No, Jesus Was NOT A Socialist, Not Even Close!
How many times have you heard the claim that Jesus cared about the poor and condemned the rich, so He must have been a socialist? It’s one of those claims that have a superficial appearance of reasonableness. Until the facts about Jesus and socialism are known, that is.
A related myth here is that the early Christians “owned everything in common” and that made them socialists as well. But, as Joseph Backholm of the Colson Center makes clear in the following video, Jesus never advocated forced charity and the early Christians shared their worldly goods because they chose to do so, not because they were commanded to do it:
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“the early Christians shared their worldly goods because they chose to do so, not because they were commanded to do it: , and they did not force others to share their goods with them, and God did not tolerate people making a display of sharing their wealth (Ananias & Sephira).
In last Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus upbraided a woman with a racial and cultural epithet. He didn’t set about to fight for social justice for her, he set about to know if her compassion was greater than her self-regard; if her faith was greater than the norms the cultural paradigm dictated. He didn’t come to set things right, he came to raise dead people, heal the sick, suffer with us in our sin and helplessness, create children of God. He came to find faith.
[…] Jesus Was Not a Marxist, Although Many of His Self-Proclaimed Followers Are No, Jesus Was NOT A Socialist, Not Even Close! […]
Open your Bible and read Matthew 27 : 57,58,59,60. Then read Mark 15:43. HE was a Politician, yes that is correct a POLITICIAN. The verse says he was a Prominent member of the Council. Then Read 1st Timothy 6: 17,18,19. What Jesus has done is for ALL people
I am disappointed in this video. I think your points are valid, and I had hoped to share it on social media as a counter to an article a friend posted about how Jesus was a liberal. However, I got only a couple minutes into it and you “quoted” Matt. 26:11 as saying, “Jesus said, ‘the poor you will always have with you, AND YOU CAN HELP THEM ANY TIME YOU WANT.” All that is in capitals is NOT in the Scripture you quoted. Please explain how you got that out of the verse quoted.
Thank you for pointing that out, Kristy, as you prompted me to do some comparative research. It appears the Colson Center folks mixed up the Matthew passage with Mark 14:7, which is translated by the NIV in the manner quoted in the video. I will point this out to them, though I suspect that may already have been done.