Liberating Planet Earth

110 Liberating Planet Earth
Covetous men can join forces and encourage the civil government
to adopt policies of wealth redistribution. The monopo~ of
kgal uiolence possessed by the civil government can then be turned
against property owners. Those within the civil government can
gain control over people’s assets. They can then use them personally,
or inside a government bureau, or distribute them to political
special-interest groups. Political covetousness is a manifestation
of unrestrahwd desire and the threat of owlerzce.
When the civil government becomes an instrument of covetousness,
its monopoly of violence increases the danger of theft. A
new commandment is adopted: “Thou shalt not covet, except by
majority vote.” What private citizen can effectively defend his
property against unjust magistrates? Naboth died in his attempt
to keep that which was his by law – God’s law.
The misuse of the civil government in this way is doubly evil.
First, it violates the principle of responsible stewardship. Second,
it misuses the office of magistrate. ~ spread of covetousness cannot be
restrained by the magistrate when the structure of civil gowrnment is &ep~
in@enced by political covetousness. The old warning against putting
the foxes in charge of the chicken coop is accurate: when the state
becomes the agent of widespread covetousness, the whole society
is threatened. Wwes of power-struggles ensue, for each special-interest
group reco~izes that it must gain control of the primay agency of wealth
red&trz”butiorz. The more power is offered to the controllers by
means of statist coercive mechanisms, the more ferocious is the
struggle to gain access to the seats of power.
The covetous person resents his own station in life. Someone
else possesses what he wants. He is dissatisfied with the role he is
playing in God’s plan for the ages. It is this resentment against
one’s station in life which Paul condemns (1 Corinthians 7:21-22).
One person desires another’s good looks, prestige, or worldly possessions.
He f~ls thwarted by his own limitations, and therefore
thwarted by his environment. God has thwarted his personal development,
the covetous man is asserting. The Bible teaches that
the other person is working out his salvation or damnation before
God. His prope~ must be respected. Nevertheless, the covetous
man thinks that he can appropriate for himself the fi-uits of the