Scripture indeed has much to say about justice, but it is very different than the kind of thinking espoused by Sider and many modern intellectuals. Civil government is never given the right to delve into economic matters or to provide for the poor - it is there to punish those who transgress certain clearly defined laws of God, like stealing or murder. Chilton points out that God's laws do make clear provision for the poor, but that charity is to be personal. God is not on the side of the poor, but on the side of the righteous - those who obey Him, rich or poor . He is gracious to those who seek Him.
Material ism is a dependence on such goods, and is idolatry.
From this point of view, socialism is the worst offender because all it offers people is material solutions to their problems, and pathetic ones at that. More dangerously, it encourages, indeed demands, dependence on the state instead of God. Chilton calls to task a Church that has slowly accepted a set of laws which are foreign to the Bible and has failed to uphold God's law as an ethical standard to be obeyed. Many Christians have become enslaved to guilt over imagined wrongdoings, while ignoring real transgressions of God's law. We have lost the ability to speak confidently to the systems of this world about true righteousness and justice.