From Acts, Chapter 2:
44 And all that believed were together, and had all things common;
45 And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.
46 And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,
47 Praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.
Cool, eh?
16 comments:
I don't know enough about scripture to even have a close to intelligent conversation with you about this...but nothing in that quote suggests Jesus Christ (a man who may or may not have existed) supports stealing property from individuals by force.
Although, that said, Communism has very strong roots in religion and specifically the catholic church.
Lol, there is nothing in that quote that suggests that Jesus would have been against taxing rich to give to the poor.
"14 Every one that passeth among them that are numbered, from twenty years old and above, shall give an offering unto the LORD.
15 The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when they give an offering unto the LORD, to make an atonement for your souls.
16 And thou shalt take the atonement money of the children of Israel, and shalt appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of the congregation; that it may be a memorial unto the children of Israel before the LORD, to make an atonement for your souls. "
Talking about taxes.
Since those works were written at a time when the Christians were not in power, the early alignment of the Catholic Church with the Kingsw was anti-Christian, and we can conclude that a Christian influenced government should tax and give to poor.
"Since those works were written at a time when the Christians were not in power, the early alignment of the Catholic Church with the Kingsw was anti-Christian, and we can conclude that a Christian influenced government should tax and give to poor."
As I said previously:
"Although, that said, Communism has very strong roots in religion and specifically the catholic church."
As well, again, you have no provided evidence that Jesus was for redistributing wealth by force. As far as I understand Jesus (which isn't much at all) he probably wouldn't send the police out to you to gather taxation and then throw you in jail if you refused to pay.
I think the suggestion from the right that we adopt a "flat tax" is based on the second quote I provided. That assumed, and would still assume, a power in charge, a government. Not the original Pagan government, of course; the Bible is basically the opposite of Pagan values; but a Chritian authority.. That is what the Catholic Church was, afterall..
"I think the suggestion from the right that we adopt a "flat tax" is based on the second quote I provided. That assumed, and would still assume, a power in charge, a government. Not the original Pagan government, of course; the Bible is basically the opposite of Pagan values; but a Chritian authority.. That is what the Catholic Church was, afterall.."
Yea, I'm not sure of the specific roots of the flat tax. I know Medina used a study that supported it as the least burdensome and most transparent tax.
While my perspective is that there should be no national sales tax or income tax, and simply small trade tariffs to pay for government, a flat comsumption tax makes sense to me for the following reasons:
- its payed automatically everytime you purchase something
- it does not require the disclosure of personal information to the government
- it is transparent
- everyone feels the same pain when it is raised and the same benefit when it is dropped
- individuals cannot evade it
Most principles in our society have roots in religion, but that does not mean supporting those principles means you're religious.
This is not a soap box for your ideology, Josh. I was merely stating that taxes are supported in the Bible.
No, you're saying Jesus promoted taxes.
I disagree. Taxes require the use of force.
Jesus promoted charity.
Jesus argued everyone should give away their wealth and share it with the poor. Basically, everyone should be like Mother Teresa. That, along with the same tax for everyone, leads me to conclude that he would not have had a problem with using those taxes to help the poor.
The problem with your conclusion is that Jesus did not control the government. Instead, he was trying to limit the effects of taxation of the rich on the poor, which is inline with his argument we should give everything away.
I'm sorry, I'm still missing the point where Jesus promoted the forceful redistribution of wealth.
You are both right. The teachings of Jesus or whoever wrote for him is based on charitable giving.
However. His teaching would support the legal right of the state to collect tax and his teachings would indicate we were morally responsible to follow the law
"Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s”"Matthew 22:21
The word's are Matthew's, they are not the words of Jesus.
Actually, Dad, if you were to read the opening passage, you would conclude, like I have, that "charitable giving" is not exactly what he/the Apostles had in mind. Selling off your possessions and sharing it with the poor is not "charitable giving".
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