{"id":920,"date":"2013-12-18T05:00:06","date_gmt":"2013-12-18T10:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/godonomics\/?p=920"},"modified":"2013-10-30T20:55:15","modified_gmt":"2013-10-31T00:55:15","slug":"ayn-rand-and-jesus-do-they-teach-opposing-viewpoints-about-economy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/2013\/12\/ayn-rand-and-jesus-do-they-teach-opposing-viewpoints-about-economy.html","title":{"rendered":"Ayn Rand and Jesus: Do they teach opposing viewpoints about economy?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Why Inflation is like Pancakes\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/o8cwuDcml2A?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<p>An article on the Blaze reported that &#8220;Prominent GOP leaders have praised <em>Ayn <\/em>Rand\u2019s philosophy and beliefs. But Rand made it clear that you can\u2019t follow her and Christ. The GOP budget, authored by Rand acolyte Paul Ryan, is the perfect example.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>How can an atheist like Ann Rand and Jesus have anything in common? \u00a0Well, \u00a0they can. In fact, the Bible teaches that God&#8217;s truth can be discovered through both &#8220;general revelation&#8221; (the truth that can be observed and studied from the world around us) and &#8220;special revelation&#8221; (the truth revealed by God through the Scriptures.) \u00a0 The Bible also teaches that God has placed a moral code into the hearts of all mankind. (Romans 2).<\/p>\n<p>This means that there can be overlap between an atheist and a Christian. \u00a0C.S. Lewis says it this way in Mere Christianity:<\/p>\n<p><em>If you are a Christian you do not have to believe that all the other religions are simply wrong all through. If you are an atheist you do have to believe that the main point in all the religions of the whole world is simply one huge mistake. If you are a Christian, you are free to think that all these religions, even the queerest ones, contain at least some hint of the truth. When I was an atheist I had to try to persuade myself that most of the human race have always been wrong about the question that mattered to them most; when I became a Christian I was able to take a more liberal view. But, of course, being a Christian does mean thinking that where Christianity differs from other religions, Christianity is right and they are wrong. As in arithmetic-there is only one right answer to a sum, and all other answers are wrong: but some of the wrong answers are much nearer being right than others.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Among other things, there can be overlap between an atheist and a Christ follower in discovering truth. \u00a0Jesus would disagree with Ayn Rand that there is any morality outside of God. He might tell her that she hasn&#8217;t traced her absolutes back far enough to an objective reality. \u00a0He might agree with her that organized religion produces pride, fear, and arrogance. Jesus once said to the religious community, &#8220;You are like white-washed tombs full of dead men&#8217;s bones. When you make a convert, you make them twice the son of hell as you are.&#8221; \u00a0Strong words! \u00a0 Jesus speaking <em>against<\/em> religion. \u00a0Jesus was constantly contrasting his message of grace which produces humility and gratefulness to God with religion which produces fear and arrogance.<\/p>\n<p>There is lots of room for overlap between the Bible and Ayn Rand&#8217;s philosophy. \u00a0Ayn discovered much of the moral law or &#8220;common grace&#8221; (as the Puritan&#8217;s called it) that God hard-wired into the universe. \u00a0There are at least three bedrock Biblical principles that overlap with Ayn Rand: Freedom, Property Rights, and Incentive.<\/p>\n<p>When God brought His people out of Egypt and taught them to live as a free people, He gave them ten building blocks for a society. Among those Ten Commandments, God said, \u201cDo not envy or steal someone else\u2019s house or donkey\u2026\u201dGod was establishing private ownership. Each person would have ownership over their own personal belongings, their own cattle, and their own land. The concept of property rights appeared throughout the Scripture, including 2 Thessalonians which speaks of each person working for his own bread, not eating someone else\u2019s bread. Many are surprised that the Scriptures speak of incentive: \u201cIf you do not work, you shall not eat,\u201d \u201cGive her the fruit of her labor,\u201d and \u201cDo not muzzle an ox while it is threshing.\u201d Christians should throw out the socialism model.