Cultural Revolution Through the Lens of Ecclesiastes
As I reflect on the Maoist cultural revolution currently underway in America—and that's precisely what it is—a cultural revolution with Maoist characteristics—I'm reminded that such radicalism isn't truly revolutionary. It's noisy, yes. It's seditious, true. It's even violent at times, no doubt. But such anarchistic remonstrations aren't really revolutionary.
They're not revolutionary because, like other revolutions before them, nothing ever truly changes as a result, particularly as it relates to modifying human nature and, more specifically, the universal reality that mankind is congenitally sinful (Gen. 6:5: Eccl. 7:20; Rom. 3:23)—which, by the way, is why, fundamentally, revolutions are launched to begin with, because human beings naively believe that by contentious and antagonistic means we can forcibly change human nature, in other words, change ourselves.
When I consider ideological Maoism through the lens of Scripture, I'm led to conclude that what is attitudinally fueling the Maoist cultural revolution in America is the wholesale rejection of the precept found in Ecclesiastes 5:19, which reads, "Furthermore, as for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, He has also empowered him to eat from them and to receive his reward and rejoice in his labor; this is the gift of God."
The reason Ecclesiastes 5:19 is germane to a biblical discussion of Maoism is that at the heart of that worldview is the sin of covetousness—a refusal to accept that God, who created mankind in His image (Gen. 1:27), has bestowed upon human beings the privilege to enjoy the rewards of their own labor.
When you deconstruct Maoism biblically, that is what it is at its most fundamental level. There is no reason to overcomplicate this. Simply put: Maoism is a violent worldview that is grounded in covetousness, greed, envy, pride, and jealously that is borne from a hatred of God for having the divine temerity to empower His image-bearers to "eat" from the riches and wealth He has seen fit to give them.
It is a covetousness that is so deep-seated in the human heart that those who consider themselves "comrades" in this cultural revolution, couldn't care less that it is modeled after a man, Mao Tse Tung, whose worldview was solely responsible for the deaths of more than 70 million people in the twentieth century.
Darrell B. Harrison
Cultural Revolution Through the Lens of Ecclesiastes
As I reflect on the Maoist cultural revolution currently underway in America—and that's precisely what it is—a cultural revolution with Maoist characteristics—I'm reminded that such radicalism isn't truly revolutionary. It's noisy, yes. It's seditious, true. It's even violent at times, no doubt. But such anarchistic remonstrations aren't really revolutionary.
They're not revolutionary because, like other revolutions before them, nothing ever truly changes as a result, particularly as it relates to modifying human nature and, more specifically, the universal reality that mankind is congenitally sinful (Gen. 6:5: Eccl. 7:20; Rom. 3:23)—which, by the way, is why, fundamentally, revolutions are launched to begin with, because human beings naively believe that by contentious and antagonistic means we can forcibly change human nature, in other words, change ourselves.
When I consider ideological Maoism through the lens of Scripture, I'm led to conclude that what is attitudinally fueling the Maoist cultural revolution in America is the wholesale rejection of the precept found in Ecclesiastes 5:19, which reads, "Furthermore, as for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, He has also empowered him to eat from them and to receive his reward and rejoice in his labor; this is the gift of God."
The reason Ecclesiastes 5:19 is germane to a biblical discussion of Maoism is that at the heart of that worldview is the sin of covetousness—a refusal to accept that God, who created mankind in His image (Gen. 1:27), has bestowed upon human beings the privilege to enjoy the rewards of their own labor.
When you deconstruct Maoism biblically, that is what it is at its most fundamental level. There is no reason to overcomplicate this. Simply put: Maoism is a violent worldview that is grounded in covetousness, greed, envy, pride, and jealously that is borne from a hatred of God for having the divine temerity to empower His image-bearers to "eat" from the riches and wealth He has seen fit to give them.
It is a covetousness that is so deep-seated in the human heart that those who consider themselves "comrades" in this cultural revolution, couldn't care less that it is modeled after a man, Mao Tse Tung, whose worldview was solely responsible for the deaths of more than 70 million people in the twentieth century.
Darrell B. Harrison
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