(August 25, 2021 at 2:18 am)vulcanlogician Wrote:(August 22, 2021 at 8:20 pm)Bucky Ball Wrote: Acts 4:32-35. All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.
Looks like they lived as real communists ... commune - ists, 2000 years ago.
How is it you people know nothing of your own history ?
The monastic communities lived as communists, and still do.
Maybe you could buy a clue.
I've always been struck by Christians' opposition to socialism/love of capitalism. You have that passage in Acts, you have the camel-needle thing from Jesus, and (just in case there were any doubts) in James you find:
James 5 Wrote:Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. 2 Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. 3 Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. 4 Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. 5 You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter.[a] 6 You have condemned and murdered the innocent one, who was not opposing you.
I mean, it sounds like a total condemnation of economic exploitation to me. If failing to pay the workers who mow your fields is a damnable sin, why aren't more Christians socialists of some kind?
My theory: Christianity was hijacked by nationalistic forces, and it is more beholden to them than even their special book!
Constantine knew that the Greeks had used religion to unify their empire. He knew that Artaxerxes had used religion to unify the Jews when he sent some back to serve as a buffer-state between him and the invading Greeks. Later, Arabs used their newly minted religion to unify a far-flung Arab empire. When he called the Council of Nicaea, he told the squabbling sects of Christians, he didn't care what they agreed on as orthodoxy, but they better agree on "something". He wanted to use Christianity to unify his empire. It was a nifty trick if one could get it done.
Every religion is true one way or another. It is true when understood metaphorically. But when it gets stuck in its own metaphors, interpreting them as facts, then you are in trouble. - Joseph Campbell
Militant Atheist Commie Evolutionist
Militant Atheist Commie Evolutionist