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‘Socialism Destroys’: The Tenth Commandment
“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.” — The Tenth Commandment
“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” — John Adams
“Socialism is the philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy.” — Winston Churchill
“I believe in returning the nation’s wealth to its rightful owners.” — Barack Obama
“When the people find that then can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.” — Benjamin Franklin
The idea that socialism will destroy a society is not new. God himself warned people about this, in the 10th commandment. Which is probably one reason that socialists often abandon conventional religion, creating a sort of religion of their own, which is based on taking from the unpopular and giving to the popular. Or, put more succinctly, their religion is based on coveting their neighbors’ stuff. As Winston Churchill put it, “…the gospel of envy.”
When President Obama said, “I believe in returning the nation’s wealth to its rightful owners,” that is exactly and precisely what he meant. The rightful owners of wealth are not those who earned that wealth – no, the rightful owners of wealth are those who voted for Barack Obama.
We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. The “rightful owners.” My heavens. That should send chills down your spine.
Taking things from people we don’t like, and giving it to people we do like. Using the power of government to not just rationalize, but enforce widespread theft, extortion, bribery, and blackmail. President Obama, and most modern American Democrats, worship “…the gospel of envy.” And because we’ve trained our children that such behavior is actually virtuous, they worship this gospel openly and proudly. They run for office on the platform of “…the gospel of envy.” And they win.
There are some who wonder how all this will turn out.
Benjamin Franklin knew. Perhaps he’d read the 10th Commandment.
Published in General
It depends on your definition of liberty. You’re right that the Catholic Church isn’t libertarian (or democratic in its internal structure), which is essentially an ideology of moral license (great piece at AG today:
https://amgreatness.com/2021/07/19/the-conservative-case-for-hardcore-porn/).
But, freedom rightly ordered to human flourishing? The Church is all about that!
Isn’t it interesting that The Fall was due to a violation of God’s command to refrain from eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil? What’s so bad about the knowledge of good and evil??? The tree is a stand-in for God’s moral authority. If you eat of it, you become “as god” (in your own mind) and you claim the moral authority for yourself. That almost perfectly describes modern man — especially progressives. They know all that is good and holy and if you disagree with them, you’re evil!
I argue this is an outgrowth of private interpretation (and resultant denominationalism) promoted by Luther. Satan loves it when we refuse to submit to a divinely delegated moral authority (like the Church). We’re scattered in every direction by our own devised moral code. Killing babies is okay so long as they’re unwanted and haven’t taken their first breath. Pornography is good because I have unmet desires and relationships with real people require too much of me. Your skin color defines something essential about you as a person. The list of moral innovations and distortions is endless.
The Church is a human institution like anything else and it’s so clearly fallible that it was right to turn against it. Luther was fallible too of course but even Lutherans know that.
Historically, wasn’t the church more interested in propping up Kings than expanding democracy and religious freedom?
Perhaps our biggest disagreement is that I would side with Lucifer rather than G-d. Man ought to possess the knowledge of good and evil and if G-d really planned to keep as his personal unthinking pets in his garden, he’s a tyrant unworthy of devotion.
As well as not omniscient, since it would seem that an omniscient God would know that Eve would eat the apple, etc.
Oh, dear. Terrible theology. It’s not “knowledge” we’re actually arguing over. It’s authority. Who has it, and who doesn’t. Once individuals think they have the authority to design their own moral code, you get all kinds of crazy innovations, as we’re seeing now.
Agreed. But why is the chuch a superior source of true knowledge?
That wasn’t the plan.
The plan was for us to get the knowledge in the right way at the right time.
(The podcast The Lord of Spirits is good on this, as on demons and much else.)
Of course G-d knew.
Yeah I buy that. Why does he act aurprised?
Does He? First I’ve heard of it.
bhahaha. I dodged the women’s suffrage curse, but G-d is my provider, and has given me the upbringing, mindset, and skills to manage without a spouse, since that is how it turned out.
I am certainly not counting on the freaking government. blech. The government is the worst slacker spouse a woman (or any human) could ever have.
Well, I’m pretty sure our social and political woes are straight from the amalgamation of billions upon billions (ala Carl Sagan) of individual and regrettable choices and expectations over the millenia.
We are fallen, and clearly can’t get up.
I’m pretty sure, you want me to vote though, since my head is screwed on straight. it is my loss that I am not married, but certainly not society’s loss.
Well, you see, there you go, our problems started way before Martin Luther, and had been going strong for millenia before he broke off. And there is nothing new under the sun, not even Women’s suffrage.
They were told not to eat from the tree, but the second the fruit was eaten, Adam and Eve gained the RESPONSIBILITY for the choice, based on our flawed discernment. Cain and Abel made their offerings to G-d. Abel’s was accepted. Cain’s was not. Cain murders Abel…and so on, humanity has shown that it is quite easy to get it wrong.
of course, then came the laws, you know, to help us work it out. which of course we could not fulfill, even with our best effort.
G-d forgives if we ask, but we must ask. Which means we have to acknowledge and take responsibility for our errors in choosing good from evil and denying the Authority of Almighty G-d.
We are saved by Grace, through Faith in Christ Jesus. Thank the LORD. His Mercy never ends.
