[ Bible ] Capitalism is a Christian Concept

Post Reply New Topic

Wohoooo! I got OOWWNED!! !!

No technological advance has ever decreased total pollution or resource use.
Perhaps in the future this will become false but a betting man would be forced to take the contrary opinion.

I think capitalism is facing threats from multiple sources

1) The internet, the prevalence of free digital data and the ability of large numbers of people to share information at an unprecedented rate.

2) The general ineptness of the financial speculators and the events of the great recession

3) The general discontent and growing class awareness of ordinary people

4) The 3d printing revolution and the inevitable decentralisation of manufacturing.

5) The finite supply of crude oil and political instability caused by western meddling in the middle east motivated by said oil

The next iteration of capitalism will have to find a way to answer these factors if it is to survive.

1) Tesla died in poverty he wasn't a profiteer.

2) The only point was never about pollution solely, the other over arching factor is that there is no infinite supply of oil.
There is no incentive for capitalists to adopt renewable sources because of 1- the risk involved in adopting in new technologies and 2- the expenditure in rolling out new manufacturing infrastructure.

When the oil dries up, eventually we will be left with husks of unusable manufacturing facilities and countless people out of work.

if owned means I recorded a failed album by that name 5 years ago then yes owned.

I don't think it's really a class struggle so much as it's certain very specific sectors of our society - great example in the speculators and investment bankers - that are weilding mass amounts of money in ways that have no one's interests in mind. The western governments won't be able to keep inflating their way over budget much longer though regardless. Some kind of equalibrium will have to be reached, I just really hope that whatever burn is coming in the way of a reset won't be fatal to most of the world's population.

Max Weber said it before:

Plenty of things are detailed in the Bible that God does not approve of; they're called sins. The verse you referenced is about the rewards and consequences for people being responsible or lazy with God's blessings to them. For example, contemporary Christian singer Clay Crosse battled a porn addiction for many years; he worked hard to save his walk with God and his marriage, but a lasting penalty was the supernatural reduction of his vocal range. His talents were reduced because of his rebellion and hypocrisy. That's what the Bible means by "the Lord gives, and the Lord takes away".

I found a really interesting article recently on Church Discipline that pointed out the connections between Mormonism and Hermeticism (as a genre of rather than representative of Hermeticism as proper).

That same article seemed to point out well in the origin of Christian philosophy you had two groups - Gnostics of the Manichean sort (ie. material pessimists, the 'Christian Gnostics') and then the Hermeticists who were material optimists. So much of what protestants see in Catholicism that they can't locate in the bible really seems to be a result of Hermetic thought whereas the Protestants in a lot of ways by virtue of the harping on the world as absolutely irredeemable (in need of a future purging) seems to go in line quite well with the notion of matter, or at least 'this' matter that we experience, as seen in the same evil and 'to be escaped' light that the Christian Gnostics and other pessimists were into.

I think that Gnostic reflex as well as 'tribulation around the corner' is why so many have only so much of a problem with pollution issues or caring about the environment - ie. in that standard of outlook why care about something that God's going to roll up like a scroll by 2020 anyway. While so many different groups set dates it seems considerably more rare for the Catholic church and if they're expecting anything it might be a change of church age (perhaps Thyatira to Sardis) which might yield a shake up and a new chapter of the bible including a transfer from fish symbolism (Pisces) to water pitcher symbolism (Aquarius) and yes - the RCC being the fish-miter organization do have a bit to worry about at the changing of theological ages but that's something they're likely more concerned about with respect to their own going concern.

Even though the "name it and claim it" prosperity gospel types justify their theology with such verses, most mainline denominations (even many outside the mainstream, as well) recognize those are spiritual gifts being referred to, not material wealth.

It doesn;t matter what different denominations think, only what Scripture says. Jesus warned against people loving anything more than Him, including money, but He never said it was sinful for someone to have it, even abundantly. The heart is what matters most with such things.

Yop, if you take it totally out of conext, you can try to cheat on other people, by fooling them.

Since even the bible is totally available on google, there is no much use in doing so.

"11 Jesus answered them, "To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. 12"For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him. 13"Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.…"

So its KNOWLEDGE about god that Jesus is talking about, not material richness...

Is there any evidence that the reduction in his singing abilities was a punishment from God?

Most people lose some of their singing ability as they age anyway, and this man had an illness that stopped him singing for a while.

Absolutely. My point was, the material gospel people - who thankfully aren't representative of any sort of mainstream in this country - put their own ideology on a part of the Bible, but ignores the rest.

strychnine is not related to cyanide, nor is cyanide related to strychnine.

a person could better argue that the IDEA of christianity is opposite to the IDEA of capitalism, but even very few christians anymore are willing to entertain the notion.

I think a fine distinction always needs to be made, between the false doctrine that God will always give material wealth to those who follow Him, and the truth that such blessings are often granted in line with God's knowledge of how you'll use them. God won't supernaturally give someone a million dollars, if He knows they'll just remain selfish with it. Blessings are meant to be shared, not hoarded...but wisdom is also a very important factor.