As American Christianity generally bends over backwards to be seen as “loving” to the world, we have seen secular culture extend its influence within the church. From the social justice movement to the powerful LGBTQ lobby, we see more and more churches accommodating things of this world directly contradictory to the Bible. And now, with another presidential election on the horizon we are seeing an enhanced push for the church to embrace something that is directly opposed to the Bible: Marxist Socialism.
Mike and David look at the growth of socialist ideals within professing Christianity and why this is ominous and dangerous to the church.
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Is Marxism compatible with the Christian faith? from Got Questions
Marxism is, at heart, an atheistic philosophy with no room for belief in God.
The purported goal of Marxism is a government-run utopia in which the needs of each individual are always provided for. Ideally, the strong work hard, the inventive create technological marvels, the doctors heal, the artists delight the community with beauty, and anyone who is weak or poor or in need can draw on society’s combined resources as their needs demand. When this idealistic model is attempted in the real world, it is called “socialism,” “communism,” “statism,” “liberalism,” or “progressivism,” depending on the degree to which the model is explored and implemented.
Thus far, Marxism has never worked in real life—and, without exception, in the places where Marxism has been the governmental model, Christians have been persecuted. That’s because there’s a foundational difference between Marxism and Christianity, a deep divide that cannot be bridged. There are several aspects of Marxism, as a philosophy, that put it at odds with the Christian faith.
…When Frederick Engels heard that some Christians were using Acts 2 to promote socialism, he wrote against melding his philosophy with Christianity: “These good people are not the best Christians, although they style themselves so; because if they were, they would know the bible better, and find that, if some few passages of the bible may be favourable to Communism, the general spirit of its doctrines is, nevertheless, totally opposed to it.”
In short, the Bible promotes freedom and personal responsibility, and neither of those concepts lasts long under Marxism. There’s a reason why, in Marxist states such as Communist China and Vietnam and the old Soviet Union, Christians are always persecuted—the ideas espoused by Marxism are antithetical to the teachings of Jesus Christ. The differences are irreconciliable.