Repenting from Socialism

CT asks me how it was that I turned away from Marxism and/or socialism. To explain that, I probably need to explain how I got that way to begin with. It all started in college, when I attended a large, liberal university. I was a pretty sheltered kid, so after being bombarded with all kinds of new information, I began to latch onto concepts of social justice as my cause of the moment. Whether it was racial injustice, or helping the poor, or feminism, or gay rights, or the environment, I was all about crusading for what I viewed as the less fortunate. And after enough of that thinking, I became convinced that our capitalistic economic structure was one of the major causes of all of these hardships and inequalities in our society. Being oh-so-infallible at the age of 18 as I was, I hardened in my position and really bought in, and hard. I went even beyond socialism, and into actual Communism/Marxism. That was my position all through college.

As I ended college and started law school, I started to become disillusioned. The various student movements that I had joined started to fragment and splinter, and a number of the other leaders had demonstrated themselves to be opportunists. I started to withdraw from those movements, and as I spent time away, concentrating on my studies, the fiery Marxism retreated as well.

By the time I left law school, I was more socialist than Marxist or Communist, which was progress of a sort, I suppose. Part of it was that natural drift away from my old companions and organizations, but part of it was also summed up by an old saying, "He who is not a liberal at the age of 20 has a heart of stone. He who is not a conservative at the age of 30 has a head of stone." And I was not yet a Christian back then, so I was also motivated by a lot of selfishness, by the prospect of making a lot of money as a lawyer, and suddenly having 75-90% of it taken away for the good of the workers wasn't quite as exciting to me.

Concepts like socialism are much more feasible in the sheltered, ivory towers of college and graduate school. Once I started working -- and earning money -- I saw more and more of the inherent problems within a socialist viewpoint. After a couple of years as a lawyer, I had pretty much given up on the concept of socialism, and was pretty firmly in the "liberal Democrat" category. Economically, I had grown more conservative over time, but socially, I was as liberal as ever. I was a science-worshipping evolutionist, a pro-abortion feminist, an affirmative action and gay rights supporter, so many different things and causes, I still supported.

All of that changed after God saved me, years ago. My testimony, I'll share another time, but suffice it to say that after I genuinely believed that Christ is the Son of God, and that the Bible is the inerrant, true Word of God, my worldly thinking began to conform to biblical thinking, instead. The scales dropped from my eyes, and when I compared my previous, empty opinions to the perfect truth of the Word, the Word won out every time.

Now, I'm about as far from the labels above as can be. And when it comes to economics, I believe a laborer is worthy of his reward. Yes, we should help the poor, and yes, we should render unto Caesar the things which be Caesar's, but my preference would certainly be to help the poor out of a joyful and regnerated heart rather than governmental compulsion, and to pay taxes in as small an amount as possible so that I might maximize my stewardship for the work of the Kingdom.

One of the most ironic things to me about all of this is that when you look at the early church in Acts, when you look at Christian families throughout history and today, they have all really functioned like a form of benevolent socialism, perhaps communalism or communitarianism would be apt descriptions. Acts 2:44-45 shows this quite clearly, how the early Christians would pool their resources and share them out to whoever had need. Similarly, for any family that is united in love, there has always been a sense of pitching in and helping out for the common good.

The distinguishing factor here, however, is the love of Christ which compels us. Not the government. These are feasible, small-scale examples, not the massive-scale state-sponsored socialism that I once believed in, which is invariably corrupted by so much sin. It is only in the Christian family unit, or perhaps a smaller local church, where such things are even remotely possible. Once again, these things spring internally from a regenerated heart of love, and cannot be imposed externally by any human institution.

Praise the Lord for His grace, and especially on this glorious Good Friday!

Galatians 6:10 - As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.