All man-made systems of governance, economies and organizational structures are all flawed and marred by sin. I hear someone saying, umm … yeah? This is something that is, on its face, so basic to the presuppositions of Christianity, yet in the process of taking your eyes off Christ, it is easy to get caught up in defending a system as if it were not flawed. I have fallen into this thinking, once again, and it can be very distracting from things that matter infinitely more.

Socialism is flawed in that it makes an assumption about the nature of humanity, that man’s deepest motivation is to always do the right thing and help his fellow man; that he will be, by nature, other-oriented. This flies in the face of Romans 3. Capitalism is also flawed in that it assumes the greedy won’t gain unwarranted, unbalanced power over the majority via corporate structures, which can result in fascism and dictatorial reign.

Something all of us must come to terms with, and yes, myself included, is that even in the best of systems, corruption will always be present. The question is, which system is designed with the best checks and balances in place so as to prevent that corruption from tearing the government apart from the inside-out? The answer, I believe, is free market, democratic capitalism. With all of its flaws, it has been by far the best social experiment, as far as a governing system is concerned, though I certainly know there are all kinds of unintended consequences as well.

Even in this system, corruption will always be present. And as a believer, this must always be an ever-present thought in my mind when contemplating various issues such as health care, the economy, and a host of other issues. It can be really easy to get worked up into a frenzy over what you might see as a totally bad idea and defend a system of economic or political theory that will always have flaws. But what should I expect from a world marred by sin? Man, in his depraved state, is bent on coming up with just awful ideas.

In all truth and reality, the best form of governance is a benevolent dictatorship, ruled by none other than Christ Himself. And that simply won’t come to fruition until He returns in power and glory and thwarts all man-made systems of governance and organizational structure. These are all good things I’ve been reminded of recently, since I have been very concerned about where this country is headed. It is so easy to let things consume you sometimes when really we need to be consumed with Christ and His work to deliver us, from an eternity of wrath and also temporal sin in our lives.