<\/p>\n<p>Collectivism may sound utopian, but the results \u00a0are historically\u00a0devastating. The biblical principles of Property Rights, Incentive, and Freedom, are foundational to the success of any society. They are also the bedrock of the free market system. These concepts were outlined by God and given to Moses as a blueprint for a free society. As the Hebrew slaves headed out to begin a new nation, God gave them the framework for freedom. It began with property rights. Property Rights are referred to in twenty percent of the Ten Commandments. We are warned not to \u201cenvying someone else\u2019s house or horse\u201d because someone else owns it, and therefore, we don\u2019t have the right to take it or even envy it.Another commandment addresses the legal side of this issue: \u201cDo not steal someone else\u2019s donkey or field.\u201d Why shouldn\u2019t we take something that\u2019s not ours? We shouldn\u2019t steal it because someone else has property rights to that asset. Property rights are the foundation for freedom in any society. For the Hebrews this meant that no longer would the king or Pharaoh own the land. No longer would the strongest and most powerful militia determine who-owns-what by the nature of survival of the \u201cwickedest.\u201dProperty rights are the key difference between socialism and capitalism. Many people on the street are unable to define these terms; they will stumble for a comprehensive definition for socialism and captalism. They may, perhaps, mumble something about capitalism being about greed and socialism being about generosity. But when exercised in society, the results reveal the exact opposite. Here is a working definition.<\/p>\n<p><em>Capitalism: The<span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"> free exchange<\/span> of privately owned goods and servicese<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Socialism: An economic system focused on<span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"> state control <\/span>and <span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">state-ownership<\/span> of industry and property <\/em><\/p>\n<p>Jesus did not and would not support a system of collectivism. He taught constantly about the role of property rights, liberty, and incentive through the New Testament. Though he and Ayn Rand would disagree on much, they would find common ground on the morality of free market capitalism over the alternatives. \u00a0Here is a message I gave a few years ago laying out a case from Jesus on Free Market Capitalism. Click<a href=\"http:\/\/www.horizoncc.com\/horizonfiles\/mp3\/110908_t.mp3\" target=\"_blank\"> here<\/a> for MP3. \u00a0Jesus is no Republican or Democrat. God is not on one side or the other, but He did lay out principles that allow us to see if our programs and systems are on &#8220;His side.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>More more information, check out <a href=\"www.godonomics.com\" target=\"_blank\">www.godonomics.com<\/a>. \u00a0 Here is a link to a video where I explain the moral and Biblical basis for capitalism.<\/p>\n<p>For more information on free market capitalism, check out\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.godonomics.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">www.godonomics.com<\/a><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.godonomics.com\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.godonomics.com\/images\/godonomics-header.png\" width=\"600\" height=\"162\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Read more:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/godonomics\/#ixzz2XouzlyvG\">http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/godonomics\/#ixzz2XouzlyvG<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; An article on the Blaze reported that &#8220;Prominent GOP leaders have praised Ayn Rand\u2019s philosophy and beliefs. But Rand made it clear that you can\u2019t follow her and Christ. The GOP budget, authored by Rand acolyte Paul Ryan, is the perfect example.&#8221; How can an atheist like Ann Rand and Jesus have anything in&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":353,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67,65,58],"tags":[240,243,242,241],"class_list":["post-920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-capitalismsocialism","category-generosity","category-liberty","tag-ayn-rand-and-jesus","tag-is-capitalism-a-moral-system","tag-is-capitalism-biblical","tag-is-jesus-a-capitalist"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Ayn Rand and Jesus: Do they teach opposing viewpoints about economy? - Godonomics<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/2013\/12\/ayn-rand-and-jesus-do-they-teach-opposing-viewpoints-about-economy.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ayn Rand and Jesus: Do they teach opposing viewpoints about economy? - Godonomics\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&nbsp; An article on the Blaze reported that &#8220;Prominent GOP leaders have praised Ayn Rand\u2019s philosophy and beliefs. 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The GOP budget, authored by Rand acolyte Paul Ryan, is the perfect example.