Comments on: Would Jesus redistribute wealth or support abortion?

By: Gerry Marshall

Gerry Marshall — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 21:08:23 +0000

So…based on your rationale, any form of taxation is theft! Because ALL tax monies are taken from working people, then put into government programs that are redistributed to pay for programs we all use such as the intrastructure. And if you don’t agree with my take on this…fine, but then just exactly where is the cut-off line between taxes being “Godly” and becoming “theft”? Granted…taxes are something no one wants to pay, BUT just exactly how are we supposed to pay to keep our country running? Maybe we all just need to go back and re-watch “Americathon”.

By: martine

martine — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 16:24:09 +0000

It really doesn’t mater if “Thou Shall Not Steal” is an endorsement of Capitalism. Its a clear mandate against theft. A government that steals from hard working people for the purpose of better controlling them, something they don’t want, is theft. I still believe theft is wrong. The abortion issue is less important then the fact that the man wants to take away our ability to work at a job and to decide what to do with our earning. I for one do not want to pay to have government provided health care. I also don’t want every business killed by Obama so that the only way to survive is for us to work at government programs. Thats what he wants to see happen. Look at the public school system. Do you want a doctor like those teachers? They are lazy, uncaring, and beat down by beurocracy.

By: Mary Ellen

Mary Ellen — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 22:42:06 +0000

Oh Brad! Not all communisms are the same. It is one thing for a community to live in communion with God and his chosen leaders. It is another for a man to appoint himself as the “god” of a nation and assume all power–which as we all know corrupts absolutely. No man-made communist society has ever prospered–in fact–once prosperous nations who become communistic fall into poverty. Check out Russia. It was an incredible kingdom before the communist persecutions and bloodbaths began.

Study your history Brad, and you’ll understand why people are so fearful of totalitarian societies–not societies where all is shared because members of the society love one another so much that they choose to, but societies where you give up what is yours–including your rights, thoughts and opinions–or die.

Think about it Brad. Totalitarianism is not taught in the Bible. God has power but that power is based in love.

By: Brad Nelson

Brad Nelson — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 03:00:46 +0000

Everytime I here a conservate mention communism in a negative light, I just casual point them to acts 4:32-27

As they prayed, the place where they were gathered shook, and they were all filled with the holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.
32
6 The community of believers was of one heart and mind, and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they had everything in common.
33
With great power the apostles bore witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great favor was accorded them all.
34
There was no needy person among them, for those who owned property or houses would sell them, bring the proceeds of the sale,
35
and put them at the feet of the apostles, and they were distributed to each according to need.
36
Thus Joseph, also named by the apostles Barnabas (which is translated “son of encouragement”), a Levite, a Cypriot by birth,
37
sold a piece of property that he owned, then brought the money and put it at the feet of the apostles.

Sure as hell sounds like communism to me.

By: Jeff Sparks

Jeff Sparks — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 21:44:43 +0000

No way. Get in touch. You make an erroneous statement in the first paragraph.

“The problem is simple. It’s that Barack Obama is a representative of an institution that is fundamentally different from (and many times at odds with) the institution that Jesus founded: the Church.”

Jesus did not “start the Church”. That would have been early Catholics, Italians or whatever you want to call Constantine. Before that it was a mish mash of several varying belief systems, mostly based in Judaism. Don’t you go to hell for not getting facts right about Jesus? Isn’t it the same as lying?

By: Bob

Bob — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 13:35:16 +0000

It is truly amazing that the writer can in one breath say that it is not Ok for the government to help the poor by sharing wealth but it is Ok for the government to prevent abortion, both based on religion. Get real.
I have had this conversation with many conservatives. They say it should be up to the churches to help the poor. Then I ask them how much they gave to any church in the past year and they all stand around looking at their feet. It’s not about who should help the poor, it is about conservatives having to pull money out of their pockets to help someone else.

By: nativties

nativties — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 17:26:58 +0000

nativties…

Yes…

By: John Médaille

John Médaille — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 17:28:58 +0000

One can cite studies on both sides. The intra-state comparisons are flawed because there tends to be an increase in abortion in neighboring states; in other words, people just take their business elsewhere. But what all the studies agree on is that the declines, if any, are marginal.

The point is this: an anti-abortion movement cannot be successful, and has not been successful, not even among Catholics. Only a pro-life movement can be successful, and this is what the anti-abortion have failed to do for 40 years. There is a reason for their refusal. Namely, there so-called “conservatism” is nothing more than 19th-century liberalism, which is anti-life, anti-family in the extreme. Therefore, their anti-abortion agenda is at odds with their pro-capitalist agenda.

Many movements fail because they can’t gain power. The conservatives failed because they did gain power and couldn’t do anything remotely “conservative.” When it came down to it, they had nothing to conserve. They were just paleo-liberals with an antiquarian agenda.

Time for a new direction.

By: Eric

Eric — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 07:44:34 +0000

I think the first problem I have with the idea of “Redistribution of Wealth” is that the government is set up to protect the people. In a pure capitalistic society there is no minimum wage, workers have no rights whatsoever, and they would be completely controlled by the ruling class. What we are seeing in our economy right now is a result of that.

Mind you, the comments above above regarding “redistribution of wealth” would then state that we were living under a Communist/Socialist/Marxist society before George Bush was president.

Making a comment that “Redistribution of Income” is of course theft would then equate that all government is bad because tax rates as they currently stand do redistribute the wealth.

Secondly, if we talk about the other commandment that we have referred to “Thou Shall Not Kill”, I would state that I consider myself “Pro-Life”. Pro-Life to me means that we do not kill in any instance. That would mean.

*Death Penalty
*War
*Abortion

However, the top two of those are government sponsored activities. Abortion, on the other hand is a choice that should be between the mother and the father (and if you are a believer) then God as well.

Abortion is not a “Black and White” issue which is how many Liberals and Conservatives treat it. For one the health and welfare of the mother should be paramount and the ethical issue that one runs into is what is more important, the health and welfare of the mother or the health and welfare of the child. By answering the child, then that in itself is promoting the death of one being over the life of another. If a woman’s life is endangered, no matter what stage of the pregnancy, they should not be instructed by the law not to terminate their pregnancy. As a citizen of this great country, I cannot make that a hard line rule.

That being said, there can still be quite a bit to be done to continually reduce the amount of abortions, including but not limited to contraception, education, economic reasons, encouraging adoption, and better healthcare for women. Unfortunately, the conservative answer has always failed in many cases in dealing with three of the four points above.

Also note that many Western European societies have lower rates of abortion and in many cases their governments are much more “Socialist” in nature but more importantly they have universal healthcare, they are better educated in terms of sexual education and uses contraception.

If abortion is such a serious issue in the eyes of christians then compromise is necessary.

By: Victoria

Victoria — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 21:33:27 +0000

Here is an article on the gains made by the prolife movement, for John who claims it has been a dismal failure.

http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/viewarticle.php?selectedarticle=2008.10.24_New_Michael%20J._Pro-Life%20Politicians%20Have%20Made%20a%20Difference,%20Pro-Life%20Laws%20Work_.xml