So, one night I was wondering about the Ayn Rand movement that basically says that selfishness is the only way to a prospering society. She argues the merits and semantics of defending the concepts of capitalism being the only way to be happy and fulfilled because its based on just living for yourself without giving anything back. The argument is basically that the better off you are the better off others are but really its the better off you are the better and screw everyone else.
Ayn Rand is basically Korihor the anti-christ. An anti-christ, by the way, is just anyone who thinks or preaches that there is no need for Christ, that man doesn't need a savior.
Korihor taught that to be rational would be to give up faith in God because "How do ye know of their surety? Behold, ye cannot know of things which ye do not see." He went on to deduce that the reason anyone might believe is because "it is the effect of a frenzied mind."
Ayn Rand taught "Mysticism is the acceptance of allegations without evidence or proof, either apart from or against the evidence of one’s senses and one’s reason. Mysticism is the claim to some non-sensory, non-rational, non-definable, non-identifiable means of knowledge, such as 'instinct,' 'intuition,' 'revelation,' or any form of 'just knowing.'"
"Behold, these things which ye call prophecies, which ye say are handed down by holy prophets, behold, they are foolish traditions of your fathers." -Korihor
"A mystic is a man who surrendered his mind at its first encounter with the minds of others. Somewhere in the distant reaches of his childhood, when his own understanding of reality clashed with the assertions of others, with their arbitrary orders and contradictory demands, he gave in to so craven a fear of independence that he renounced his rational faculty." -Ayn Rand
Alma 30 goes on to describe Korihor's teachings to the people, "telling them that there could be no atonement made for the sins of men, but every man fared in this life according to the management of the creature; therefore every man prospered according to his genius."
Ayn Rand makes a strikingly similar proposal to people in her teachings, "The action required to sustain human life is primarily intellectual: everything man needs has to be discovered by his mind and produced by his effort."
Sometimes its hard to really know where Ayn Rand ends and Korihor begins, "that every man conquered according to his strength; and whatsoever a man did was no crime."
Ayn says "the doctrine that concern with one’s own interests is evil means that man’s desire to live is evil—that man’s life, as such, is evil."
Korihor says that those that preach Altruism are glutting themselves on the labors of others- "And ye keep them down, even as it were in bondage, that ye may glut yourselves with the labors of their hands."
Ayn Rand says "It only stands to reason that where there's sacrifice, there's someone collecting the sacrificial offerings. Where there's service, there is someone being served. The man who speaks to you of sacrifice is speaking of slaves and masters, and intends to be the master."
Korihor is preaching Ayn Rand's anti-christ teachings way before she ever got on the boat to America.
Besides the things Ayn shares in view of Korihor, there are many other teachings she says in her snotty manner that are anti Christ.
"Money is the barometer of a society's virtue"- Ayn Rand
"Run for your life from any man who tells you that money is evil. That sentence is the leper's bell of an approaching looter."- Ayn Rand
"Wealth is the product of man's capacity to think." -Ayn Rand
She denies the teachings of Christ of reliance on God for everything, for prosperity and morality. The scripture thats repeated the most is the saying "keep the commandments and ye will prosper" and the warning that is repeated the most in all the scriptures is to be aware of pride and faith in material things. As Christ said "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?"
There are plenty of Mormons, and Christians alike that admire and respect Ayn Rand's teachings. But, she is in complete disagreement with the altruistic teachings of the Savior Jesus Christ.
Its the oldest debate since Cain killed Abel to get his flocks. When is man "free"? Is he freed by his possessions or through God? Should man justify selfishness or "lay down his life" and "take up his cross" and follow Christ in giving to the poor and the needy?
