On Capitalist Jesus. The Evil of Christianity.

[Dr.3D]

The greater context of of Matthew 19:17, Mark 10:17 Luke 11, Luke 12:33, Luke 18:18-22, Acts 2:44-45, Acts 4, would all tend to disagree with your view of ownership of property. Selling all your possessions, giving to the poor, having everything in common with your Christian brothers, communal living, all would indicate that the Christian ideal is communism, not capitalism. That would probably knock a hole in your idea that earthly "blessings" have anything to do with wealth.

Seems the key word here is giving. Communism/socialism is not giving but rather having ones property taken by the government and the government being the one doing the giving.

 

[Theocrat]

To Whom Does God Bless With Those Things Sold?

The greater context of of Matthew 19:17, Mark 10:17 Luke 11, Luke 12:33, Luke 18:18-22, Acts 2:44-45, Acts 4, would all tend to disagree with your view of ownership of property. Selling all your possessions, giving to the poor, having everything in common with your Christian brothers, communal living, all would indicate that the Christian ideal is communism, not capitalism. That would probably knock a hole in your idea that earthly "blessings" have anything to do with wealth.

Jesus is talking about the Church in its ministry of the Gospel to those without as well as those who are partakers in preaching it. Nowhere in any of those verses does Jesus command us to give our possessions to the civil government. That would be communism. In Acts 4, it is clear that the lands and possessions sold were given to the apostles, not Caesar. Also, those things were given as every person had a need. If anything, those passages prove that it is the Church that should participate in taking care of the poor and needy, not the State.

God has always given land and possessions to His people, ever since the Garden of Eden. That continues today in the New Covenant under Christ because Jesus is the second Adam, and His Bride, the Church, is the second Eve. By that, we know that God has called us to take dominion of the earth once again (Matthew 28:19, 20), even as the first Adam and Eve were told to do so in Genesis. God through Christ is making all things new upon the earth (2 Corinthians 5:17; Revelation 21:5), and there are many promises in God's word that He will bless His people with material possessions for their obedience to Him (Deuteronomy 7; the whole book of Joshua [foreshadowing Christ]; Psalm 37:18; 78:55; Proverbs 13:22; Matthew 5; Ephesians 1; et. al.).

 

[PaulaGem]

The early Christians did live communally. There is evidence and many believe that Yeshua and "John the Baptist" were part of the same communal Essene group.

 

[LibertyEagle]

Families live communally too. That's very different from Communism.

 

[PaulaGem]

You're quoting from Hebrews 11:1, but in Verse 3 the text says, "Through faith, we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear." That is what the "evidence of things not seen" is talking about. We cannot see God, but we see clearly that the things which God has made and done are from Him. The greater context of Hebrews 11 discusses how the saints of old received God's promises from afar, not having seen the total fulfillment of them. That is the essence of what the passage you quoted is talking about. Faith has nothing to do with being blind to the things of this world, and I challenge you to find me one passage in the Bible where it teaches that. Your definition of faith is sorely lacking, and it's unbiblical.

In 1 John 1:1-3, the apostle John states,

Those things which John observed with his senses was of God and from God. John's faith was based on concrete evidences that God is Who He said He was, and John was an eyewitness to those things and wrote them for our edification. He did not appeal to some ethereal "blind faith" as the basis for his belief in God. Yet, that is what you are stating faith is about with no Biblical warrant for such a notion.

Philosophical and material evidences of God are not opposed to God, and they are the kinds of evidences which become more real to the person that meditates on God's word day and night (Psalm 1). You need to stop adopting the world's definition of faith (that it is based on blind things) and be grounded by what God's word has declared about it. Faith is not believing what you want to be so, nor is it picking up from where reason leaves off.

So the only question that remains is have you read (and studied) the Book?

The verse in Hebrews relates back to the Word as that which emanates from God.
Jewish belief is that the act of creation was the result of the utterance or the Word of God. The simple statement in Hebrews 11:1 stands on its own. The rest of the chapter is simply a listing of examples of faith, not modification of the basic principle.

Faith is a Spiritual reality. It is illogical to expect physical proof of Spiritual reality.

To base one's faith on Spiritual experience is not "blind faith". It's called a personal relationship with God.

 

[jsu718]

Seems the key word here is giving. Communism/socialism is not giving but rather having ones property taken by the government and the government being the one doing the giving.

There is a difference between communism and Communism. You are confusing the two.

Jesus is talking about the Church in its ministry of the Gospel to those without as well as those who are partakers in preaching it. Nowhere in any of those verses does Jesus command us to give our possessions to the civil government. That would be communism.

You are confusing communism with Communism as well.

In Acts 4, it is clear that the lands and possessions sold were given to the apostles, not Caesar. Also, those things were given as every person had a need. If anything, those passages prove that it is the Church that should participate in taking care of the poor and needy, not the State.

God has always given land and possessions to His people, ever since the Garden of Eden. That continues today in the New Covenant under Christ because Jesus is the second Adam, and His Bride, the Church, is the second Eve. By that, we know that God has called us to take dominion of the earth once again (Matthew 28:19, 20), even as the first Adam and Eve were told to do so in Genesis. God through Christ is making all things new upon the earth (2 Corinthians 5:17; Revelation 21:5), and there are many promises in God's word that He will bless His people with material possessions for their obedience to Him (Deuteronomy 7; the whole book of Joshua [foreshadowing Christ]; Psalm 37:18; 78:55; Proverbs 13:22; Matthew 5; Ephesians 1; et. al.).

You are completely bastardizing the definition of the word "blessings". Never in the bible is a blessing by itself ever meant to include property or possessions. It often is associated with them because a blessing either precedes or follows the transfer of wealth, such as with an inheritance, but by itself it absolutely does NOT mean that.

 

[torchbearer]

There is a difference between communism and Communism. You are confusing the two.

A true communist would have no government ownership because their would be nothing to own.

 

[jsu718]

A true communist would have no government ownership because their would be nothing to own.

Finally someone who understands what non-Soviet/Chinese/Cuban/Korean (I suppose non-Marxist) communism really is. Thank you.

 

[Theocrat]

The Antics of Semantics

There is a difference between communism and Communism. You are confusing the two.


You are confusing communism with Communism as well.


You are completely bastardizing the definition of the word "blessings". Never in the bible is a blessing by itself ever meant to include property or possessions. It often is associated with them because a blessing either precedes or follows the transfer of wealth, such as with an inheritance, but by itself it absolutely does NOT mean that.

"Communism" and "communism"? What is the difference, and where in the Bible does it make such a distinction to support your argument?

Also, show me in the Bible (both Old and New Testaments) where God expressly forbids ownership of any personal property. If individuals do not and can not own property, then to whom does is it rightly belong? The Bible never teaches that civil governments have a right to control property, so I'm very confused as to where you're reasoning that no private property is a blessing of God.

 

[torchbearer]

Finally someone who understands what non-Soviet/Chinese/Cuban/Korean (I suppose non-Marxist) communism really is. Thank you.

My degrees are on Sociology and Political Science. I understand why you are so excited that "someone gets it". Most people don't.
The misunderstanding comes from things like the "Communist Party" which actually ran a Socialist state.