Anything But Socialism!

"Not only do I believe every word of the Bible is absolutely true, but I even believe the cover is genuine cowhide leather!" We conservatives go to great lengths to emphasize the reliability of the Bible. But if we're truly honest, there are some places in the Bible we wish weren't true!

For example, I think many of us have cringed in discomfort over the years whenever we have come to those two sections in Acts that explain how the early Christians tended to pool all their resources so that everybody had something to eat. Of course we wouldn't have wanted anyone to starve to death, but we're troubled by the politics! You know what I mean: "Are these guys socialists are what?" Everybody knows they would have been better off to find a capitalistic solution to their problem! Really, has anything good ever come out of a commune?

This discomfort with socialism probably explains an interesting phenomenon. Whenever we conservatives come to Acts 2: 42-47 or 4: 32-35, we always leap to the topic of unity. These Christians were united in heart and mind; they were united by shared purpose. But there is a blinding light shining out of these passages that we refuse to see.

Throughout the gospels, Christ uses one particular story format over and over again in his parables. Time again he speaks of a wealthy land owner who goes on a journey, leaving a trusted servant to manage his entire estate. Whenever he finally returns, there is always a time of accounting. There is a simple reason why Christ spins so many story lines around this scenario: he is teaching that everything we have belongs to God, and we have simply been entrusted with the task of managing God's wealth. Christ was teaching his followers to hold their possessions lightly, realizing it was all from God's treasury and for his purposes.

The Christians in Acts represent the first generation of believers challenged with living out this radical worldview. And what do they do? Do they give a tenth to the church and spend everything else they earn on themselves and their families? To the contrary, Acts 4:32 explains, "Not a man among them claimed any of his possessions as his own, but everything was held in common..."

We tend to ask, "What were these people- socialists?" The simple answer is "No, they weren't socialists. They were followers of Jesus." There is a more relevant question that often goes unasked by the capitalistic materialists of today's church: "If those guys were real Christians, what are we?"