&#8221; How can an atheist like Ann Rand and Jesus have anything in&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/2013\/12\/ayn-rand-and-jesus-do-they-teach-opposing-viewpoints-about-economy.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Godonomics\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-12-18T10:00:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-10-31T00:55:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.godonomics.com\/images\/godonomics-header.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"chadhovind\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Ayn Rand and Jesus: Do they teach opposing viewpoints about economy? - Godonomics","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/2013\/12\/ayn-rand-and-jesus-do-they-teach-opposing-viewpoints-about-economy.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Ayn Rand and Jesus: Do they teach opposing viewpoints about economy? - Godonomics","og_description":"&nbsp; An article on the Blaze reported that &#8220;Prominent GOP leaders have praised Ayn Rand\u2019s philosophy and beliefs. 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The GOP budget, authored by Rand acolyte Paul Ryan, is the perfect example.&#8221; How can an atheist like Ann Rand and Jesus have anything in&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/2013\/12\/ayn-rand-and-jesus-do-they-teach-opposing-viewpoints-about-economy.html","og_site_name":"Godonomics","article_published_time":"2013-12-18T10:00:06+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-10-31T00:55:15+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.godonomics.com\/images\/godonomics-header.png"}],"author":"chadhovind","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/2013\/12\/ayn-rand-and-jesus-do-they-teach-opposing-viewpoints-about-economy.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/2013\/12\/ayn-rand-and-jesus-do-they-teach-opposing-viewpoints-about-economy.html","name":"Ayn Rand and Jesus: Do they teach opposing viewpoints about economy? - Godonomics","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/2013\/12\/ayn-rand-and-jesus-do-they-teach-opposing-viewpoints-about-economy.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/2013\/12\/ayn-rand-and-jesus-do-they-teach-opposing-viewpoints-about-economy.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.godonomics.com\/images\/godonomics-header.png","datePublished":"2013-12-18T10:00:06+00:00","dateModified":"2013-10-31T00:55:15+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/#\/schema\/person\/b94809cbc6e13eafdb08a63d1825e37a"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/2013\/12\/ayn-rand-and-jesus-do-they-teach-opposing-viewpoints-about-economy.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/2013\/12\/ayn-rand-and-jesus-do-they-teach-opposing-viewpoints-about-economy.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/2013\/12\/ayn-rand-and-jesus-do-they-teach-opposing-viewpoints-about-economy.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.godonomics.com\/images\/godonomics-header.png","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.godonomics.com\/images\/godonomics-header.png"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/2013\/12\/ayn-rand-and-jesus-do-they-teach-opposing-viewpoints-about-economy.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Ayn Rand and Jesus: Do they teach opposing viewpoints about economy?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/","name":"Godonomics","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Chad Hovind","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/#\/schema\/person\/b94809cbc6e13eafdb08a63d1825e37a","name":"chadhovind","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/5ce\/5ce450f147d7562d63fa6a7f70df8143x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/5ce\/5ce450f147d7562d63fa6a7f70df8143x96.jpg","caption":"chadhovind"},"description":"Chad Hovind is Senior Pastor of Horizon Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. He graduated from Moody Bible College in Chicago, majoring in pastoral ministry and communication. His love for ministry and creativity can be seen in many forms: leading teams, expository teaching, acting, and video production. He has served as pastor at two high-impact churches in Georgia: Cumberland Community Church and New Community Church. Chad received an M.A. in Ministry from Moody Graduate School in 2008. He loves volleyball, movies, and hanging out with his wife Beth and their three children.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.godonomics.com\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/author\/chadhovind"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/353"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=920"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/920\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":922,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/920\/revisions\/922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}