Why Capitalism is Unbiblical

In this article I am going to show as to why I believe that Capitalism is not the biblical economic modal. Before anyone assumes that just because I am against capitalism that I must be for Communism/Socialism let me just direct you to my anti-Socialism article here. My point is there are other economic modals other than Socialism or Capitalism. For this article I am going to be covering about thirty biblical arguments as to why Capitalism should be abandoned for the biblical modal of economics. Let's get started.

So why is Capitalism unbiblical? Well in Capitalism money is king, Capitalist view acquisition as the end and not the means. Instead of resources just being used as a necessary tool for their trade, the unlimited gathering of wealth is their trade and life goal. Consider Chain fast food restaraunts and retail stores as a prime example of this they are always expanding and making more stores in different areas as to increase the profits of the few men at the top.

In Capitalism you do whatever you can to grow your business even if it means crushing the competition, or ending it completely. This is known as agonistic competition. One example we see of this is in elections, when candidates running for office and paying for people to defame their opponent.

 In Capitalist societies such as America we have the vast amount of property, resources, and wealth owned by a relatively small part of the population. If you do a bit of research you will find out that although we have a variety of product brands, these brands are owned by only a few companies. These are known as monopolies and Cartels and this is why Capitalism is not a free market. The mom and pop shops can't compete with these large companies. Some examples of current or previous monopolies or near oligopolies include Microsoft, Telecommunication companies, Coca cola, Fuels, Google, Cable TV, Mars, Johnson & Johnson, General Mills, Kraft, Kellogs, Nestle, Apple, Fargo, Bimbo, PEMEX, Walmart, Vanderbilt, Mondelez, etc. When a company becomes a monopoly it then gains total pricing power.

So what is a free market if it's not capitalism? You can measure the freeness of a market by the barriers to entry. Which is the difficulty for firms to get in and out of the business; free markets are competitive markets. These firms would be price takers, not price makers. In order to get a free market you need a bunch of competitors. In order to get that you need a wide distribution of capital through the market. This way a high percentage of the population can become property owners, and start their own business. In order for us to do business we need rules but the tragic thing is most of the time it's the big businesses (like Walmart or Amazon) that sets the rules and not the Government.
In the John Medaille reference below he mentions this lady who makes her living braiding hair, but since her house wasn't zoned for a beauty shop, she didn't have a sink in her living room, and she didn't have a cosmotology license she therefore lost her business. This is an example of the industry protecting itself through regulations, and I would say agonistic competition.

 In a bible based economy each man would have his own piece of land and tools to which he could produce his own products instead of working for someone else. The wealth although would be more evenly distributed which each family being able to provide for themselves instead of relying on others or the Government.

Sports is a great metaphor for the biblical modal of co-operative competition, in it we have the teams taking turns playing at each other's cities so that both teams will benefit from the ticket sales and concession prices. There is no absolute winner, in as much as someone just has more points win the game ends and they just start a new game next time. If sports was like capitalism the winning team would just break the legs of the losers so that they could never play again. Now lets go over some scripture.


Many people know that Communism/Socialism is slavery as the Government controls nearly every aspect of a persons life but what you may not know is that Capitalism can be considered slavery in a way too. Freedom is defined as having self rule or government. When you are an employee to a company you have very few freedoms. Here are some examples.  In some places you can't choose what days that you have off, this means that you can't keep the sabbath if you wanted to, your boss tells you if you can observe the sabbath. Where I currently work I have to listen to secular ungodly music, I can't tell my boss to turn that garbage off. Some places have strict dress codes, you can't choose what to where. You are told how to do your job by your supervisors and how to operate the equipment any deviating could result in discipline.If you want to take a day off to do something else you need managements approval first and sometimes days in advance. I hear people complain about their jobs frequently, if they were truly free they would leave their job if they wanted to. But the truth is most jobs pay so low that their employees can't afford to quit their jobs unless someone else hires them first. Those are just a few examples of how being an employee limits your freedom.

Verses about Owning Property/Business

There are several passages in the bible that talk about either owning your own land or business. However under Capitalism very few people have enough money to buy land and usually have to go in debt to acquire it. 

1.  Under God's leadership we see the tribes of Israel being appointed their property in many places in Joshua  chapter 19.
2. In Deut 15:12-14 we see that an Hebrew servant who was released the seventh year was given provision from his master.
3. Mic 4:4 Shows us that in the millennial reign of Christ "...they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree...", this shows personal land ownership.
4. The apostle Paul who were are to follow (1Cor 4:16,11:1) was a tentmaker (Act 18:3), we too should work toward owning our own business.
5. He even commanded us to work with our own hands in 1 Thes 4:11

Verses about Greed

The underlying principle of Capitalism is greed, the amassing of wealth is the ultimate goal, especially at the expense of others. Let's look at some biblical passages that are relevant to this kind of behavior. 

