Class Warfare?

On the news lately all you hear about is the g'vment wanting to tax everyone. The news is even proclaiming that the pres is guilty of trying to start "class warfare" by trying to tax the rich while exclaiming that they are "too rich" and therefore should pay their "fair share" by paying more in taxes.

With this in mind, I thought about what the Bible says about all this, and I believe I found a passage that lays it out very well. It is Matthew 20:1-15. There we read:

1 For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard.

2 And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard.

3 And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace,

4 And said unto them; Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way.

5 Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise.

6 And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle?

7 They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive.

8 So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first.

9 And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny.

10 But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more; and they likewise received every man a penny.

11 And when they had received it, they murmured against the goodman of the house,

12 Saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day.

13 But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny?

14 Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee.

15 Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good?

This passage holds a lot of information, but it also gives us a lot of truth, and shows what God thinks about all of this. In the passage we find a man who desires to hire some people. According to the passage, and to God who wrote it, the man has the right to choose how much he will pay a person and that person has the right to accept or reject his offer. That man can further hire whoever he wants, whenever he wants! (Kind of a good argument against Affirmative Action, isn't it?)

As we read further on, we find that the workers become angry, because they feel they DESERVED more than what they were contracted for. (Can you say "UNIONS?" Cause that's what they do! They strive on trying to pit workers against their bosses).

And when the workers raged against their employer in the passage, we find him carefully reminding them that he said he would pay them a penny for their work, and that's exactly what he did. He did no wrong. The problem was they felt it wasn't fair to get paid the same amount as those other workers. But feelings don't matter in business. Business isn't paying a person what they feel they deserve. It is following through with a contract of paying a person what they were contracted to work for.

Now, we get to the important part. Notice in verse thirteen where it says that the man did no wrong. It was not wrong what the man did in paying a penny to those who worked longer than those who worked less. It was a fair market system, in which workers were contracted at the going rate. Thus, the BIBLE SAYS it's not wrong for an employer to set a wage for his employee and then pay him that wage! So what if one man works less and get's paid the same as the other men who worked longer. It was not about what was FAIR, it was about what was CONTRACTED! People need to get this. Business is when two people agree on a certain price and then they pay it. It's that simple! Yes, some people are worth more than others. And yes, some people just happen to be in the right place at the right time and get paid more than others. That's just life. It's not a reason to "tax" the "evil" employer, because he's "unfair" in his payroll methods.

In fact, we don't know why the employer did what he did. I could be that the employer did not know he needed that many workers. He was trying to save money by only hiring a few at a time. Turns out, they didn't work as hard as he thought they would, so that's why he had to hire others, and he did so at the same price. If there is a fault in all this, it wasn't the fault of the employer. Most likely it was the fault of those guys who worked from the beginning, for had they worked harder, they most likely would have finished sooner and the employer would not have had to hire those other guys. And, possibly, the employer might have even used that money he had to use to give to the new guys to give as a bonus to the first workers for finishing early! We'll never know. But what we do know is that the employer has the right to contract as many people as he wants at any price he wants. This is the Bible teaching on employment.

But, probably the most important part of the passage is found in verses 14 and 15. Notice it says that the employers tells the people who worked for him to "take what is thine." In other words, their wage was THEIRS, not someone elses. This is important, for today, the g'vment thinks that the wages that people make is not their own. They feel that part of their wage belongs to the g'vment, and that they should give it to the g'vment. But in the Bible, this is not so. If a man worked for it, IT IS HIS! All of it belongs to him, and no other!

Now look at verse 15. The Bible further teaches that what is the employers belongs to the employer, and he can do what he please with what is his. He even says, "Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with my one?"

The employer insinuates that he has the LAWFUL RIGHT to do what ever he will with what belongs to him. I guess he didn't live in the United States of America. For in this country, we don't find this right. Instead, we find the g'vment taxing the snot out of employers, and forcing them to pay so much into workman's comp, socialized health insurance, social security, etc. So not only does the employer have a right to give what he wants to the employee, but the employee doesn't get the full amount of what he contracted to work for.

Now watch this. This is very important. The end of verse 15, the employer says, "Is thine eye evil, because I am good?"

