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To: thinktwice
"As the nineteenth century philosopher Vladimir Soloviev pointed out, the difference is that whereas Jesus urged his followers to give up their own posessions, the socialists and communists want to give away the posessions of others." - Richard Pipes

Christ preached that we should give freely of ourselves out of love, while Marx preached that we should steal from others out of hate.

Someone in the crowd said to Him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me." Jesus replied, "Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?" Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." - Luke12:13-15

Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus' feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, "Why wasn't this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year's wages." He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it. "Leave her alone," Jesus replied. "It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me." - John 12:3-8


45 posted on 08/06/2003 1:31:10 AM PDT by Tailgunner Joe (No King but King Jesus)
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To: Tailgunner Joe
Christ preached that we should give freely of ourselves out of love, while Marx preached that we should steal from others out of hate.

And Christ's teaching "... that we should give freely of ourselves out of love ..." is now dogmatized to the point where free will has nothing to do with it -- within Christianlty, altruism is a virtue and selfishness a vice.

But it is in man's nature to care for one's own interests first -- meaning that selfishness is virtue and altruism is vice.

That truth -- selfishness is a virtue -- is obvious to those living under a communist dictatorship. That truth is less obvious, however, in a mixed Communist/Christian environment where altruism is a matter of dogmatic faith and personal selfishness is acceptable when one is not in public view.

46 posted on 08/06/2003 7:35:10 AM PDT by thinktwice
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