Was God a capitalist or was He a socialist? Actually, these terms were coined much much later, many years after God had described the system of Government and Laws that He wanted the Israelites to abide by. But by studying the Laws, can we fit God into one of our modern boxes?

Here’s the problem. The lack of boxes, we humans have a tendency to place people into boxes to help us understand them. But doing so invariably means that we do not truly understand them, to do that would require much more of a conversation, more so than we are often willing to engage in.

Below I describe my thoughts on these systems of Government and Economy and briefly compare and contrast them with how I read the rules God writes in the Bible.

red flag with cross

Why might God be a Socialist?

There are a few points here that we can find in the Laws of the Bible that point to a Socialist government:

  1. Equal ownership of Land
  2. Shared responsibility for justice (public accountability)
  3. Loan or debt forgiveness
  4. An emphasis on generous giving to the poor
  5. Jesus lived from a common purse

Why might God be a Capitalist?

Here are the counterpoints as to why God might actually be a capitalist:

  1. Rights to private property
  2. An emphasis on freedoms
  3. We are expected to pay back our debts
  4. We are expected to work for a profit
  5. Job, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph were all exceedingly wealthy

My problems with Socialism

It is a common criticism that socialists are envious of the wealth of the rich, and I could imagine that that’s true of some socialists. But maybe they see themselves as Robin Hood figures who are ridding the world of evil and redistributing it to the poor. I think the goals don’t justify the means. If the goal is a more equitable society then this is not how to achieve it. I’m a strong believer in rewarding the behaviour that you want to multiply or replicate. This is a parenting principle and a business principle. Offer rewards for what you want to see.

A second problem is that the way to achieve a socialist state in recent years has involved a lot of bloodshed (some estimate as high as 100 million lives lost) and ended up with a state that restricts the freedom of the people in order to control them and enable the socialist utopia. This seems to be the opposite of what socialism should be. My basic understanding is “from the people, for the people”, but this does not seem to have been effectively achieved anywhere except for smallish voluntary communities.

Thirdly, people fail to see the incentive to work. Now this may be a problem with people rather than socialism, but where the state seemingly rewards non-participants then that behaviour will only grow. God encourages people to work because He worked for six days and rested on day 7. Adam was to work in the Garden of Eden seemingly for the benefit of the Garden, but maybe for Adam’s benefit also.

Maybe there is a problem of worship! In capitalism, wealth is worshipped and in socialism, the government is worshipped. God would have us worship Him, recognise Him as our provider and work for His glory. We don’t work for the sake of wealth, or provision or because the Government says we should, we work because God says it’s good for us.

My problems with Capitalism

As I’ve just stated Capitalism rewards work with money. People become very easily deceived by wealth and soon start working for money and being enslaved to money. Money is not the reason to work, we work to provide for our families but ultimately through it we worship God and He is our ultimate source of provision.

Secondly, capitalism (or more accurately consumerism) is driven by two main human traits, fear and desire. It is well known that people will buy things primarily because they desire them or because they fear not having them. For an example of “desire” marketing look for the nearest perfume or underwear advertisement. For fear marketing then consider insurance products or safety devices. Neither of these emotions is supposed to be a part of our normal experience with God. Do not fear is one of the most common commands in the Bible appearing 365 times, that’s once for each day of the year. Then in the Ten Commandments, we find Do not covet. This is all but ignored by today’s culture as people seek more and more rather than being content with what they have.

Thirdly, capitalism brings out some of the worst traits in people such as greed and dishonesty, which is really another way of stating do not covet. Both greed and dishonesty are condemned in the Bible. Indeed, when someone develops a new product someone else comes along and tries to do the same cheaper and then someone else comes along and tries to do it even cheaper. It becomes a race to the bottom. Where we are today is with products being made in sweatshops on the other side of the world so that we can get our fix of consumerism. And food is being grown using the bare minimum of fertilizers to grow a nice-looking, but vitamin-deficient, fruit or vegetable that is harvested by migrant labour.

Fourthly, or rather to add to the third point about greed and dishonesty, when profit is made through meeting a genuine need in the marketplace then there is an incentive to maintain the need or the illusion of the need. We can see this where the societies with the most doctors are the most sick and societies with the largest defense budgets are often in the most wars. Now correlation doesn’t necessarily mean causation, but think about it, maybe it does ring true in this case.

The Kingdom of God

In the kingdom of God, there will be no fear and there will be no greed, but there will be work and there will be generosity.

I don’t know if a purely capitalist society could overcome greed driving the economy and I’d like to avoid this, but if it cannot be avoided then at least you could remove the fear by providing for the poor and not protecting the rich.

Land ownership is crucial. With land, you can build and you can grow. You do not need anything else to work and survive. Prosperity depends on the quality of the land and the quality of the work put into the land. Some might sell land to quickly make money, but in the Bible, the land is returned to the owner at the Jubilee which was up to fifty years after the sale. The owner retained the right to repurchase the land before that time for the appraised value. This is not an ideal situation for a modern business that needs to build factories although maybe it will bring a sustainability factor into the building. Whatever we build it must be easy or at least possible to restore to its previous condition within fifty years.

