JESUS WAS A COMMIE!

MENS NEWS DAILY.COM ^ | NOVEMBER 10, 2004 | JB WILLIAMS

[BureaucratusMaximus]

There is a passage in Acts where it says that the early Christians shared their wealth according to their need.

I don't know if you're being sarcastic here...but, in case you weren't...voluntary acts of charity, goodwill and love towards other people is alot different than communism, which is, what I like to call: acts of charity, goodwill and love towards other people obtained by force, intimidation, whose dissenters are punished with death.

BIG difference.

[SunnySide]

"how come Commies hate him so much - that is if they believe in him?"

You just answered your own question. Commies believe in Jesus otherwise they wouldn't be "consumed" with hatred towards him. You can't hate which does not exist.

[Fiddlstix]

Sorry about that. I though I had pinged you too.

[0siris]

The passage is in Acts chapter 2 or 3, and in Acts Chapter 5 a man and wife die for lying about how much they planned on donating to the apostles.

The apostles shared all their goods because they expected Christ to return very soon. There is nothing in the Gospels to suggest communal living is to be forced on society, or even ideal. Of course God wants Christians to provide for the poor, the question is what is the best system to do so. Socialism isn't it, no matter how counterintuitive it may feel to some people who find the Robin Hood mentality is the most Biblical world view. The simple fact is the free market provides more goods for more people than a socialized market does. In fact, in Jesus time, Jerusalem and Judea were for the most part, centralized/regulated markets. The Sadducees in Jerusalem dictated production and market prices to the farmers outside the city. Hardly "capitalism".

The market system really did not come into its own until the medieval period in Italy, when fractional reserve banking came into existence. To look for some simplistic on-the-surface commentary on contemporary economics from the Gospels is like looking for commentary on Quantum Physics or technological innovation. The Gospels are about core values and core theological truths, not a litany of programs to execute and understand those values and truths in every age , every period in world history. To suggest otherwise, would mean to dismantle the scientific method and democratic republics, two of many examples that of course aren't explicitly mentioned in the Bible. God gave us brains and logic and discernment, and He gave them to us for a reason--He expects us to use them.

[Brilliant]

Exactly. See my post #12. Christ certainly would not have been interested in forced "charity."

[evets]

Jesus was a conservative. The truth shall set you free. (Communism is not 'freedom'.)

[pepperhead]

If Jesus was a Commie - how come Commies hate him so much - that is if they believe in him?

Maybe they don't like his position on abortions.

[Brilliant]

Read my #12. Beat you to it.

[Gunrunner2]

You are not looking hard enough. . .just get a liberal judge to take a look. . .I'm sure he will find it in there somewhere.

[Auntie Dem]

Acts 5:4

"Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? And after it was sold, was it not in thine own power?..."

The type of communal sharing the early saints lived was a voluntary plan. If you wanted to take what you had put in and leave the group you could do so. Try that in communism, and you would be a dead as Ananias and his wife. BTW, their deaths were caused by their lying to the apostles and to God.

[Salem]

Great letter, 2Banana, and right on target. The crux of the matter is not that the U.S. Federal government has usurped the rightful place of the Lord in mens' hearts and our cultural institutions, but that the "abandonment clergy," as John Chalfant in his book, AMERICA—A Call To Greatness calls them let it happen without protest, and by default, us.

I'm going to be initiating a new campaign through my website, and centered around a review of this man's ideas, rallying the Christian community—no matter what their "brand"—to start focusing on where the core of the problems afflicting American culture lie—our tepid and weak pulpits in America. In my world view, this is the great opportunity the re-election of Bush has given us: four more years to impact the nation and her future for good through the Gospel, without a faith hating Socialist based Administration in the White House standing in the way, a la Clinton.

Read the book. He summarizes all the conclusions I have personally drawn over the last eight years of being engaged out here in the Arena of the War of Ideas. When you are done, send it to your Pastor! Bush and Rummy have the Islamists on their heals, now we have the time and opportunity to MOVE FORWARD.

[Doomonyou]

You are not looking hard enough. . .just get a liberal judge to take a look. . .I'm sure he will find it in there somewhere.

I just get hung up on that "shall not be infringed" thing.

[bad company]

When you die and get to the pearly gates to find your name isn't there, a tax receipt isn't going to carry any weight. You cannot be a Christian vicariously through your government.