A Non-Socialist Looks at Scotland...

Left-leaning Scots ought not to ostracise non-Socialist Scots!

 

I suppose my support for an independent Scotland might be classed as more heart than head but I disagree! I do try to be Biblical in everything (though I’m not always successful!) It makes perfect Biblical sense for Scotland to be a sovereign nation – even one nation under God. Sure, it wasn’t all roses, but God certainly blessed Scotland for its Reformational stance onwards from Knox’s “Give me Scotland, or I die!” prayer. Any Scottish tourist-shop’s dishtowel “will testify to that” – what with all the lists of inventors with their inventions! Scotland was industrious, a real place of thought and learning. The Enlightenment crowd can put all the spin on it they want but it was “The preaching of Thy Word and the praising of Thy name” that let Scotland flourish! It was the teaching of the Bible, eg, that David Hume was wresting with! Adam Smith’s Invisible Hand belongs to God! And on it goes...

 

I am a Capitalist because I believe it is Biblical. Greed? The Calvinist, (including the Scottish Calvinist) is to do all things to the glory of God. This Protestant or Presbyterian Work Ethic is exemplified by God-blessed endeavors of Calvinists such as, e.g., Arthur Guinness (& Family). A brilliant book I really enjoyed (because it was about two of my favourite subjects) was The Search for God and Guinness: A Biography of the Beer That Changed the World by Stephen Mansfield (2009). Management/employee relations? (Non-government) Welfare? Read this book. It shows the Biblical way how it is done. In fact one ought to throw away one’s copy of The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropist and swap it for The Search for God and Guinness!

Don't let Socialist "spin" put you off (Biblical) Capitalism! The 9th Commandment says, "Thou shalt not lie!" This applies to governments as well as individuals! The role of the government is to provide "a level playing field" for business success. The employees and consumers reap the benefits of business success, higher wages, lower prices etc. The government is not a business nor is it to operate as a business, for this would be an unfair advantage to legitimate (i.e., Biblical) business and would (and does!) result in higher taxes as well as stifling healthy competition among legitimate companies, etc.

 

Och anyway, I just don’t think Socialism can be shown to be Biblical apart from the fact that. empirically, it does not work. Bottom line for me is for less (i.e., limited) government and less taxes. The Government is the Referee. Not a Player. It is there to make sure that, from the individual to big business, we all play by the rules (i.e., God’s rules). Look, I know that even fellow ministers wonder how we Calvinists derive these teachings from the Bible but one only has to study The Westminster Confession of Faith, The Shorter and especially exposition of Ten Commandments in The Larger Catechism – in particular the “Thou Shalt Not Steal” 8th Commandment.

Socialist governments do not have a (Biblical) mandate for their schemes of redistributing (other peoples') wealth! "Thou shalt not steal" apples to governments as well as individuals! Infringing the 1st Commandment ("You shall have no other gods before Me") in Socialism the State becomes god of the people, especially the poor! They become dependant (i.e., slaves) of, to and through the government.

Socialism does not believe in "private property" (i.e., "Thou shalt not steal.") This is why Socialistic governments feel "free" to take wealth from one individual or group and give it to another individual or group as it sees fit in accordance with its Socialist or Progressive (read, non-Biblical) agenda.

Socialism and its attendant Social Democracies are a blight on the West and the freedoms we have attained and have enjoyed through application of Biblical teachings to Western nations and cultures. Socialism is a foreign invader and is the enemy of individual and national freedom.

Scotland: Remember that not all of us are Leftist. Some of us still remember whence we came, where we are and where we ought to go! Socialism is not the Scottish way. It never was. It is not the way because is not Biblical (apart from the fact that it does not work!). Sure, many Christians (including Presbyterians!) and many Christian ministers (including Presbyterian or Church of Scotland ministers) have been deluded by it. But the Bible gives YOU the individual (NOT the government) the mandate to look after the needy. Don't give away your freedom to any government!

“The dramatic rise of Marxism coincided with the retreat of Christianity. Marxism offered a saving hope, although a false one, and it parodied the Biblical faith in the sovereign, predestinating power of God with its ideas of materialistic determinism. It has offered victory to a world where too often ostensible Christians have offered instead retreat.” – Rousas John Rushdoony (in Foreword to Francis Nigel Lee's Communist Eschatology.

Aye, in Scotland there was and there still is a better way...