[sword-devel] conversations with Stallman

Chris sword-devel@crosswire.org
Sun, 23 Dec 2001 09:50:36 +1100


Tim Hawes wrote:

>I think these fireside chats are great, but I would much rather see them
>on the news server.
>
I'm CCing to fireside for possible follow-ups.

>Chris, before you go on long tirades on socialism, 
>
I'm not a raving socialist you know. Just wait till some hard-core 
socialists
get on the list and watch me hammer them about how important the market
is. :-) I don't like to see one faction getting high and mighty on moral 
grounds.

>Socialism is not about "having
>all things in common", but rather the government owning everything.
>
What about a Kibbutz, is that "the government owning everything"?

>I think
>socialism is a bad idea, because instead of recognizing that God is Lord
>over all, and we lend from God, socialists believe that government owns
>all and we lend from government. 
>
Follow your logic through. You believe God is Lord over all. So
you don't own anything, it's God's. Therefore you should use
everything you own for the good of all God's children. Therefore
you should gather together with like-minded people and form
a committee to administer the resources in the best way possible.
Scale that up a bit and you've got socialism. And this was going
on all the time in Acts 5.                                              
                                   

>This is the very war the early
>Christian martyrs fought against in the early centuries of the Church.
>Christians were tried and killed as traitors because they said that
>there was a king over ceasar (King Jesus!).
>
I don't see the connection.