On this first day of Lent, some provocative thoughts from Katie Kieffer:

… it occurs to me that believing in Christ’s resurrection requires a capitalistic mindset. Certainly, you could be a capitalist without believing in Christ’s resurrection since it requires faith to believe in the resurrection. And, Christ’s primary mission on earth was not to overthrow human forms of government. However, Christ recognized as “good” a legitimate form of human government that espouses freedom, private property rights and representative authority. So, if you call yourself a Christian (as President Obama does) then I think you must also be a capitalist.

Increasingly, I hear Christians carelessly mistake the lessons in the Bible for those in Marx’s “The Communist Manifesto.” I hear Christians praising “social justice” like it’s the 11th Commandment. I want to set the record straight: Jesus Christ was not a socialist and he did not preach “social justice.” …

Basically, Judas starts out as a disciple of Christ. His responsibility is to be a treasurer and carry the common “purse” for Christ and the disciples as they travel and preach together. Unfortunately, Judas ends up loving money more than he loves Christ and the poor. While Judas says he cares about the poor, he is not poor in spirit.

Judas is very judgmental and self-righteous. In John 12:4-6, we read, “Then one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, he that was about to betray him, said: ‘Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor?’ Now he said this, not because he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and having the purse, carried the things that were put therein.”

Judas’ attitude toward money is similar to that of a modern socialist politician who thinks that he knows better than the people he is representing—the taxpayers—how to spend their money. A socialist politician like President Obama thinks that he cannot trust us to be generous with our own money. However, ironically, when politicians and federal agents have access to taxpayer money, they often become corrupt and waste our money on things like conferences for federal employees that feature clowns, mind readers and goodie bags filled with costly key chains and commemorative coins. In other words, socialist bureaucrats have a track record of spending our money on worthless junk in the name of helping the poor. …

Jesus was never a part of the government. Nor was he an anarchist; Jesus said: “Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s.” He was not against just human authority and taxation. However, he absolutely defended the right of private businessmen and women to run their businesses, wield their private property and enter into contracts as they see fit—not the way unions or politicians screaming for higher minimum wages and universal healthcare see fit. …

I would encourage you to recognize that the Biblical story of Christ is not the same as the abridged version you hear from President Obama and other socialist politicians. Christ did not preach about stealing from one group to give to another. (In fact, his Father gave Moses the eighth commandment.) Rather, Christ taught that private property owners were capable of being generous independently. And, Christ did not merely preach poverty as Judas did—he lived a life of poverty and he befriended the poor and rich alike.