THE TENANTS OF COMMUNISM vs THE BIBLE

As Christian, I'm not a fan of communism. I'll just be honest. And while I still have the freedom of speech in America to say that, I'm going to express it and explain why I say it. For as I study communism, I find one thing, IT IS VERY MUCH AGAINST THE BIBLE!

THE FOUNDATION OF COMMUNISM:

Communists and those who follow its teaching are adamant to point out that Karl Marx used the Bible as the foundation of his political utopia. For they claim Marx used Acts 2:44 and 45 as the basic principle of communism:

Acts 2:44 And all that believed were together, and had all things common;

Acts 2:45 And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.

Having all things in "common," they stress, is very important and is what communism is all about, as people's needs are met and everyone shares in the same thing.

However, they fail to read the context, which is very important. Let's look at those verses in context with the verses before and after them:

Acts 2:42 And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.
Acts 2:43 And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles.
Acts 2:44 And all that believed were together, and had all things common;
Acts 2:45 And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.
Acts 2:46 And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,
Acts 2:47 Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

First, we see this was a common bond between CHRISTIANS and not a political system forced upon them by a secular government! Secondly, those who had all things in common were in the TEMPLE, which means they were religious and they PRAISED GOD! No communist country on earth allows individuals the freedom to worship God! Under modern communism, the state is god.

Finally, verse 47 talks about individual SALVATION of the soul, and people being added to the CHURCH. This is quite foreign to communism, which is about "collective salvation" or physical salvation of the masses, and not the individual salvation of the soul spiritually.

Communists who brag about communism being based in the Bible in order to make it appeal to religious people, don't always state these simple facts.

And as you study communism as Marx set it up, you see it has NOTHING TO DO WHATSOEVER WITH GOD, or the CHURCH, or SALVATION OF THE SOULS, or PRAISING GOD!

Even though Marx might have read some verses in the Bible that made him think up a utopian political society, he forgot the most important thing. HE FORGOT GOD!

THE TENANTS OF COMMUNISM:

On Wikipedia, we find the ten main points of Communism as Marx defined them. They are:

1. Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes.
2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.
3. Abolition of all right of inheritance.
4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.
5. Centralisation of credit in the hands of the State, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly.

6. Centralisation of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the State.
7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the State; the bringing into cultivation of waste-lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan.
8. Equal liability of all to labour. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture.
9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of the distinction between town and country, by a more equitable distibution of the population over the country.
10. Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children's factory labor in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production.

As you read each one of these, it's easy to see these most certainly are NOT rooted and grounded in the word of God. If anything, they are very foreign to it, as we'll see.

1. Abolition of private property and rent on land.

In the Bible, we don't see God doing away with private property or making people pay rent for what is already theirs. When God threw Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden in Genesis chapter three, we see him setting up Cherubims with flaming swords (Gen. 3:24) to guard what was his. This shows God believes in ownership of private property and the right to defend what's yours! Later in the Bible we read of God giving land to Abraham, and telling him it was his! For in Genesis Gen 13:15, we read God's words to Abraham, "For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I GIVE it..." Notice God doesn't say, "...I will RENT it!"

2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.

In the Bible there is no heavy tax commanded by God to give to a secular government. Instead we find God asking for a tithe (10%), which was to be given to Him via the Temple. It was indeed a tax on one's income, but it was also a tax that was not heavy nor progressive. It was a tax to help a religious organization that honored him, and not a secular organization that did not.

3. Abolition of all right of inheritance.

God would not agree with this at all. For in Gen. 12:7 we find God talking to Abraham and not only promising him the land, but promising it to his SEED! All throughout the Bible we see the father dying and leaving his goods, land, and money to his children. And in 2 Cor. 12:14 we are instructed, "...For the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children."

Truly the right for a man to leave his children an inheritance is a God-given right! Why then would Marx want to do away with it? Unless, he wants the inheritance to go to the state instead.

4. Confiscation of the property of emigrants and rebels.

This makes it sound like you have to be subservient to the state and do what they say or they will come and take away your property. Besides this, the word "confiscate" is just a different way of saying "stealing."

The Bible is very different than Marx here. In the Bible we read: "Thou shalt not steal!" (Exod. 20:15) Further God commands the following in Exodus 23:9, "...Thou shalt not oppress a stranger: for ye know the heart of a stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt." And again in Lev 19:13, we read, "Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbour, neither rob him..."

5. Centralization of credit in the hands of the state...a national bank.

In the Bible, there are no banks. People had money and kept it on them or hidden somewhere. There was lending though, and it was not done by a bank, but by a friend or neighbor. And God gave strict rules for lending someone something on credit: "If thou lend money to any of my people that is poor by thee, thou shalt not be to him as an usurer, neither shalt thou lay upon him usury. If thou at all take thy neighbour's raiment to pledge, thou shalt deliver it unto him by that the sun goeth down." Exo 22:25-26.