I mentioned in my last article the freedom that would come from simply not being homeless. You retain your land, even if there is no house on it, a little generosity from the neighbours and a rudimentary house could be quickly built.

So in addition to this law is all the building regulations that do not permit temporary dwellings and the such. Likewise, they do not permit drinking untreated water, defined as water that doesn’t come from the municipal water supply. These rules would need to change from rules to guidelines and a system of generosity where the poor are allowed to prosper without handouts.

2. Provision of food for the poor

Food was provided for the poor by expecting generosity and also by farmers leaving parts of the field or vines unharvested. This was known as gleaning. There was no expectation that the poor receive handouts but rather that they participate in the harvesting of these crops and receive food as a reward for their work.

I understand that there is shame associated with government handouts. Still, the way we’re heading right now with 12% of the population in the US in receipt of Food Stamps and talk of Universal Basic Income, means that there is an understanding that Governments can and maybe should provide basic food programmes. They could add to that a gardening training course and free seeds to teach people how to grow their food.

There should also be a participation requirement that you do some community service, like water plants, or sweeping streets. This is assuming that they cannot actually help with the harvesting of crops.

3. Cancellation of Debts

Jesus cancelled my debt of sin, I think we should likewise cancel the debts of others. Then I would wind down the whole debt system and impose a maximum loan term of 7 years. Houses would not be eligible as collateral.

I had a student debt for over 15 years. It wasn’t huge and the interest was low, set to the official rate of inflation for the UK. I also did not need to start repaying until I was earning over £20,000 and then it went up in increments according to my salary, sort of like a tax. I actually don’t mind this debt, it enabled me to go to University but didn’t penalize me when I wanted to take a few years to work with a charity. The repayments were low enough to not be significant and if I never earned enough money then I wouldn’t need to pay it back ever. So there are some problems here such as people who go to university to party and then move to Hawaii to become a SCUBA instructor and never pay back the loan which came from the public purse. But in general, this type of loan I think is much more what God had in mind, it enables you and doesn’t enslave you.

I might be more of a capitalist when making the loans though, and suggest that some people are more deserving of loans than others in regards to their future prospects. Perhaps also some due diligence should be done before making student loans. There was a whole Student Loan Scandal uncovered where non-students were applying for loans and being granted them, and universities and agencies were benefiting from having larger numbers of students on the books than they had in practice. The link to the BBC Panorama program is here: BBC Panorama

4. Abolition of Limited Companies

Limited companies were set up so that the owners did not lose their personal wealth when their business ventures failed. However, their business ventures were often risky and they did get to profit immensely when they succeeded. Through the limited company, the suppliers and employees of the company often bore the brunt of any risky venture failing instead of the wealthy owners. The concept was supposed to promote risk-taking when starting or running businesses although I don’t find it consistent with a Biblical worldview.

If we are supposed to pay back our debts, then that’s the end of the discussion, we should not add “unless those debts relate to businesses engaged in risky ventures”. This would be linked to the above rules where an allotment of land is a permanent possession and debts that cannot be repaid within seven years are cancelled. The repossession of personal goods to repay outstanding debts is a given, although to be performed as far as possible with grace.

5. Abolition of Inheritance Taxes

Inheritance tax seems to me to be simply government overreach. Through the years it has been supported by successive rulers to encourage the wealthy to engage in at least some work, and was considered a necessary means to redistribute some of the wealth to the benefit of society. The problem may not be with the wealth of the wealthy but with the means through which they retained their wealth. Often wealth was kept in the form of land, houses and businesses.

In my first rule, I suggest that land should be a permanent possession for every citizen. That means that the wealthy cannot accrue large swathes of land. Then in my fourth rule I abolish limited companies meaning that ownership of businesses does not become so attractive and when a business fails, at that point the wealth gets redistributed.

Instead the wealthy are encouraged to be generous with their wealth, to give to the poor, to start more beneficial businesses and to leave an inheritance to their grandchildren. The Bible gives specific instructions about inheritance and that it should pass to the sons, if there are none then to the daughters and if there are none then to brothers or nearest next-of-kin.

6. Military Service

I was thinking about this because many countries include this in the general taxation and some have a requirement for military service such as Germany (until recently) or Switzerland. In the Bible, God gave Israel such a requirement for men between 20 and 50. It wasn’t so much a year or two of training with regular catch-up classes but it was expected that they be ready to be draughted if or when required. Having trained soldiers makes sense but then there needs to be a budget to pay for these soldiers and where should that come from?

I think you cannot get away from a tax, but perhaps to make it fair, it should be a tax on those who would otherwise be draughted. So males between the ages of 20 and 50 would pay an annual income tax. If they are unable to pay the tax then they simply perform some military service.

As a society becomes more advanced then there open up other forms of national service that are also beneficial to society these could include,

  • Higher education
  • Teaching
  • Government

That’s correct, I think attending higher education would be a reason to skip military service because you would be enhancing your usefulness to society.

7. Immigration

This article probably wouldn’t be complete without a consideration of the immigration question. It is such a political hot-potato right now with so-called far-right or populist movements rising up throughout the West, and often being blamed on too much immigration.

