Moving back to my initial post in this series, I want to shed light on the discussion of “capitalism” and “socialism” in light of “good news to the poor.” Often westerners find it difficult to understand the non-duality of reality. We often see things as either/or…we are republican or democrat, capitalist or socialist, conservative or liberal, etc.
Of course the post-modern shift has created a culture of people who wish to be perceived as open-minded, both/and thinkers. These are the “moderates” among us. The perception is a lie. They have only created the new duality of moderate (meaning intelligent, fair-minded, balanced, logical…us) against the extremist (meaning ignorant, bigoted, insane, unreasonable…them).
Let me make it clear before we move any further into the discussion, when I criticize both capitalist and socialist collaborators in the church I am not trying to be a both/and moderate. Jesus calls us to something altogether different. He brings a sword–a two-edged sword. It cuts both ways.
Fierce enemies–vying world powers–united for Jesus’ death: Jewish leaders and Roman officials, Pharisees and Sadducees, came together in such alliances to kill one man that are something akin to a fantastical truce between Ayn Rand and Karl Marx. In contrast, we tend to ally ourselves to the current world power we think is closest to our particular Christian cause. Christ made a display of the world powers, shaming them. We on the other hand have shamed ourselves by taking sides against one another within the church to defend various world powers.
My hope here is to confront the world powers, socialist and capitalist, with the Truth who is Jesus Christ and call the church to repentance for her various forms of ideological collusion.
Puddleglum Contra Mundum 