It is a well-kept secret that the atheistic movements of the past 200 years have been some of the most naïve conceptions of human nature ever embraced. Communism failed because at bottom people can’t find motivation to work if there is no reward for their labor. Marx’s great blind spot was that he believed that people were good at heart and that they would be ideologically driven to work if they considered that it was for the greater good. Ideas have consequences and the delusion of this philosopher led to the poverty of millions of people around the world. It’s an uncommon idea in our days to associate atheism with naïvity. But it is born out in both Scripture and in history. Romans 1:23 talks about how when people deny the bright transcendent mystery of God that one of the things they exchange it for is “corruptible man”. Honest and sober approaches to political and economic policy must have an understanding of the fallenness of man. When they do then decentralization and checks and balances of power are established. When they don’t then tyranny seems to be the inevitable consequence.

Posted by Clifford Paul Engels at 2024-04-20 11:52:08 UTC