The Camel and the Needle’s Eye, Revisited

A well-known passage in the gospel is that of the man who asked Jesus, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” (The whole passage is recorded in Luke 18:18-27) Jesus’ first answer is “Why do you call me good? No one is good – except God alone.”

But we often focus on the next part: “You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, do not murder, etc …’” The guy claims he keeps the commandments, so Jesus challenges him: “Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” And the man becomes sad and leaves. So Jesus delivers the punch-line: “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

Except this is not the punch-line. Our remembering the picture may be because of its memorability. But stopping the story here gives us a flawed version of the gospel, as I see it. I speculate that if the man had, in fact, sold everything he owned and given it to the poor, Jesus would still have met him with the reply: it’s not enough.

The point of the story is not that we have to sell everything or else we won’t get into heaven. The point of the story comes in verses 26-27. The onlookers asked Jesus: “Who can then be saved?” and he replied: “What is impossible with men is possible with God.” That is the punch-line. Remember in verse 19, he said, “No one is good – except God alone.”

We are saved, not by our good deeds, but by the grace of God. No matter how hard we try – keeping the commandments, giving everything to the poor – we will always fall short in our own endeavor. Fortunately, we don’t have to earn credit with God. We must only trust Jesus and let him do what is impossible with men, but possible with God.

Why Socialism and Christianity are Incompatible

Mixing religion and politics is not usually something I condone when it comes to concrete issues and policies. But ideologically, the world view I have from Christianity does guide me towards a certain political ideology – and away from others.I believe that the prime purpose of government is to ensure every citizen’s right and opportunity to seek her own fortune and happiness – making sure that nobody hinders others in doing the same. Secondarily, to help those people who for certain reasons fail in taking care of themselves.

Socialism has a certain appeal to many; who can argue against a call for greater care for the weak? But the problem with socialism is that it builds on the belief that mankind can, in fact, make the world better – that by adopting the right policies we can turn the world into a harmonious, egalitarian, and truly wonderful society.

I do not share this world view. As a Christian, I believe that humans are inherently sinners, although with capacity for doing good with God’s help. The story told in the Bible is one where God will re-create this world at the end of time (and beginning of eternity). God will make all things new and give us a world with no hatred, evil, or suffering. Such an undertaking is not within our capacity – only God can do that.

Socialism as an ideology is inherently flawed, because it believes in people’s best intentions. It aims to institutionalize a solidarity believed to be central to the salvation of humanity. But solidarity is not our salvation. Building a system that loves your neighbor does no better job than actually loving your own neighbor. On the contrary, such a massive system has countless more weaknesses and opportunities for abuse because of the sheer size and opaqueness of bureaucracy.

But, some may ask, shouldn’t we at least try to make the world better? This is missing the point. All politicians believe they are making the world better. To me, the ideological foundations of socialism render its ideas worthless. It is better to acknowledge the limitations of Man and work with them to get the best of the situation, than believe in a utopian prospect of revolution.

This is why I stand politically to the right side of the arena  The Social Democrats may have some merits, but going further left than that I could never do with a clear conscience. Socialist ideology is simply incompatible with everything I believe in.

As always, I will give my vote to the Conservative Party on Tuesday.