Productive Christians in an Age of Guilt-Manipulators: A Biblical Response to Ronald J. Sider

by David H. Chilton

Book Overview

PRODUCTIVE CHRISTIANS in an Age of Guilt Manipulators, by David Chilton: · See Sider Squirm. If Pope John Paul II is really interested in dealing with heretical "liberation theologians" in his church,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0930464044
• ISBN13: 9780930464042
• Release Date: January 1985
• Publisher: Institute for Christian Economics
• Length: 439 Pages
• Weight: 1.23 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 5.6" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Ought to be manditory!

This book should be required reading. Too often people equivocate "compassion" with "socialism." Chilton does a great job showing that that's not true. Socialism is bad economics and bad theology. Ironically, it is also ultimately hurtful to the poor (yes, that's right, socialism hurts the very people it's supposed to help). If you believe in "liberation theology," "Christian" socialism, or anything of that nature, or if you are struggling with any of these issues or how to deal with their arguments, I recommend reading this book. In fact, even if you aren't, I still recommend reading this book. Christians have been taught for too long that the Bible has nothing to say about economics and if it does we aren't to take it too seriously. But, then again, most people don't bother to find out if the Bible actually does talk about economics, and if it does what it says about it. Although this book is specifically a response to Ron Sider's book, this book still has plenty of relevance beyond simply refuting Sider's thesis. I admittedly hadn't read Ron Sider's book before reading "Productive Christians..." and wasn't all that familiar with it before this book was recommended to me but I still learned a great deal from it. Substitute a modern-day guilt-manipulator (like Jim Wallis) and the critique is substantially the same - all these guilt-manipulators have the same basic message (i.e. the rest of the world is poor because we're rich, and the income and wealth gap between people is unjust anyway, so if you just let the government step in and redistribute wealth, force a higher minimum wage, etc., then poverty will be over and we'll enter a utopia. Guess what, it doesn't work that way! It never has and it never will). So basically, even if you haven't read Ron Sider's book, this book is still helpful because it addresses issues that are common to most teachers of "Christian" socialism and liberation theologians. If you think "I don't care about liberation theology, 'Christian' socialism, or economics, so I shouldn't bother with this book," think again. The Bible clearly commands us to help the poor. Unfortunately, there is a great deal of muddy, unbiblical teaching out there about exactly how to do that, and many people are influenced (consciously or unconsciously) by "Christian" socialism, liberation theology, and other similar heresies a lot more than they realize. You need to be able to discern truth from error and to be able to think clearly on an area of considerable unclarity. A lot of people spout off about "social justice" and other similar topics without having a clue what they're talking about, and you ought to know why they're wrong. You need to recognize that questions like economics, politics, and how to help the poor are not unimportant issues in the Bible. My point being, if you're not interested in these topics, you should be, because the Bible has a lot to say about them. As Christians, if the Bible has something to say, it is our re

Such hostility!

I've seen several reviews here from ostensibly well-meaning people, that castigate Chilton over his opinion of Ron Sider. These reviewers are engaging in the same thing! Guys, you have to realize that both Sider and Chilton come from long-established Economic traditions: Sider is a Pietistic Socialist, and Chilton is a Chicago/Austrian Economist. This book simply contributes to the never-ending debate between the two. Bottom line is, nobody reads either Sider or Chilton anymore as this issue within the Church is dead, and the Church is the worse for it. The Church has long been dead in Society, and the neglect of economic issues like those discussed in this book is a pointer as to why. Unless the Church has answers for people in their everyday lives, which is what this book seeks to do, then you can have no answers for the militant Islamists who now seek your destruction.

Read to understand how to manipulate and distort scripture

"Productive Christians in an Age of Guilt-Manipulation: A Biblical Response to Ronald J. Sider" is a classic, brilliant, example of how the Bible can be used to justify ANY political/economic/moral theory, no matter how repugnant and un-Christian, via all the myriad forms of fallacious argument and sophistry. Through selective quotations and spurious logic the author attempts to scripturally justify an extremist political ideology -- radical laissez faire predatory/ exploitative corporatism-- while discrediting any and all movements for democracy, individual civil rights, religious freedom, social and economic justice. "Slavery is an example of an institutionalized evil." (Ronald Sider) "You may acquire male and female slaves from the pagan nations that are around you." (Leviticus 25:44) With that juxtaposition of quotations, the author begins a chapter devoted, amongst other things, to a Biblical justification for *modern day* slavery, and the goodness of slavery as an institution *in principle* as well as legally (God's Law). Here are some examples of Mr. Chilton's pro-slavery argumentation: "The Bible permits slavery. This statement will come as a shock to most people. The laws in the Bible concerning slavery have very seldom been studied, much less preached upon. But the biblical laws concerning slavery are among the most beneficent in all the Bible. The biblical institution of slavery has as its basic purpose the elimination of poverty..." "Many people, when they think of "slavery," think of the pre-Civil War South, where certain aspects of slavery were in violation of biblical law. Thus many know only of an abused, unbiblical form of slavery. But since the Bible allows for slavery, it is clearly unbiblical to speak of slavery as being wrong or sinful. (Even Southern slavery was not as unbiblical as many have charged. The common conception of the slavery of that age is quite distorted; the Abolitionists were often as guilty of transgressing God's laws as were slave-holders, as we shall see in our next chapter. If slavery were a sin, God would not have provided for it. Indeed, since God is the Standard of right and wrong, the fact that He gives rules for the proper management of slavery shows that to disregard the laws of slavery is a sin, For example, since fornication is a sin, God does not give instructions for the right management of a brothel. Nor does he offer instructions about successful methods of murder or theft. Slavery is not a sin, but the violation of God's slavery laws is." "To repeat the basic lesson: God's law encourages responsibility. It provides many incentives against men enslaving themselves, and when men do become slaves, they are protected but not coddled. When the period of slavery is over, they are able to hold their heads up with other men, possessing the tools with which to start over without debt. For the heathen slave, however, the situation was different. Although he was protected by the s

Blue Ridge Mountain Geek

For those who want to help the poor, read both this book, for how to help, and Sider's book (preferably comparing it with earlier editions) to understand the mentality you are up against. It is noteworthy that the only pan so far posted is simply an ad hominem smear job, by someone who has clearly not digested either Chilton's positive case, or his critique of Sider.

From a former follower of Sider, Campolo, et al

I grew up in the projects, on welfare, etc. I found the ideas of Sider & his Philadelphia friends inspiring. Then I went to work in the inner city for 10 years as a minister and church-based activist and came to see that the antipathy to the free-market and legitimate profit through economic activity by church leaders and social activists is a huge barrier to real social change.Sider is not simply wrong, he legitimates the very things that must be over come if the poor are to prosper.The fact that "prosperity" is a four-letter word to the evangelical left says it all. The slogan "Live simply so others may simply live," if acted upon by a majority of people would not lead to heaven, it would lead us to economic disaster.Leave envy, resentment and poverty behind. Abandon Sider and read Chilton.