Legal immigration is good for meeting labour shortages where they exist, filling skills gaps, paying taxes to the Government and filling pension deficits. The latter two should not really exist in a well-governed country or company. The idea of a final salary pension is a fraud, a company cannot promise to pay funds in the future that it does not have today. Neither can a government make the same promises, the only system that works is a well-managed savings and investment vehicle to pay for pensions. And the very idea of allowing immigration to enrich the Government is anathema. In the US right now, the idea of allowing illegal immigration to bolster the voting potential for the Democrats also goes against the very heart of the republic.

Immigration in the Bible was seen as a simple fact, the Israelites were encouraged to be gracious to immigrants because they were once migrants. People move and settle and this should be allowed. They may be moving due to famine, or war, or simply to experience and worship in a more Godly nation. This is seemingly allowed for in the Mosaic Law. But they could not own land and they could not be involved in Government (see Leviticus 25:23).

Foreigners were further differentiated from Israelites in that they could be owned as slaves and it was permitted to charge interest on loans to them. They were however allowed to participate in the welfare provision of “gleaning”. See Leviticus 19:33, 23:22, 25:42-44 and Deuteronomy 23:20.

I do not want to discuss slavery here but let’s assume it was a form of permanent employment contract that was different from that offered to the Israelites. Instead, how were they to live, they would arrive not as slaves but as free and presumably if they had money then they could rent some land and set up a house and business for themselves. But it was not a permanent arrangement, the land was only leased. If they didn’t like the arrangement then they could leave. They could not be involved in Government because they had no heritage with the Israelites.

Interestingly, although there is a ban on Israelites from marrying some foreigners in Deuteronomy 7:1-4, it does not seem to be a general ban and therefore the immigrants could intermarry and thus inherit land if they chose to settle.

My opinion is that provided the Government is managing the economy well and the above recommendations for land ownership and voting rights etc. are respected then we should not fear an influx of migrants. Their residence would need to be provided at their own expense and provided voluntarily by the land owner who is expected to be gracious towards them. Access to food stamps, or some labour to pay for food whilst they get established should be provided.

There remains only the question of suspicion or fear. Often many migrants arriving together want to live together, create their own community, speak their own language and can form gangs that threaten and mistreat the native population. This of course needs to be dealt with through the correct legal channels, and God created laws to deal with crime. So we need not fear immigrants if we follow these principles.

One problem is when immigrants push up house prices but this is simply a symptom of our land and property ownership structure.

8. Government

What form of government is God’s form of Government? Through the years people have suggested:

  • Monarchy
  • Republic
  • Democracy
  • Theocracy

Some say Monarchy because that’s what Israel had for much of its existence. However, God agreed to let them have a monarchy because they wanted to be like the nations around them. It does not mean that it is the ideal form of Government.

A republic could be more like how God himself governs, and similar to what existed during the times of the Judges. There is an overall ruler but there exists a subcommittee of leaders selected by the people, although for Israel as a tribal nation, the leaders were the hereditary heads of the clans. God selected the “President” by having them anointed by the prophets and priests.

In the modern day, we have lost all track of our clans and so we vote on who should be our leader. The problem is that we do not know them, that a two-party system has developed in most democratic countries where every few years (often four) you vote either one way or the other way regardless of who the figurehead is. Finally, you can be persuaded by their manifestos which they often do not keep and in which they pander to the majority by effectively promising to give them more money. It’s also been noted that people vote against incumbents when things aren’t perceived to be going so well.

I’m against career politicians because they are too easily influenced by corporations and they probably write laws for the sake of writing laws. They tend not to govern for the people but for themselves. A non-democratic republic may be better but the selection of the right governors would be crucial.

Democracy in general suffers the same problems as the selection of the senate in a democratic republic.

The following quote is often attributed to Benjamin Franklin although this cannot be confirmed:

When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.

Theocracy is a supposed form of Government where God rules. This is a purely hypothetical, or future, form of Government that we cannot hope to realise until Jesus returns to Earth. We may come close if each country can find a Moses but so far people like Moses have not proven themselves to be so common.

Conclusion

I wanted to put down my thoughts here as I read through the Bible, I started with Genesis 1 on the first of January so as I write this at the start of February I’m just finishing the book of Numbers.

At the same time I’m reading through the book “The Poverty of Nations” by Wayne Grudem and Barry Asmus. Although I agree with almost everything Wayne Grudem wrote in his Systematic Theology, I find myself disagreeing with him on quite a few points in this book.

I’m capturing my thoughts here in this blog as I contemplate a more perfect way of doing things, more like God intended.

I’d like to write a book on this subject, if may be a multi-year project, but if you’d like to join me on this journey then please message me as I’m currently considering ways to crowd-source the content for the book.

My closing thought is don’t be restricted by the boxes that we have constructed. Solving Earth’s problems requires some out-of-the-box thinking and it requires teamwork. As the Bible records in Joshua 5:13-14

¹³Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?”

¹⁴“Neither,” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.”

— Joshua 5:13-14 (NIV)

That’s right, we do not need to be against one side and for another side. We only need to be following God.