President Trump says America is poised for a new Golden Age, but last week, retired NBA superstar Charles Barkley said he sees a problem ahead. He’s right about the problem. For a solution, he, our politicians, and perhaps more than a few ministers need to meet Abraham Kuyper. He saw the same problem over 100 years ago, and addressed it head on and rather bluntly.
The supposed Golden Age, I presume, will be one in which the economy is strong, allowing individual wages to exceed expenses. I have no objection to having more discretionary income. But Barkley put his finger on something that may upset the coming of the foretold age of prosperity for all.
The Point on Which Barkley and Kuyper Agree
Barkley told Fox News last Thursday that politicians in both parties “do a really good job of making us not like each other.” He put the nature of the friction they create this way:
"Racism exists, always has, always will, unfortunately. It's a disaster. But what America has become is rich people against poor people. And I wish people would understand that politicians do a good job of making us fight with each other. But it’s really rich people against poor people. They try to make it about Black, white, immigration, homosexuality and all these different things, but what it is, is rich people making people not liking (sic) each other. And until we address that, we’re never gonna be successful.”
In the words, rich people (whatever “rich” means), by flaunting their wealth, can stir up jealousy, greed, resentment, and rivalry among those who look on and are having a hard time of making ends meet. To them, the equality politicians talk about doesn’t seem real or true. And, that, Kuyper says, can drive the move toward a socialistic society.
Certainly in our day, civil government, particularly public eduction at every level, seems intent on pushing us in that direction.
To thwart the advance of socialism, conservative politicians enact laws prohibiting its teaching or requiring the teaching of capitalism. I think those efforts will succeed in stopping the movement toward socialism about as well as state marriage amendments did in stopping same-sex “marriage.”
What is at the Root of Socialism
The problem, according to Kuyper, is rooted in something much deeper than any economic textbook can address. The problem, he said in a speech given in 1891, is rooted in the mantra of the French Revolution, “No God, No Master.”
The Revolutionary leaders of France, if present in his day, would have objected to his placing the blame on them, because, as Kuyper conceded, “it was not as if the hunt for money had an official place in its program.” But, Kuyper rightly says, “the theory, the system, had to come to fruition in a kneeling before Mammon, simply because it cut off the horizon of an eternal life.”
“The French Revolution denied and opposed everything which fell outside the horizon of this earthy life.” In doing so, its theory “impelled men to seek happiness on earth,” and “thus created a sphere of lower drives, in which money was the standard of value.” “Even without prophetic gifts, the result of this struggle could readily be foreseen.”
While the best of our politicians may have God on their lips, my direct experience with them over thirty years says their thinking usually follows along in the Revolution’s train. It’s not heard to see. Just consider how many Republicans tout how government investments and programs will aid the economy and create jobs.
What Brought About This State of Affairs
Kuyper assessed the situation that was then moving all of Europe toward socialism with these words:
“Our society is losing touch with Christ; it lies bowed down in the dust before Mammon, and from the relentless goad of the most brutal egoism the very foundation of the earth stagger. . . Every tie-beam and anchor of the social structure is disturbed; disorganization brings demoralization, and in the increasing wantonness of some contrasted with the steadily growing want of others, one detects something of the decomposition of a corpse rather than the fresh blood and muscular strength of sound health.”
Can that not be said in America? The economy is still the issue, as Clintons famously said decades ago.
The natural tie-beam of marriage has been disturbed, because we don’t know what men and women are and are for. Because of that, fifteen years ago the U.S. Supreme Court purported to rewrite every state marriage licensing statute. Apart from an initial outburst of outrage, Church leaders seemed to have made their peace with this perversion of fundamental law and the U.S. Constitution. And, not surprisingly, the relationship between parent and child is now being disturbed by transgenderism, which is the natural fruit of the confusion over man and woman.
Kuyper’s Solution Still Awaits the Church
Kuyper’s solution to this state of affairs is directly related to his understanding of who Christ is. In my view, he takes to heart Paul’s statement that the “treasures of wisdom and knowledge” really are found in the “acknowledgement of God’s mystery, of the Father and of Christ” (Colossians 2:2-3) You can read his solution at this link. It will be worth your time.
However, I will summarize Kuyper’s solution with his quotation of political predecessor, Guillaume Groen van Prinsterer, “Socialism finds its source in the French Revolution,” which denied Christianity, and, therefore, it “is conquerable only by Christianity.”
In other words, it is time for Christians to begin to fight the culture war by showing the world a culture worth emulating. I believe it will be a glorious adventure in living by faith in the covenant promise of God to create in Christ a nation of kings and priests.
