace” became the wedge that broke open wide open wide acceptance of gays as fun, engaging, and talented human beings. Within the cultural channel of the church major denominations like the Episcopal Church and the United Church of Christ opened leadership roles for gays and lesbians.”

In 30 years, the idea of being gay moved from being commonly viewed as abnormal and aberrant in society to being an acceptable and normal alternative lifestyle. In my view on the horizon in America today is a worldview of economics that is far more destructive to the fabric of society than accepting sexual perversion as normal for some. And it is a worldview that is causing many young Christians to jettison their Christian faith.

In a recent book published by the Gospel Coalition, Thaddeus Williams of Biola University explains that the church’s lack of concern for economic and social justice is a primary reason that many of those raised in Christian homes are deconstructing their faith. He writes, “The conclusion that Christianity is hardly the beacon of social justice that it should be is a common theme in many deconstruction stories.” “Instead of advocating for the poor by embracing economic equlaity, today’s church,” it is argued, “embraces capitalistic greed, which oppresses the poor.” No teen raised in a Christian home wants to be part of a movement that oppresses the poor. No wonder so many are jettisoning biblical Christianity in favor of joining “social justice” ideologies that they believe support the poor instead of American consumerism. Furthermore, there is little evidence that this worldview about economics is slowing down as more politicians embrace the views of this destructive ideology than ever before in my lifetime.  

Is ECONOMIC EQUALITY something that all justice-loving people should pursue?  How do we answer the accusation our kids hear proclaimed through social media that if Christianity were real, more Christians would pursue social justice by promoting ECONOMIC EQUALITY instead of America’s capitalistic consumerism? That is today’s topic.

At the core of American culture is a belief in equality. Jefferson, Franklin, and Adams had built their case for the Declaration of Independence from Britain upon the famous words, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created EQUAL.” Believing in EQUALITY is as American as apple pie and watching the Superbowl. However, our founding fathers used the term EQUALITY to refer to a specific kind of EQUALITY, equal justice under the law.

Lady Justice is blindfolded because justice is unbiased and must not be based on a person’s appearance or other outside influences. She holds scales to represent the impartiality of the courts. The nature of the EQALITY of all men, that they had in view, is apparent as the Declaration of Independence continues, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” EQUALITY referred to equal rights under the law, impartiality in our justice system. Our God-given sense of justice resonates with such equality. “EQUALITY” meant EQUAL JUSTICE for ALL.

But in this decade the concept of EQUALITY has been hijacked. It has been changed by radical ideologues from EQUAL JUSTICE for ALL to EQUAL TREATMENT for ALL. We must help our culture and the rising generation think through the radical implications of this change in the meaning of “EQUALITY.” Let’s consider the difference.

• Should a lawbreaker and a law-keeper be treated the same way or receive justice?
• Should a rapist and the woman he abused be treated the same way or should the rapist receive justice?
• Should a murderer and his victim be treated the same way or should they both receive justice?
• Should a summer high school worker be treated to the same income as a medical doctor who spent 10 years and $500,000 getting his education, or should the doctor receive just payment for his services?
• Should a doctor who has become a highly skilled eye surgeon be treated to the same economic rewarded as a Starbucks clerk who is a skilled video game player or should the highly skilled worker whose work is more highly valued be justly paid more?

Radical ideologues have substituted EQUAL TREATMENT i.e. OUTCOMES for EQUAL JUSTICE. But we all realize that justice in the economic world God created is being able to reap what we sow. Coerced equal reaping, in fact, perverts biblical, economic JUSTICE.

Economic Equality Unmasked

A. The Origin of the Concept: It is rooted in the thought of Karl Marx. Marx played on the class envy of the poor workers (whom he called the proletariat) convincing them that they were being exploited by the business owners, (the bourgeoisie). He awakened resentment, hatred, and jealousy in the hearts of the unskilled laborers towards the owners of business. He created hatred in the hearts of the proletariat towards the bourgeoisie by arguing that ECONOMIC INEQUALITY WAS UNJUST. Marx demonized a market economy with private ownership, which enabled capital investment to increase productivity as the exploitation of the masses. Marxists come to power based on promising the poor that they would redistribute wealth and set up the utopian ideal where the operating principle would be “from each according to his ability, to each according to his need.” Marx, however, forgot to mention that the Marxist totalitarian leaders were the ones who would decide what each person needed. 

B. History: The utopian hope of ECONOMIC EQUALITY has been relentlessly used by politicians to exploit the naïve. The twentieth century was one giant lab experiment. Political leaders, Lenin, then Stalin in Russia, Mao Zedong in China, Pol Pot in Cambodia, and Fidel Castro of Cuba, Hugo Chavez of Venezuela played on class envy, the hallmark of Marxism, fomented rage by the poor against the land, business, and factory owners, promised a utopia of justice, and took over government control of the economy. In every case, it was a disaster, leading to enormous slaughter and human suffering—THE KIND OF SUFFERING THAT EVERY CHRISTIAN SHOULD OPPOSE. Here are some of the stunning, brutal facts:

• Communism did not come to Russia as the result of a popular uprising: it was imposed on her by intellectuals hiding behind slogans of “equality.”
• Vladimir Lenin led his Bolshevik Party to victory in a three-year civil war. He began to centralize large chunks of the Russian economy.
• He discovered that bureaucrats in Moscow were neither motivated nor competent to manage distant factories and farms. Disaster ensued.
• Restrictions on trade created a black market bigger than the economy.
• His regime dumped banknotes into the market causing catastrophic inflation. In 1923 prices were 1 million times greater than prices before Lenin’s revolution. The starvation that ensued was horrific.
• After Lenin took over the economy, large-scale industrial production in 1920 was 18% of what it had been in 1913 causing enormous suffering.
• Lenin slaughtered the wealthy peasants, then tried to force poorer peasants to sell their grain below market prices, ending in massive starvation.
• Under Stalin, the livelihood of workers was decimated, while millions of peasants died from a forced famine in 1932 and 1933.

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