GLENN BECK ON FAITH AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
I’m not one to watch a whole lot of cable television news entertainment, but Glenn Beck, popular media personality on the FOX News Channel, is a name that keeps popping up in social media circles and elsewhere, especially on issues related to faith and social justice. I even recently caught a few minutes of Beck’s interview with evangelicals Jerry Falwell Jr., chancellor or Liberty University, and Peter Lillback, president of Westminster Theological Seminary, on this subject. Seeing this, I wondered, just what do these two evangelical leaders, who are entrusted with training up the pastors of tomorrow, have in common with a cultist in the Church of Jesus Christ Latter-day Saints?
Glenn Beck has openly shared about his journey into Mormonism, and there’s even a YouTube video of him sharing his testimony. [1] Moreover, in an interview with Deseret News, he stated, “I presently serve as a ward missionary, elder’s quorum teacher and serve with my wife in the stake’s addiction-recovery program” [2].
I can understand how Beck’s views on issues of faith and social justice is an attractive package to many conservatives critical of what they perceive to be socialist wealth-redistribution programs endorsed by the likes of Jim Wallis and/or the Obama Administration; however, Christians are encouraged to use discernment.
Mormons typically take Christian terminology, such as “Jesus,” “God,” and “The Bible,” and redefine them with their own cultic meaning, so what is left is the “skin of the truth stuffed with a lie.” Latter-day Saints, therefore, teaches “Jesus” is the spirit brother of Lucifer, “God” was once a man who became a god, and “The Bible” is old divine revelation but new divine revelation can be found in the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price. These beliefs are certainly out of sync with what Christianity has believed from the beginning, which makes Mormonism a cult of Christianity.
(Now Beck has not formally articulated his theology; however, the doctrinal points mentioned above do represent the beliefs which distinguish Mormonism from Christianity.)
It is true that socialist wealth redistribution programs are simply not the way to solve the problem of poverty. The problem is that socialism, or the idea of appointing the government to regulate and redistribute wealth is really based upon false assumptions. It accepts, for instance, the “pizza pie myth.” This is the idea that there is only a certain amount of wealth to go around, and the fact that I have more than the other guy is because I took more than my share. This is untrue, since the wealth we generate is unlimited, and there may be other reasons why some people lack. Another myth of socialism is the problem of focusing upon the “gaps,” and assuming that an uneven distribution of wealth is the fault of the person with the most wealth. Yet, the fact that I earn over a hundred times more than someone in another country is not the problem. Bill Gates earns over a million times more than I do in this country. Moreover, Bill Gates is no more the cause of my middle class-ness that I am the cause of another person’s poverty. (God's people can give charitably, but different than appointing the government to do it for them.) Wealth redistribution is not the solution to the problem of poverty.
It also may be true that "big government" social programs done in the name of social justice, like national health care and trade regulations, are in fact socialist wealth redistribution programs (Now that's another issue for another day.)
There is a spiritual dimension to the problem of poverty, which is often ignored. When one lives in a culture dominated by corruption, it is no surprise that corrupt minds do reason, “Why should I negotiate a sale of my bread for some of his gold, when I can kill him, take his gold and keep my bread?” “Why shouldn’t I take bribes as an added benefit in my line of work?” Many of us in the West resist such ideas because we have been so influenced by a biblical ethics, which form the basis for the laws of the land. Virtues such as honesty, respect, integrity, and life are ultimately rooted in the ethics of Christ. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,” is a statement we take for granted as true; yet, even this idea is rooted in the Bible. What is self evident in a world without the Bible is inequality. If Darwinism is true, then the fittest of the species shall survive. If karmic law is true, then there must be untouchables who need to work off their karmic debt. It is God’s Word that can offer us the spiritual structures for a robust society, which can set people free from the kingdom of darkness. Of course, when one losses their spiritual center, then corruption is soon to follow. If the branch is severed from the vine, then the branch withers and dies.
