Did you know that "Obama's socialism" (apparently meaning helping anyone less well off than you) can't possibly work? It will fail because unless "the reward is great" (and isn't shared with anyone else), "no one will try or want to succeed".
That's the message of a political hit piece that a member of my church forwarded to me. So following this outstanding example of how to respond to Christian tea-nuts, I decided to respond by showing my friend just how anti-Christian (and dishonest) that email really is.
Her forwarded message and my reply are below the fold. (Note to non-Christians: my reference to the "benefit of knowing our Savior" is a criticism of the attitude of some Christians that nobody can do good except us -- it's not intended as a criticism of your choice of beliefs.)
Subject: Great teacher, This says it all!!!
This man is truly a teacher!
An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before, but had recently failed an entire class. That class had insisted that Obama's socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer.
The professor then said, "OK, we will have an experiment in this class on Obama's plan". All grades would be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade so no one would fail and no one would receive an A....
After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B. The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy. As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little.
The second test average was a D! No one was happy. When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F.
As the tests proceeded, the scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else.
To their great surprise.....they all failed, and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great, but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed.
Don't forget the most famous Russian saying "They pretended to pay us.... We pretended to work."
Could not be any simpler than that. (Please pass this on) Remember, there is a test coming up. The mid-term election in 2010!
Subject: Re: Great teacher?
I am dismayed that a fellow Christian would forward a political screed that is so utterly contrary to the teachings of our Savior. The professor in the story asserts that no one ever tries to succeed unless great effort is required to achieve a great reward, which in the story means a reward just for them that isn't shared by the less deserving. Without that great reward, he says that "no one will try or want to succeed." There are plenty of counter examples in real life to the classroom example in this story, including every single group project I've ever been involved in, at school and after. But my main point here is how this philosophy (it's certainly not a "fact") compares to our Christian faith.
We who follow Jesus are asked to do hard things and are promised a great reward (Mat 19:29), but do we earn this reward? By no means! Paul makes it clear that we are saved by faith, not by anything we do (Eph 2:8-9), and even that faith is God's gift. The truth the Bible reveals is that the blessings we receive from God are undeserved (Rom 5: 8). Jesus taught that we are expected to show mercy to those we meet, even at great cost to ourselves, and even to people whom we think hate us (Luke 10:30-37). Jesus warns us that our debt to God is so overwhelming that we had better be very careful about demanding our rights from those who owe us debts (Mat 18:23-35).
Jesus also makes it clear that God's blessings are not reserved only for the deserving (Mat 5:43-45). Jesus described the Kingdom of God as being like a man who hires workers for his vineyard throughout the day and pays them all the same wage, despite complaints from those who worked harder that they deserved more (Mat 20:1-15). God doesn't always give to everyone equally, but in the parable of the talents, it is the master's property that the servants are entrusted with, and only the servant who refuses to use the gift is rejected (Mat 25:14-28). Don’t forget that this is not just about personal piety. Jesus is called the head of a government (Isaiah 9:6-7) and he calls himself his disciples' "Lord" (John 13:13), which means master and ruler.
In short, we Christians are called to do the opposite of what this story teaches. Sure, we’re all motivated by personal gain (for good or for ill), but this story claims that it doesn’t ever work to share the fruits of our labors with others. Many people do try to live by sharing -- quite a few of them without the benefit of knowing our Savior. This behavior is so common that I think an incident like this made-up story (where everyone who agreed to work together refuses to work if others do less) is very unlikely to happen in real life. There are always people who work and share because it is right, without fearing that someone else will benefit from their efforts (in this case, they'd also help the other students learn the material). It distresses me to see people who know our Savior advocate a doctrine of selfishness, as if they had never benefited from the undeserved efforts of other human beings, much less the undeserved mercy of God.
This story is also a dishonest political hit piece, due to using the term "Obama's socialism" and defining it to mean that everyone gets equal results regardless of contribution. I’ve never heard Obama or any other Federal politician advocate for "equal results", not even the Senator who calls himself a socialist (and neither do I). The message also claims that "equal results" can never work, even for voluntary groups, but there are famous counter-examples. Luke describes the early church as living that way (Acts 2:42-47). A modern day example is the Israeli Kibbutzes. Every church member is also part of a group where different people contribute widely different amounts and the group succeeds or fails as a whole. Of course, Jesus warned us not to judge even people’s monetary contributions solely by the amount of money they give (Mark 12:41-44). In the same way, I think Jesus would condemn this story’s smug assertion that the people who did poorly were all just non-contributing lazy freeloaders.
In conclusion, I feel that this story is really about biases, ignorance, and a philosophy fundamentally contrary to the Christian faith. I hope that those who forwarded this story will think more carefully in the future about the information that you repeat to others. I hope any Christians who saw this message will think even more carefully about whether to continue to listen to people who spread messages that are so contrary to the teachings of Jesus, as well as being fundamentally dishonest in their approach to issues on which honest people may disagree. Everyone is welcome to their own opinions, but not their own facts! It distresses me when people I believe are personally honest and sincere repeat lies. There are many people out there spreading lies for their own benefit. We Christians need to be mindful of Jesus' warning that we are like "sheep in the midst of wolves" and therefore must "be wise as serpents and innocent as doves." (Mat 10:16).
It could not be any simpler (you are welcome to pass this on). Remember, there is a test coming up on the Judgment Day!
Yours in Christ,
Aranfell