Letter to the editor: Socialism is not Christian

Regarding Lawrence Josephs’ letter “Socialism in line with Christian faith” (Jan. 16, TribLIVE): No, it is not. Nowhere in the Gospels did Jesus implore anyone to take money and material possessions from one and give it to another. That’s called theft.

He asked the wealthy man to give his wealth, not go and take the wealth of his neighbors and give it. To extract from the Gospels the message of social or economic justice, or any economic system for that matter, is to pervert the Gospels and to become faithless. For if others are prosperous and I am not, God must be negligent in attending my condition and unworthy of worship and society must be held responsible for my prosperity. And if I am prosperous, what need have I of it when it will be forced from my hand? What kind of God requires men to force from the hands of others the fruits of their labor?

These social doctrines have as their roots the idea of, “Hate the person who has more than you, who has done better than you, now GET ’EM, YEAH, GET ’EM!!” Jesus preached no such message. Socialism, along with its ugly sister communism, concerns itself not with the soul or fervent prayer or God’s saving grace; it is concerned only with the material, the natural result of which will always be a Godless quagmire.

Jim Stahl

Leechburg