Usury is interest charges. And God said the Jews were not supposed to charge their own people for a loan. However, there is a verse that says you could charge usury on those who were not Jews in Deu 23:20, "Unto a stranger thou mayest lend upon usury; but unto thy brother thou shalt not lend upon usury: that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all that thou settest thine hand to in the land whither thou goest to possess it."

God is not for a centralized bank owned by the state. His plan was for men who had money to help lend to those who didn't, so they could work and pay back the person who lent to them.

6. Centralization of communication and transport in the hands of the state.

In the Bible we find both Jews and Christians at time living under the authority of foreign governments. For example the Jews went into captivity to Babylon, while the early Christians lived under the rule of the Roman Empire. Today Christians live in a time in which they are found in many different nations, and many different laws are found in each nation. Sometimes nations own the transportation and communication companies in the countries in which they live. Is this good or bad, and does the Bible say anything about this?

Well, Marx here wanted the government to own the transportation and communication industries so that a person could not be free to travel or speak out on his own. This is very much against the Bible, for we read that Christians should, "...Go...into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. (Mark 16:15)" How is this possible if the government controls the means of transportation and the means of communication? It is only possible if the government gives people FREEDOM to use those means. Do communist countries usually do that? Let's look at China as an example. In that country, the internet is censored, and people very often kept from traveling to other countries without a good reason.

7. Extension of factories...owned by the state...cultivation of waste-lands...according to a common plan.

This does away with the private sector, and the rights of people to build and own their own businesses and factories. This is a very anti-capitalist statement.

What does the Bible say about this? Is the Bible in favor of captialism? Let's see. in 1 Cor. 3:8, we clearly see the following, "Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour." This verse says that a man should receive based upon how much he works! That's a very capitalistic verse!

1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 also commands, "And that ye study to be quite, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you; That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing.

The Apostle Paul who wrote this was a "tent maker" who owned his own business! He believed in working hard and enjoying what you made. He even said in 2 Thessalonians 3:10, "For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat." Here's a verse saying a person must work, or else he shouldn't eat."

To give all business and factories to the governement is not only wrong but anti-biblical, for in the Bible man is instructed to work, and to "reap what he sows." (Galatians 6:7). He is also allowed to reap bountifully (2 Cor. 9:6) according to how much he sows. In other words, the harder you work, the more you are entitled to!

8. Equal liability of all labor and establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture.

Here the government mandates all to work for the government and to help produce food for armies. Is this right? Sounds like forced labour, doesn't it? Sounds like slavery!

In the Bible, as we've seen, God allows private property, and allows people to reap what they sow. It also commands those who own fields to give to the poor what's left after the harvest. Check out this verse in Levi. 19:9-10, "And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest. And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the LORD your God."

The main excuse for communism is that it does away with the poor. But, God gave allowance for the poor and commanded those with crops to set aside a portion for the poor to glean.

God also allows people to give alms to the poor. That means God has set up a system to take care of the poor, and it's not through forced labor of all people doing the same thing and eating the same thing!

9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual aboliton of the distinction between town and country, by a more equitable distribution of the population over the country.

This is forced living conditions to abolish city and country, and to redistribute the populace upon the face of the earth. This also does away with the freedom of choice of where you wish to live.

In the Bible, God gave certain parcels of land to certain people. Abraham received land that was then given to his children as an "inheritance." And in the Bible we are told about people buying and selling land. In Communism, this is done away with, and people are moved in next to each other.

Is there a verse in the Bible about this? You bet there is. In Isaiah 5:8 we read, "Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth!"

God places a woe on those who wish to build house to house and field to field. In other words, he's against "distribution of the populace" to "abolish the distinction between town and country."

10. Free education...in public schools...combination of education with industrial production.

Last but not least is we come to governmental education of the masses. Is this Biblical? Is it right to send your children to the state and let them teach them?

In the Bible, God wants the parents to educate their children. For in the word of God, the Jews were told to teach their own children in the ways of God:

Deu 6:6 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:
Deu 6:7 And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

In the New Testament, we read of a command in which:

Titus 2:1 But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine:
Titus 2:2 That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience.
Titus 2:3 The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;
Titus 2:4 That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,
Titus 2:5 To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.

In the New Testament, the older Christians are to teach the younger Christians. How can this be done when a person's children are sent to the state?

Secular education always leads to secularism. Or like one preacher once said, "You can't send your children off to a Philistine school and not expect them to come back with Egyptian ways!"

SUMMARY

If Communism were indeed CHRISTIAN and centered upon CHRIST JESUS, it might well be a good political system. However, as Marx has set it up, it omits Jesus completely, and more than often is very much against the word of God, even though those who believe in it claim it is rooted in the Bible.

It further enslaves people to the state. This is a very dangerous system, especially when the leader of the state is not a Christian and is against God. And if you know your Bible, you know that very soon, the anti-Christ will take over the world and rule and reign for 7 years. What system do you think he would love to see in place when he comes? COMMUNISM!