"For there was not a needy person among them, for all who were owners of land or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sales and lay them at the apostles’ feet, and they would be distributed to each as any had need."
Somehow that translates to you have to give 10% of your income to Pastor Brian. Any other form of charity is great but you should still give Pastor Brian his 10% because he's doing a lot by telling you to give him 10% of your income.
The vast majority of pastors are volunteers or bi-vocational. And yes there are abuses. But also lots of them giving their time and resources to care for the under-resourced. My church''s sr. pastor is going from full time to bi-vocational this year because inflation hit the church and his family. But our church distributed 12 million pounds of food since covid
Christian communism is a theological view (with some historic precedent) that believes Jesus and his apostles were the first communists, so the overlap is clearly there.
Exactly! People keep confusing Christianity with the bible but the former is a patriotic American religion and the latter is middle eastern leftist propaganda
But seriously, most of the bloodthirsty bits of the Christian Bible are bits carried over from the Torah. Hell, a lot of them are specifically about Joshua conquering everyone around.
In many historical societies including ancient Christian, Jewish, and Islamic societies, usury meant the charging of interest of any kind, and was considered wrong, or was made illegal.[3]
BTW chrishitery should be the next capitalist McCarthyism. Muhh! red hats!
Deuteronomy 23:19-20 – “19 You shall not charge interest to your countrymen: interest on money, food, or anything that may be loaned at interest. 20 You may charge interest to a foreigner, but to your countrymen you shall not charge interest, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all that you undertake in the land which you are about to enter to possess.”
Exodus 22:25 – “25 If you lend money to My people, to the poor among you, you are not to act as a creditor to him; you shall not charge him interest.”
Deuteronomy 15:1-3 – “1 At the end of every seven years you shall grant a release of debts. 2 And this is the regulation for the release of debts: every creditor is to forgive what he has loaned to his neighbor; he shall not require it of his neighbor and his brother, because the Lord’s release has been proclaimed. 3 From a foreigner you may require it, but your hand shall forgive whatever of yours is with your brother.”
This sounds good in theory, but is relatively bad in practice. Without interest, no one will loan the government money. Municipalities would need to rely on huge tax increases to fund large projects, instead of bonds funded by small tax increases over time.
No one will loan money to businesses either, and you are not getting any money to buy a house. It would favor those who already own established businesses, as they can just use profits from one to invest in another one.
Obligation doesn't mean they'll ever apply it. They only ever mention such when it's convenient, to make themselves look like better people. All Abrahamic religions are this way(doesn't mean any other religion's any better either). I live in a muslim country, it's just another tool of the state & the ultra rich to control people.
There are five key practices that all Muslims are obligated to fulfil throughout their lifetime. These practices are referred to as pillars because they form the foundation of Muslim life. The five pillars of Islam are Shahada, Salah, Zakat, Sawm (fasting), and Hajj. Four categories of people do not pay Zakat: the poor, the indigent, the debt-ridden, and the unfree.
"You don't actually read the bible, you just cherry picked some bits out of the atheist meme book" - actual response I've gotten when I've brought this up.
Funny, the whole thing is supposed to be applicable. They can't just ignore the parts that fit your terrible atheist agenda. And these points certainly aren't a matter of ignored context.
I've actually had other Christians argue against the message of love preached by Jesus, saying it's inapplicable here or there. Of course, I can't be a true Christian if I want equal rights for "the gays," healthcare for all, or any of the other various far left (for the US) views I hold.
Note: I'm a Christian who firmly supports the separation of church and state, sooooo...
You mean with a magic potion of dirty water that should not by any mechanism cause an abortion that doubled as a paternity test because God would only cause the abortion if she cheated.
Realistically this probably mostly served to cow men into accepting that their wife's child is theirs regardless of any suspicions because God said so. There's a reason being Jewish is matrilineal.
Not just dirty… the temple was meticulously maintained, so that “dust” was myrrh, which was used as incense day and night. Not surprisingly, myrrh can cause miscarriage when taken orally.
So what the scripture actually says is “If the husband is jealous, try to induce a miscarriage. If it doesn’t work, well, then it’s God’s will.”
The idea that the government should run off of some merciless view that the principles of free market capitalism dictate who eats and who doesn't is completely bizarre.
I have nothing against capitalist Christians who think that the principles of capitalism are generally fine and that, otherwise, we have an obligation as Christians to feed the poor and it just so happens to not be the role of government, but any explicitly Christian state has to feed the poor.
I don’t consider myself Christian purely because of the word’s connotation, but I am absolutely on board with everything Yeshua taught… including full-blown pre-Marx communism.
Jesus didn't use taxes to heal anyone. Why can't we use divine magic? It still has the benefit of being free for all; but it also works better and faster.
This is funny and it makes me feel good. But you know as well as I do, that it doesn't matter what any religious text says is right or wrong. Fascism and capitalism will take control and health care will be a personal problem.
It's still meaningful because it is helping people, but it's probably not going to count in your favor spiritually. Unless you're supporting getting the system set up or keeping it in place I guess.