6. In Lev 19:13 we see that the wages of him that is hired wasn't supposed to be kept overnight but the pay was to be delivered the same day. How many people nowadays live paycheck to paycheck, getting paid once every week or two weeks? This isn't God's ideal form of payment.
7. Scripture tells us that a false balance and divers weights are an abomination to the Lord (Pro 11:1, 20:23). False balances in today's times would be like counterfeit money or food packaging that deceives the buyer into thinking he is getting more than what he actually is.
8. In  2 Sam 12 we see a parable that Nathan gives to king David in order to show him that he had done wrong by taking the wife of Uriah and slaying him with the sword of the children of Ammon.
In the parable we see a rich man who had exceeding many flock and herds robbing the poor man who only had one little ewe lamb whom he raised like a member of the family. The parallels I find to the ideology of Capitalism is certainly interesting.
9. Did you know that Getting of Treasures by a lying tongue is a vanity tossed to and fro by those that seek death? (Pro 21:6) This is done quite frequently in big businesses, even if in most cases it is done unintentionally. A common example is when someone stocks an item on the wrong place on a shelf and the sticker is at a lower price than the item. Or when the item is on sale and then goes back to full price but nobody changed the discounted sticker, this tricks people into paying more.
10. Isa 5:8 prescribes woe to those who join  house to house, and lay field to field till there be no place.
11. You know how food companies shrink the amount of food they place in their packages and they then shortly thereafter say something like 20% more for the same price just to sell more product. This to me seems similar to Amos 8:5. they're just giving you the same amount of product for what it used to be.
12. Isa 56:11-12 are two great verses which describes the greediness of men. "...they are greedy dogs which can never have enough,...they all look to their own way, every one for his gain..." "...tomorrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant."
13. The bible is clear that you Cannot serve God and Mammon (Matt 6::24). Mammon is the god of capitalism.
14.  Jesus tells us very plainly to Beware of  covetousness in Luke 12:15, for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. This is the opposite principle of Capitalism.
15. Throughout the world we see big powerful CEO's of multibillion dollar companies building chain restaurants all across the earth in order to further increase their wealth. It reminds me of the rich man who desired to tear down his barns and build greater in order to store his huge crop (Luke 12:16-21). Do you remember what became of him?
16. The Love of Money is described as the root of all evil in 1 Tim 6:10.
17. James 5:4-5 kept back by fraud
18. Christians are instructed to Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. The lust of the flesh, and the lusts of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world (1 John 2:15-17). These things are at the heart of Capitalism.

Verses on Debt

It is my firm position that we as Christian's should rely solely on the Lord for our provision and not covet others wealth to acquire what we want. Now their are other biblical passages about not going into debt but I will list just 2. 

19. In  Dt 15:6 we see that the result of Israel being blessed by God would cause them to lend to others and not borrow. 
20. And in  Rom 13:8 it tells us to owe no many anything. Just from these two passages we can see that in God's perfect will we wouldn't be indebted to anyone.

Verses on Compassion

Unlike Capitalism's motto of beat the competition at all costs, the biblical modal teaches us to love one another and even our enemies.

21. We see from the example given in  Ex 23:4-5 that the children of Israel were commanded to even help the animals that belonged to their enemies. Keep in mind the animals mentioned ox/ass were farm animals, animals used to do business and not just pets.
22. The bible's message of  Love thy neighbor as thyself is a reoccurring them throughout the bible (Lev 19:18,  Matt 22:39, Jam 2:8). Which is something completely foreign to capitalism.
23. Rom 13:10 tells us that love worketh no ill to his neighbor.
24. The bible teaches an Equality, that is your abundance would be a supply for others lack and vice versa  (2 Cor 8:14-15). Big businesses hold on to food until the last minute before they expire just to increase sales and then throw away vast quantities of spoiled food. So wasteful.
25. We are also told by the new testament that we are not to just look on our own thing but also on the Things of Others (Philippians 2:4).

Other

26. There is a passage in the book of proverbs that tells us that those who giveth to the rich will surely come to want (Pro 22:16). I understand that buying something from someone isn't that same as giving to them, however when we buy from big businesses aren't we in a way supporting Capitalism?
27. Rich men oppress you James 2:6-7
28. Christ warns that we are not to do our Alms before men to be seen of them, otherwise we won't get a reward from God. If you do charity to make yourself look good in front of others their praise of you is all the reward that you will have. There are so many businesses that advertise their good deeds that it ain't funny (Mat 6:1-4).
29. The bible instructs women to guide the house (1 Tim 5:14), and to be keepers at home (Tit 2:5). It's pretty straightforward, however thanks in part to capitalism women go outside the home and get jobs instead of working at home. Women need to work at home because parents are responsible for the upbringing of their children. Females are the one that nurse the infants. It's not ideal for a mother to take her two year old out in the field with her to till the soil.
30. The bible neither teaches Communism nor Capitalism.
31. The final point that I want to mention regarding Capitalism is regarding Mat 6:33, which teaches us to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added unto us.

So in conclusion we can see from these bible verses that in an ideal world we would own our own property and work with our own hands, we shouldn't be greedy with our resources but instead show compassion to our fellow man, all this should be done without going into debt, and that parents (especially mothers) would be able to work from home so as to properly raise their children. I therefore believe that Capitalism isn't a good economic modal, and that we as Christians should do our best to get out from under it.

Related Movies
The Money Masters youtube documentary

References
https://www.lifepersona.com/35-examples-of-monopoly-and-oligopoly-companies

YouTube channel: American Solidarity Party
Distributism Basics with John Medaille

Thanks for reading please share!!