"I think it would be great if a bunch of these poor people could get some guns together and go after some of these greedy rich people. They could take some of the money and redistribute it among the rest of the poor folks. Wouldn’t that be great if we could do that? It would be just like the days of Robin Hood!" – Paraphrasing my AMH (Part I) Professor’s statement in class on 1/09/08
First of all, what he was fantasizing about would be illegal. This would be grand theft or robbery, depending on how they stole the money. For learning purposes, let us say it was just legalized by congress. Put yourself in the shoes of a doctor. You just finished an eight hour shift where you saved the lives of two patients, screened four, and lost one to cancer. You leave the hospital and drive home to your family in your 07 Corvette. You get home and there are eight men in your house with guns demanding you give them money and your car in order to stay safe and not face legal action. You hand them the money and your keys. They leave with the money and your corvette to take back to their families. All the work that you put in for the money and your car was just legally taken from you. If this was legal, would you want to be rich?
Is this really what Robin Hood stood for? Did he simply “steal from the rich and give to the poor?” The story of Robin Hood places him during a time that England had a tyrant for a king. This king taxed his kingdom into poverty. Robin Hood stole from the king and the king’s men. One could say he stole from the rich, because the only rich people around were friends of the corrupt king and the king himself. So, was Robin stealing from other people or was he stealing from the tyrannical government?
The professor called the rich people greedy, but what of the poor people? The definition of greed is “selfish desire for food, money, or possessions over and above one's needs.” There is a distinction to be made here between “need” and “want.” A need is something you require to live, but a want is something that is not required but is desired to have. Do you need a plasma TV? No, you may want it, but you do not need it to live. The poor people in America are not starving to death. Their basic needs are met. With that stated, aren’t the poor people greedy too for wanting the well-earned money of the rich?
Is this really a possible threat and future for America? Yes, it is and it is already happening. It goes by many names: economic parity, redistribution of wealth, enforced sharing of goods, etc. There are many names, but it all stems from the same economic belief. This would be the economic structure called socialism. Basically, socialism is the government acting like the eight guys robbing the doctor. The government places high taxes on the rich and gives the majority of the money back to people considered poor. Is it right to forcefully take money from doctors and give it back to McDonald workers or the unemployed? Who really earned the money? Is socialism stealing? If you thought it was wrong for the eight guys to take from the doctor even though it was legalized, how is socialism any different?
Was Robin Hood correct for stealing from the king? Well, from a Christian perspective, he was actually wrong. The king was indeed greedy, but does one sin allow for another to sin to make things right? "Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men— as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God. Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king." When the apostles were put on trial for disobeying the law of man, they responded: "We ought to obey God rather than men." We are only to break man’s law when it breaks the laws of God. Robin Hood was wrong for stealing, for in the Ten Commandments it states "Thou shalt not steal." The king was wrong for being greedy, for greed is shown as being ungodly and a work of the flesh.
"For the wicked boasts of his heart’s desire; He blesses the greedy and renounces the LORD."
"Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God."
My college professor desired to take money from "greedy rich people," but he can not see his own greed and jealousy of the rich. Whether it be citizens stealing from each other or the citizens using the government to steal for them, stealing is still stealing.