If only the socialists, communists, keynsian economic followers, and the u.s. g'vment would get a hold of this. You see, the employer is GOOD! His is not the bad guy! In fact, he's the good guy. He's the guy with the money looking for employees to work for him so he can pay them. In other words, he's the guy moving the money! Not only is he paying for those men to work, and then they use the money to buy what they wish, thus helping the economy, but also the rich man is getting his grapes picked, so he can then sell them, thus making more money to use to buy more things, which in turn helps the economony even more. He is GOOD because he is giving people work. But in our society, and in our current administration, he's looked at as the evil "BAD GUY" who's so vile and ungodly because he "has too much" and he doesn't "share it with everybody." But why should he have to? The Bible outright tells us that what he has is HIS, it belongs to HIM! And what the employers receive in payment for work is THEIRS, it belongs to THEM! So why is the g'vment trying to take money off of both of them??? Why is it the g'vment claims to be "the Saviour" who can tax everybody and then use the tax money to make the economy run better? It can't! God's model runs the best, and God's model is that what a man has is his, and what a man earns is his, and they both can do whatever they want with what is theirs!

In our modern day this Bible story would not read the same. It would instead read like this....

There was a certain householder who decided he needed to hire some people to work for him. he hired them for a 100 dollars a day, but found out that he could not do so because he could go to jail for paying them under the counter, and besides he didn't know if they were illegal or not, so he had to make sure first, and to hire them, he had to get a business license, and when he did, he had to make sure he filled out a W-2 form for each employee he hired, and that even though he told them he'd pay them 100 dollars a day, he couldn't do so, cause he had to withold some of their pay and put it into social security, insurance, and other things. So the people who worked for him, thinking they were getting 100 dollars a day were only getting about 65, but that was okay cause they were working and felt good about it. But then later the householder had to hire more people because his business did very well, but he couldn't find anyone, so he hired some people that the g'vment recommended. Eventually, they formed a union, and demanded 150 dollars a day. When the householder couldn't afford that sum, the workers went on strike, and the householder had no workers, so he had to cave in and pay what they demanded. In the meantime, the original workers who worked for him for 100 dollars a day (or really only 65 dollars a day) found out their new fellow employees were making more money than they were and they got made and demanded a raise! They got a small raise, but didn't feel it was enough. After finding out they were making about 90 dollars a day after taxes, they still realized the union guys were making much more, so they joined the union. When they did, they didn't realize that union dues would be so high, so even though they were now making 150 dollars a day, they were really only making about 85 dollars a day after union dues, taxes, and health care benefits.

In the mean time, the householder couldn't make ends meet as he couldn't pay the high wages, so he had to fire some people. When he did, the union got made and went on strike again. The householder had to make a choice. Either shut down his entire operation or give in and let the thing run, but make no profit. The householder chose for the sake of the workers, to keep the thing running so they would have a job. But eventually, he went in debt and lost his vineyard to the bank and had to close the whole operation. The union got ever more angry as their workers were without a job, so they murmured the more against the householder, and even stormed his house and pulled him out of bed and hung him on a tree. They danced and sang songs about the "wicked old householder" who was "so stingy with his money" and how he had gotten rich off of "their slave labor." And for generations he was looked at as the bad guy, when all he was trying to do was make a living, help others to be employed, and run a business.

What happened to the vineyard? I'm glad you asked! The g'vment took it over and let it sit until all the grapevine dried up and died. All the grapes were lost, and now no one could get grapes locally. The price of grapes rose, as that was the biggest producer of grapes in the entire country, and everyone pretty much got SCREWED! The householder went broke and was murdered. The union thugs went on a rampage and burned the town down cause they were angry that they couldn't find work. And the entire populace, that was once used to drinking grape juice for free (as the householder would give each employee an entire casket full every Christmas) could not afford to drink it anymore. The only one who prospered from the whole deal was the g'vment who got rich off of taxing the householder, taxing the workers, and using taxpayer's dollars to rebuild the town and put them to work in g'vment jobs in which they received more than what they received working for the householder, but in which the other villages had to pay for through their taxes. (In other words, the taxes of the other surrounding villages went to pay the workers). What'd they do? They dug up the old grape vines and burned them and then worked planting new grape vines in their place. But they weren't allowed to pick them, and so they rotted on the vines. Other workers were placed as body guards in the field and the entire grape orchard was shut off from the public. Meanwhile the price of grapes rose nationwide, while these grapes just rotten on the vine.

I could go on and on, but you know it's true. That's exactly what has happened in communist Russia, communist Vietnam, communist China, communist Korea, etc. Instead of working for a just employer who pays a decent wage and rewards his people, the g'vment has to come in and mess it all up. Then it all falls down like a house of cards. How sad, especially when all you have to do is just go pick the grapes off the tree and eat them. But you aren't even allowed to do that. Nope, you can only sit on the other side of the fence and watch the grapes rot, while your stomach turns over and you lick your lips wishing for a drink.

Class warfare anyone? Or how about just plain old free market capitalism? I'll take the capitalism system anyday. Let me pay what I want, and let the worker get the full amount. And let me keep what I make on the goods I sell, ALL OF IT! Then everything goes smoothly. That's the BIBLE WAY!