Chuck Colson ~Inverting the Moral Code

Inverting the Moral Code
The Radical Selfishness of Ayn Rand
October 04, 2010
Responding to the nation's moral and economic crisis, CNN, the cable
network founded by Ted Turner, has just published a column that gives an
impassioned plea for morality-yes, you heard that right, morality.
At first, I might have been tempted to think that they listen to
BreakPoint. I've been saying this since the economic collapse.
But, sad to say, the writers, Yaron Brooke and Onkar Ghate, aren't
calling for a return to biblical ethics. Instead, they explicitly reject
anything having to do with religious morality in favor of an inverted
moral code that exalts human selfishness.
Brooke and Ghate, who work for the libertarian Ayn Rand Center for
Individual Rights, say that just as humanity ushered in the modern world
by rejecting religious superstition in favor of science and political
tyranny for the rights of man, so now we must dispense with, as they
call it, "antiquated moral ideas"-like generosity. Instead, they assert
we should instead lift up those in the economy who exhibit "a profound
dedication to material production."
First, Brooke and Ghate have gotten their history all wrong. Religious
faith has not been a barrier to science or to political and economic
freedom. Quite the contrary. Rodney Stark, in his groundbreaking book,
The Victory of Reason, rightly calls that kind of notion utter
"nonsense." Stark writes, "The success of the West, including the rise
of science, rested entirely on religious foundations, and the people who
brought it about were devout Christians."
Second, Brooke and Ghate have gotten their religion wrong, presenting a
caricature of Christianity that is a mockery of genuine biblical faith.
The key concept for Christians when it comes to economics and wealth
creation is not asceticism, but stewardship. God has created all good
things for us to develop and enjoy, as long as He, and not we, are on
the throne.
The problem with the late Ayn Rand, who was a devout atheist, was the
misguided belief that man is the measure of all things. Rand called her
philosophy "the concept of man as a noble being, with his own happiness
as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his
noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute." Indeed, in her
well-known work Atlas Shrugged, which is still a bestseller, the main
character replaces the cross with a dollar sign.
That should be enough to raise red flags for Christians. But it isn't.
Christian financial expert Gary Moore has been a powerful critic of Rand
and her radical libertarian worldview. In a new Christianity Today
article, Moore warns that "Rand's philosophy is still deeply embedded in
large sectors of the American economy, as well as among some Christian
financial advisers and religious leaders."
But folks, radical selfishness can never be a principle of Christian
ethics-economic or otherwise. Our belief in God, and His call on us to
stewardship and charity, must make a difference in our everyday
lives-including in our budgeting, giving, and economic behavior.
Self-sacrifice and generosity never go out of style for the Christian,
especially in tough economic times like these.
Contrary to what Gordon Gecko said in the movie Wall Street, greed isn't
good. And if the current economic mess teaches us anything, it's that we
don't need a new moral code, just more people who will follow the one
God gave us-the tried and true one.

[For further reading, click here]
http://www.breakpoint.org/bpcommentaries/entry/13/15455