Whether or not Glenn Beck’s Mormonism can offer the spiritual foundations that can provide spiritual life and empowerment to transform society is doubtful.
1. YouTube, “LDS (Mormon) Church: Glenn Beck on Mormonism” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USpeolBTKIo
2. Jacob Hancock, “Question: Is Glenn Beck Mormon?” Deseret News http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705307446,00.html
Glenn Beck has openly shared about his journey into Mormonism, and there’s even a YouTube video of him sharing his testimony. [1] Moreover, in an interview with Deseret News, he stated, “I presently serve as a ward missionary, elder’s quorum teacher and serve with my wife in the stake’s addiction-recovery program” [2].
I can understand how Beck’s views on issues of faith and social justice is an attractive package to many conservatives critical of what they perceive to be socialist wealth-redistribution programs endorsed by the likes of Jim Wallis and/or the Obama Administration; however, Christians are encouraged to use discernment.
Mormons typically take Christian terminology, such as “Jesus,” “God,” and “The Bible,” and redefine them with their own cultic meaning, so what is left is the “skin of the truth stuffed with a lie.” Latter-day Saints, therefore, teaches “Jesus” is the spirit brother of Lucifer, “God” was once a man who became a god, and “The Bible” is old divine revelation but new divine revelation can be found in the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price. These beliefs are certainly out of sync with what Christianity has believed from the beginning, which makes Mormonism a cult of Christianity.
(Now Beck has not formally articulated his theology; however, the doctrinal points mentioned above do represent the beliefs which distinguish Mormonism from Christianity.)
It is true that socialist wealth redistribution programs are simply not the way to solve the problem of poverty. The problem is that socialism, or the idea of appointing the government to regulate and redistribute wealth is really based upon false assumptions. It accepts, for instance, the “pizza pie myth.” This is the idea that there is only a certain amount of wealth to go around, and the fact that I have more than the other guy is because I took more than my share. This is untrue, since the wealth we generate is unlimited, and there may be other reasons why some people lack. Another myth of socialism is the problem of focusing upon the “gaps,” and assuming that an uneven distribution of wealth is the fault of the person with the most wealth. Yet, the fact that I earn over a hundred times more than someone in another country is not the problem. Bill Gates earns over a million times more than I do in this country. Moreover, Bill Gates is no more the cause of my middle class-ness that I am the cause of another person’s poverty. (God's people can give charitably, but different than appointing the government to do it for them.) Wealth redistribution is not the solution to the problem of poverty.
It also may be true that "big government" social programs done in the name of social justice, like national health care and trade regulations, are in fact socialist wealth redistribution programs (Now that's another issue for another day.)
There is a spiritual dimension to the problem of poverty, which is often ignored. When one lives in a culture dominated by corruption, it is no surprise that corrupt minds do reason, “Why should I negotiate a sale of my bread for some of his gold, when I can kill him, take his gold and keep my bread?” “Why shouldn’t I take bribes as an added benefit in my line of work?” Many of us in the West resist such ideas because we have been so influenced by a biblical ethics, which form the basis for the laws of the land. Virtues such as honesty, respect, integrity, and life are ultimately rooted in the ethics of Christ. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,” is a statement we take for granted as true; yet, even this idea is rooted in the Bible. What is self evident in a world without the Bible is inequality. If Darwinism is true, then the fittest of the species shall survive. If karmic law is true, then there must be untouchables who need to work off their karmic debt. It is God’s Word that can offer us the spiritual structures for a robust society, which can set people free from the kingdom of darkness. Of course, when one losses their spiritual center, then corruption is soon to follow. If the branch is severed from the vine, then the branch withers and dies.
Whether or not Glenn Beck’s Mormonism can offer the spiritual foundations that can provide spiritual life and empowerment to transform society is doubtful.
1. YouTube, “LDS (Mormon) Church: Glenn Beck on Mormonism” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USpeolBTKIo
2. Jacob Hancock, “Question: Is Glenn Beck Mormon?” Deseret News http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705307446,00.html
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