“You shall not steal” is a fundamental biblical commandment that’s found in both Testaments (Ex. 20:15; 21:16; Lev. 19:11, 13; Matt. 19:18; Rom. 13:9). If property is theft, as one Christian stated on his Facebook page, then every person in the world is a thief because everyone owns something.
Property rights are fundamental in the Bible, so much so that they’ve been written into our nation’s laws:
Iron pins are a common and useful means of identifying property corners and they and other similar monuments serve a useful purpose. The installation and maintenance of permanent monuments identifying land corners even preserves the good order of society itself. From earliest times the law not only authorized but protected landmarks. Interference with landmarks of another was a violation of the Mosaic law. See Deuteronomy 19:14; 27:17; Job 24:2; Proverbs 22:28; 23:10. (256 Ga. 54, International Paper Realty Company v. Bethune. No. 43092. Supreme Court of Georgia, June 10, 1986).
In a list of those who do evil, the book of Job includes those who “remove the landmarks” and thereby “seize and devour flocks” (24:2). Note that theft by government is not an exception.
Christian Economics in One Lesson
Christian economics must begin with the issue of ultimate ownership. This sets it apart from modern economic analysis, which begins with the issue of scarcity. Second, this leads to the issue of theft, which in turn raises the issue of ethics. The ultimate form of causation in human history is ethical: right vs. wrong. Modern economists do not share this view. In fact, it goes beyond this. They openly reject it. They proclaim economic analysis as value-free—this is self-deception. It is a variation of an ancient temptation: “Hath God said?” Yes, He has. “Thou shalt not steal.”
Buy NowIn 1 Kings 21, we read the story of the prophet Elijah who rebuked Ahab and Jezebel for the murder of Naboth and their theft of his vineyard. Did Elijah say that this was a way to achieve economic equality by diminishing the wealth of some for the benefit of others? He pronounced severe judgment on Ahab and Jezebel for their theft.
If property is theft, and civil governments take property from some people and give it to others, then these governments are guilty of theft by holding the property and transferring it to people who don’t have any right to it. Those who receive the property and those who vote for politicians who support taking property from some people so that it can be given to others are engaged in violating the Eighth Commandment.
The great Walter Williams describes a form of theft that most people do not consider to be theft, and unfortunately, that includes many Christians.
I do not believe the government has a role whatsoever in getting rid of inequality. The point you have to recognize is that there’s no tooth fairy or Santa Claus giving the congressmen the money. So the only way the government can give one American citizen one dollar is first, through intimidation, threats, and coercion, confiscate that dollar from some other Americans. Now, you should not confuse my disagreement with the redistribution with my saying that you should not take care of people who are in need. I believe in helping your fellow man by reaching into your own pockets; doing so is praiseworthy and laudable. Reaching into somebody else’s pockets to help your fellowman in need is despicable. And for the Christians among us, when God gave Moses the commandment, “thou shalt not steal,” He did not mean “thou shalt steal” unless you got a majority vote in Congress.
Tyrannical regimes always promise a better life. What tyrants have ever said they would make things worse for people? But they always do. Has socialism created a better life for mankind? It hasn’t. Economic liberty has. The image below shows Communist North Korea in darkness and free-market South Korea lit up at night.
Economic liberty is based on two fundamental operating principles: “You shall not steal” and “Let’s make a deal.” There’s no role for government in such deals except to enforce agreed-upon deals. If a majority votes to empower civil officials to take money from some people and give it to others who did not earn it, it is still theft, no matter how some people try to justify it.
Thinking Straight in a Crooked World
The nursery rhyme "There Was a Crooked Man" is an appropriate description of how sin affects us and our world. We live in a crooked world of ideas evaluated by crooked people. Left to our crooked nature, we can never fully understand what God has planned for us and His world. God has not left us without a corrective solution. He has given us a reliable reference point in the Bible so we can identify the crookedness and straighten it.
Buy Now