It is a bit of a discouragement to see that, in the current race for president, the failed, discredited and damaging doctrine of socialism is being regarded favorably. It is even more discouraging to realize that many decades of indoctrination have made socialism much more than a passing fad but have actually elevated it to a level of respectability that it does not deserve.
I write a faith column. But the book I have devoted my life to is not just spiritual, but also incredibly practical. The Bible will teach you how to be saved and will also deal with subjects like intimacy, gambling, work, rest, nutrition and even good government. And it is the subject of good government that is currently on my mind.
Scripture gives an illustration of what many erroneously view as socialism. Acts 4:32 says, “And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.”
The item that makes this anything but socialism is a little thing called “choice.” This arrangement was utterly voluntary, there was no coercion to it at all. It was also very temporary, but that is a matter for another day. The salient point is that nothing in solid scriptural hermeneutics gives so much as a fig leaf of respectability to the naked wickedness of socialism.
Merriam Webster defines socialism as: