Is Capitalism Right or Wrong?

Although capitalism can be abused and abusive, it is the economic system most conducive to freedom, most in accord with human nature, and most closely related to the Bible. The unfettered laissez-faire concept of Adam Smith led to the free-booting robber barons of the nineteenth century. The story of the Rockefellers, the Vanderbilts, and other monopolistic capitalists, who built up the industrial base of our nation but who did so at the expense of their competitors, is not a pretty one.

However, the basis of free enterprise is very biblical. We read in the Old Testament that the millennial time, everyone will sit under his own vine and under his own fig tree on his own property (seeMicah 4:4CloseMicah 4:4 Everyone will live in peace and prosperity,  enjoying their own grapevines and fig trees,  for there will be nothing to fear.The LORD of Heaven's Armies  has made this promise! OPEN VERSE IN BIBLE (nlt) ). There we have an idealized concept of the private ownership of property.

In the early days of our country, the Massachusetts Bay Colony attempted a primitive form of socialism. Land was owned jointly, everyone was to work together, and then the produce was to be divided to each according to his need. This experiment failed miserably. The people began to starve to death because there was not enough incentive to work. It was only after the land was divided into acre plots and given to individual families that the people began to prosper. That was because they were now working for enlightened self-interest and giving to one another out of their increase.

God has given each human being a healthy personal self-interest. Jesus said, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 19:19CloseMatthew 19:19 Honor your father and mother. Love your neighbor as yourself.'*" OPEN VERSE IN BIBLE (nlt) ). This is something we all can relate to. There are few so altruistic that they will give up all they have produced for the good of other people. A person may love others as well as he loves himself, but he will not love them to the exclusion of himself.

Communism, on the other hand, demands that everyone work for the state; that everyone be controlled by the state; and that the means of production be in the hands of the state. There should be no profit motive, because Communists say the profit motive is evil.

But the profit motive is not evil; it is a creative force. It is based on self-interest, to be sure, but from this has come technology, creativity, the tremendous explosion of the scientific method, and other things that have made our world a better place in which to live. The profit motive has also produced tremendous social initiatives that have provided millions of dollars to help the poor, to care for the sick and needy, and to build hospitals, schools, and charitable institutions.

Yes, unbridled capitalism must be restrained, or people will get too much money and too much power and will use it to oppress others. But at the same time, government must allow people the freedom to create, to own property, and to develop the potential God has placed within them.

And the Bible contains a solution to the problem of excess accumulation of wealth and power. It is the year of Jubilee (seeLeviticus 25:8-27CloseLeviticus 25:8-27 "In addition, you must count off seven Sabbath years, seven sets of seven years, adding up to forty-nine years in all. Then on the Day of Atonement in the fiftieth year,* blow the ram's horn loud and long throughout the land. Set this year apart as holy, a time to proclaim freedom throughout the land for all who live there. It will be a jubilee year for you, when each of you may return to the land that belonged to your ancestors and return to your own clan. This fiftieth year will be a jubilee for you. During that year you must not plant your fields or store away any of the crops that grow on their own, and don't gather the grapes from your unpruned vines. It will be a jubilee year for you, and you must keep it holy. But you may eat whatever the land produces on its own. In the Year of Jubilee each of you may return to the land that belonged to your ancestors. "When you make an agreement with your neighbor to buy or sell property, you must not take advantage of each other. When you buy land from your neighbor, the price you pay must be based on the number of years since the last jubilee. The seller must set the price by taking into account the number of years remaining until the next Year of Jubilee. The more years until the next jubilee, the higher the price; the fewer years, the lower the price. After all, the person selling the land is actually selling you a certain number of harvests. Show your fear of God by not taking advantage of each other. I am the LORD your God. "If you want to live securely in the land, follow my decrees and obey my regulations. Then the land will yield large crops, and you will eat your fill and live securely in it. But you might ask, `What will we eat during the seventh year, since we are not allowed to plant or harvest crops that year?' Be assured that I will send my blessing for you in the sixth year, so the land will produce a crop large enough for three years. When you plant your fields in the eighth year, you will still be eating from the large crop of the sixth year. In fact, you will still be eating from that large crop when the new crop is harvested in the ninth year. "The land must never be sold on a permanent basis, for the land belongs to me. You are only foreigners and tenant farmers working for me. "With every purchase of land you must grant the seller the right to buy it back. If one of your fellow Israelites falls into poverty and is forced to sell some family land, then a close relative should buy it back for him. If there is no close relative to buy the land, but the person who sold it gets enough money to buy it back, he then has the right to redeem it from the one who bought it. The price of the land will be discounted according to the number of years until the next Year of Jubilee. In this way the original owner can then return to the land. OPEN VERSE IN BIBLE (nlt) :17-24). Under Old Testament law, every fifty years there was a cancellation of all debts. All the slaves were set free, and those who were in economic bondage also were set free. All the money was redistributed and the means of production was placed back in the hands of the original families. Personal property and city land that had been accumulated could be kept, but wealth resting on debt was canceled.

I believe that free enterprise is much closer to the biblical model than any other form of economic system. But wealth contains great spiritual danger. Just as the coercive utopianism of Communist materialism is not of God, neither is a capitalist materialism--based on the amassing of riches of personal gain, with disregard for the afflicted and the needy--right.

Just remember that Jesus said, "You cannot serve God and mammon" (Matthew 6:24CloseMatthew 6:24 "No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. OPEN VERSE IN BIBLE (nlt) ,Luke 16:13CloseLuke 16:13 "No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money." OPEN VERSE IN BIBLE (nlt) ). If money becomes your god, you cannot serve Jesus Christ. Gain is not godliness. A man's life does not consist of the abundance of things he possesses (seeLuke 12:15CloseLuke 12:15 Then he said, "Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own." OPEN VERSE IN BIBLE (nlt) ). The rich man was called a "fool" for not being rich toward God (seeLuke 12:20CloseLuke 12:20 "But God said to him, `You fool! You will die this very night. Then who will get everything you worked for?' OPEN VERSE IN BIBLE (nlt) ). A rich young ruler was told to sell all he had and give it to the poor (seeLuke 18:18-23). Jesus told His disciples that it was easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God (seeMatthew 19:24CloseMatthew 19:24 I'll say it again—it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!" OPEN VERSE IN BIBLE (nlt) ,Mark 10:25CloseMark 10:25 In fact, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!" OPEN VERSE IN BIBLE (nlt) ,Luke 18:25CloseLuke 18:25 In fact, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!" OPEN VERSE IN BIBLE (nlt) ). The apostle Paul taught that the love of money is the root of all sorts of evil (see I Timothy 6:10). The apostle James pronounced woe upon rich men who oppressed their workers (seeJames 5:1-4CloseJames 5:1-4 Look here, you rich people: Weep and groan with anguish because of all the terrible troubles ahead of you. Your wealth is rotting away, and your fine clothes are moth-eaten rags. Your gold and silver have become worthless. The very wealth you were counting on will eat away your flesh like fire. This treasure you have accumulated will stand as evidence against you on the day of judgment. For listen! Hear the cries of the field workers whom you have cheated of their pay. The wages you held back cry out against you. The cries of those who harvest your fields have reached the ears of the LORD of Heaven's Armies. OPEN VERSE IN BIBLE (nlt) ). In short, economic freedom and the private ownership of property are the biblical model. But wealth contains great spiritual danger; and no system based on materialism, in whole or in large part, can claim to be Christian.

Excerpt taken from Answers to 200 of Life's Most Probing Questions, Copyright 1984 by Pat Robertson.