Johnnie Moore, author of a new book called Dirty God, wrote an article on FoxNews examining how Jesus “was, is and would be a capitalist” if he were dropped into America today. He begins by writing, “It would not surprise me if Jesus recruited his disciple Matthew, Capernaum’s chief tax collector, just to get one more taxman off the street.”
Well, that goes against the oft-repeated claim that — if he were hanging out in the United States today — Jesus would be some sort of wealth redistributionist, camping in Union Square with the Occupy Wall Street crowd.
Moore states three reasons for his belief.
1. First, Jesus encouraged his followers to exclusively practice voluntary, personal charity.
2. Secondly, in two awfully capitalistic moments, Jesus once stated outright that “a worker deserves his wages (Luke 10:7),” and delivered an entire parable praising the profitable, investment strategy of some workers while condemning the single man who didn’t make a profit as “wicked and lazy.”
3. Thirdly, Jesus didn’t see the government as the answer to society’s greatest moral and social ills. In fact, up until the very end of his life, he fought against his own disciples who were imagining a revolution that would end in Jesus being set up as an earthly king.
What do you think? Read his full piece here.