Christ in me is to live. To die is to gain. Lyrics by Gary Garcia based on Philippians 1:21
I’m not an Ayn Rand scholar. I read her books in high school and honestly, didn’t think that much about it except that I disagreed with her. Her ideas seemed the antithesis of what Jesus taught:
- Love God.
- Love neighbor as self.
- Feed my sheep.
- As you did it to one of the least of these, you did it to me.
- You cannot serve God and mammon.
- If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.
- Pray then like this: Our Father who art in heaven . . . your kingdom come, your will be done on earth . . .
You know these verses too. (Or at least you should.)
This being a postmodern age, I get that it’s possible to embrace some of what Jesus said while also embracing some of what Ayn Rand said. But fundamentally, they taught very different life purposes and philosophies. Ayn Rand would say we live for ourselves. Jesus would say we live for God by serving others. How does someone reconcile the two?
Admittedly this is a incendiary video (and the narrator has one of those creepy the-end-is-near voices.) But it’s confusing to hear self-confessed Christians laud the objectivist philosophy of Ayn Rand whose tenets are the opposite of everything Jesus stood for (and died for.)
Paul Ryan (“Ayn Rand . . . did a fantastic job explaining the morality of capitalism, the morality of individualism“) is a Roman Catholic Christian.
Ron Johnson is a Lutheran Christian.
Rand Paul (who was not named for Ayn Rand) is a Presbyterian Christian.
I am not saying that it’s impossible to be a capitalist and a Christian, although some would. I am saying that we who claim to follow Jesus have a history of being very confused in terms of the way we live and aspire to live and the way Jesus lived according to our holy scriptures.
One of the huge heresies – or at least misunderstandings – of my religious upbringing was the notion that we follow Jesus to avoid going to hell. This is a peculiarly Randian theology in that this makes our faith about us. If we are serving God by serving others as a means of getting to heaven, then we’ve made our spiritual lives all about our own benefit.
God being God, what true obedience looks like – in the image of Christ – has nothing to do with the afterlife. Heaven is a blessing and a gift from God. But if our basic motivation to follow Jesus is entrance into heaven, then we have made Christianity about us and our personal benefit. (Very Ayn Rand.)
Anyone want to explain how you can follow Jesus and consider Ayn Rand’s philosophies to be foundational for your life?
A Church for Starving Artists 
You can if you compartmentalize your life! The gospel text for this coming is Matt 22:15-22 – “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” Some commentators say that means there are two spheres of being – one belonging to the state and one belonging to God and never the twain shall meet. But I think Jesus was saying far more. God’s realm is everything! Caesar (government) oversees a portion of that and those who govern will answer to God for how they fulfilled their obligations to promote justice and peace. But God creates all and reigns over all and as disciples of Christ, we live to fulfill God’s reign and glory first and foremost. No room for compartmentalization here!
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1 Corinthians 13:11: When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things.
When I was a teen, I adored Ayn Rand. Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead made me feel that I could do anything on my own and that was particularly important for me in the late 60s when women still weren’t allowed to be FBI agents (as I dreamed of being) or to serve in many other professions.
When I grew up I realized that so many of the things I thought I’d achieved on my own were actually a result of the gifts my family, church and community gave me. My family encouraged reading and allowed me to read and volunteer instead of working during the school year. My grandfather, a retired judge and state senator, taught me all about government and about service and loving others through the church. I gave up my devotion to Ayn Rand and began to want to give back a portion of what had been given to me.
I think those who still idealize Ayn Rand’s philosophies as adults have forgotten to give up childish things.
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Amen, amen. Preach it, Jan!
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