The following are observations I originally penned on Twitter earlier today:
Marxists only think along 1 axis: that of
power <–> oppression
When you point out that there are more moral dimensions than that one (good/evil, justice/mercy, peace/strife, purity/corruption, etc.), and that the other dimensions aren’t reducible to that one:
Does not compute.
If this is the case, it appears that the Left as a whole is simply becoming more Marxist. And, as best I can tell, conservatism in American is still moving further left.
Nathan Rinne
Yes, and theological think-tanks as well.
You can tell this in how they focus on Christ’s humiliation (even to the point of crassness) and downplay his exaltation.
His enemies can’t be his footstool — that would be oppression!
This manifests in an obsession with speaking in terms of a “theology of the cross” and rhetorically castigating a “theology of glory.”
“Glory” is something a conqueror has. But only one who is oppressed bears a cross.
If one’s mind operates in a Marxist paradigm, where all moral questions boil down to
Power <–> oppression
then it becomes tantamount to blasphemy to speak of God in terms of his power (as it puts him dangerously close to the “immoral” side of the continuum).
This is what happens when you allow Marxist categories to become your operating paradigm. You can no longer read scripture rightly, since those categories are foreign to it, and you start asserting, for instance, that Sodom was destroyed only because rape=oppression.
Thus the story of salvation begins with the oppression of baby Jesus, and ends with his oppression on the cross. The glory he had with the Father before the world was, and the glory he receives at His right hand need not bear mention.
And since morality is reduced to
Power <–> oppression
Then Jesus’ death was not to atone for unrighteousness, writ large, but only to show that God is on the side of Moral Good, in that he is oppressed too.
Last thought:
Scripture and Luther both at times cast sin as an oppressor.
What happens when you approach those statements from an anachronistic Marxist paradigm?
I’ll assert that you will become a Universalist, because sinner=oppressed=”morally good”
Short of that, you will at least downplay the acter of sin as a “victim” and hype up Sin itself as the “victimizer.”
The sinner must therefore get leniency, bar none, since Christ came to break the power of Sin.
It is “the devil made me do it” theology.
One more thought I also posted to another conversation (you can tell where my mind is at today), for the road:
Marxism asserts: inequality must mean that the “higher” elements are oppressing the “lower” elements.
This sets the table for class warfare, feminism, racial strife – over nothing more than population physics; i.e. stratification.
Our entire society has adopted these categories.
Edit: I defend my imprecise use of the term “Marxist” here.
[…] I responded to this by saying “If this is the case, it appears that the Left as a whole is simply becoming more Marxist. And, as best I can tell, conservatism in American is still moving further left,” prompting a series of tweets from Thomas I took to be exceptionally thought-provoking. You can read them in his very short and accessible blog post titled “How Adopting Marxist Categories Leads to the Devil Made Me Do it Theology”. […]