IS GOD COMMUNIST OR CAPITALIST?

I have struggled with this question for months now; not in an effort to find answers but as to whether it would be right for me to question the nature of my deity especially following my creed and strong convictions. I however felt justified that it is most healthy for me to want to know my God at a deeper level. And one of this ways is to study more about His authority, since for sure He executes His will by ruling a kingdom, a realm which we do not fathom or see but which undeniably exists.

A kingdom presupposes a system of administration or government for that matter. And having lived in the 20th century, the two prominent forms of government that reign in my school of thought are capitalism and communism. Of these two, which could God’s government pledge the allegiance of its operation to?

The earth is the Lord’s and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein, states the psalmist. This is so eminently a feature of communism, where the government owns the land and all other means of production; and as such controls the manner, amount and extent to which these factors are utilized. This somehow reminds of the story of the tower of babel, where the Babylonians saw it as a viable economic venture to build a canal from earth to heaven. Whatever they needed to import or export nobody knows. But it is recorded that the government of the Holy trinity had to interfere with this venture through the confusion of the lingua-franca of the populace.

This totally went against the philosophy of laissez faire, which is of the capitalist; where the government is limited and hence has minimal interference in the economic affairs of the people. But then this does not offer a full score for God’s government going ultra-vires in its powers to regulate the people. The power to choose what actions to do, whether good or bad was naturally given to man. God never interferes when it comes to the choices we make no matter what the consequences may be. We are all given free will. And as such, laissez faire in a way is upheld.

But how confused I get when I read of the story of the Israelites and how they were required to divide the land in Canaan into different sizes based on the twelve tribes of the nation. I thought this was a holy nation, a peculiar people set apart for a higher good, but then why do they have to divide land and live in it? Why couldn’t they just spread out randomly and occupy the land that was promised to them? And wait, the last commandment given to them was that they should not covet their neighbour’s property; isn’t this in itself a protection clause for private ownership of property?

Silver and gold are mine; says the Lord. This is yet another scripture I came across that again tossed me into starting to think that God is communist even after almost getting convinced that he is a capitalist. The government owning capital is a real strong feature of communism. And when the scripture even go ahead to say that all people are equal in the eyes of God and that God is no respecter of persons; the doctrine of the rule of law kicks in to inform me of the equality of all individuals in a communistic government.

Fair pricing having being one of the economic pillars too in a communistic government is spoken of in the scripture where the wise sayings of King Solomon state the diverse weights and dishonest scales as an abomination before God. The resources in God’s government are to be allocated where He even urges us to “ask and it shall be given”.

The question still stands, Is God communist or capitalist? And from the above illustrations, could it be that His government is an amalgamation of both systems? Well, where my wisdom ends, His foolishness starts, I cannot comprehend further but what am certain of is that despite what kind of system it is His government is about righteousness, peace and joy; components that other governments cannot offer.