Just ask.
Eve had the option to not eat the apple.
That is Liberty. with consequences.
We have no idea the plan G-d that would have unfolded had Adam and Eve obeyed the clear instruction. We are on a detour plan, in which we continually work out the obligation to know Good from Evil.
But one day, by Grace, we will be returned to walk with G-d in his Garden, if we accept the Authority of Almighty G-d.
Just ask Him.
Because Jesus delegated his authority to bind and loose to Peter and his successors and promised to not abandon His church ever. It’s not that the Church has perfect knowledge on the order of God’s omniscience. It’s that She’s been given the authority to settle disputes based on what God has revealed in Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition. We call it the Magisterium and even the worst popes (it’s a family and families sometimes have bad fathers) haven’t been able to corrupt the teachings. We Catholics believe it’s not possible — that God might literally send a bolt of lightning to take out a pope who tried. And the pope is subject to correction from his fellow bishops the way Peter was confronted by Paul. But, the pope has the final say, which is really the only way unity is preserved.
So you guys are all creationists as I understand it and we are all creatures of incest?
Why does an omniscient entity ask questions.
Answer A: Same reason I ask the kids questions, I reckon.
Answer B: You ever heard of Socrates? You think he never once knew the answers to the questions he was asking? Why do you think I’m asking questions now?
Henry, you need to take a step back and look at the story
Incest is wrong fundamentally because you are deliberately increasing the likelihood of harmful autosomal recessive mutations being expressed. According to the Biblical story, the first humans were proclaimed good. They did not possess harmful mutations, so mating would not produce birth defects. The Bible clearly portrays the antediluvian humans as beyond us, as they are described living for hundreds of years. (This is why I support gene engineering for longevity – I am all about Methuselah lifespans!)
The general concept is of the introduced flaw propagating through humans over time. I personally take the view that Genesis is the accurate transcription of divine visions given to Moses, like someone taking detailed notes while watching a movie. There’s a lot the camera does not show, and perception of time can be way off. The major themes are well-covered.
Also, the Garden of Eden story is not about God being upset we did not turn out to be worship-bots (or sex bots for that matter) It’s a lot easier to develop non-sapient intelligences versus sapient intelligences. Humans were made after God’s image – creative, reasoning, and with the responsibility of choice. The only real love is through free choice. God desires people who love and trust Him because they want to do so. Read the story again – God grants Adam dominion over the garden, and assigns him the task of naming all of the life there. I would consider coming up with nomenclature for life is knowledge. The problem came with not trusting God. The Tree represents breaking that trust, and the understanding of why you should have trusted Him.
Of course God knew all this would happen. He knew the only way to fix this would involve becoming mortal and being tortured to death before creating the universe. There was no other way around it. God just happens to desire people to genuinely love Him enough to create the universe and history to just to achieve it.
I think we should genetically engineer people to be better before we prolong their lives.
But we are only fully human, fully what we should be when we reason. To quote Lucifer in Paradise Lost, “How can it be a sin to know?” It was a good thing for humans to become sapient. It was worth it if we had to leave the garden.
But like a Jedi would say to Darth Vader, “I find your faith disturbing.”
You really believe absent of any empirical evidence that humanity came from two people despite the fossil record of Africa? We are taking the story literally here though it violates everything we know about the universe?
You think the Christians you’re interacting with are simple-minded and anti-intellectual? Here’s my recommendation: let the Church speak for Herself. Do the reading and ask the trained apologists.
Now WC, don’t be so hard on him. If it weren’t for his straw men, Henry wouldn’t have anyone to play with at all.
Indeed. I am defined by loneliness. However, are you all seriously creationists here?
That is completely wrong. The fossil record is pretty good.
All snark aside I genuinely find your beliefs disturbing which is why I have to ask if you sincerely hold them.
It’s not really a fair question, since the term can mean a lot of different things. Here’s a tract on the Catholic position:
https://www.catholic.com/tract/adam-eve-and-evolution
Cute vid – hadn’t seen that one yet. From many previous readings (not exhaustive) I have found your challenges sincere – hence my comment on snark. I meant to include: you are better than that comment.
A faith that cannot stand up to challenges is no faith at all, so those made sincerely should be appreciated. It would seem a different thread would be appropriate but would enjoy delving into further discussion on where you might define macroevolution and microevolution and their conflict with scripture.
Also, it assumes a conflict between faith and science, which is simply, wildly false about Catholic Christianity. The Church affirms the truth, wherever it’s found, and then asserts higher (revealed) truths that science is ill-equipped to answer or even investigate. Contrary to Madonna (the singer, not the Mother of God), this is not simply a material world.
Read the tract.
As for me Henry. The Bible is Gods word to man. It is a history book where the text indicates an historic account. And it is an instruction book on how man is to relate to man and man to God.
Hebrews 4:12
12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
And so much more . To those who believe .
So yes, I am a creationist
Outside of Christianity, what motivations existed to investigate the ‘universe’? Stalled in other cultures, science bloomed in Christendom precisely because of the understanding that God created a discernibly marvelous universe and gave human beings predominance over all living things. He also gave us the ability to scratch the surface of its intricate design, including its physical and natural laws.
Human curiosity. Many atheists still love learning about science.