Apr 15th, 2003, 10:22 PM
I'm on a smoke break between classes, Ocean 201 starts up in a moment, but I wanted to address something most ricki tick.
"Ror, it doesn't suit you to put words in my mouth."
That wasn't my intent, I'll hope you'll grant me the benefit of the doubt on this one. I've never understood the difference between communism and socialism, at least not enough to seperate the two, and so I read your words accordingly.
"Consider the implications of giving to Caesar what is Caesar's."
I say consider the times. There was great unrest on the topic of taxation, it was a foreign concept to the Jews which was only implemtented when once they had fallen to Rome. Tax Collectors, like Thomas (I hope I'm remembering the right disciple here), were scorned and when the Pharisees cornered Christ on the topic, they were hoping to trick him into proclaiming one way or the other. If He spoke against taxes, they would have reason to report him against the authorities as a subversive, if he spoke for them, he would lose the love of the people who themselves despised taxes. His answer, in short, was that it was immaterial. All that mattered was a man's soul, for when he died, that is all he would have. It wasn't the first time He made such a point either.
"Consider the widow's mite."
Actually that parable was illustrating the difference between true faith, and public faith. The sacrifice they made, in this case monetary, was unimportant, and Christ was trying to show that if a man's heart was not right, it did not matter how much they gave. The rich man, as you will recall, gave a PUBLIC donation, and his reward was the acknowledgement he recieved was the admiration of his fellow men. The widow gave privately, for she sought only to serve God, and it was that which God approved of. Not the sacrifice in question.
"Jesus was not a comunist, and implying that I had thought so by your hyperbolic speech is just too cheap of a shot."
You said He could be seen as a propositioning socialism, and obviously I misunderstood. You have my apologies. I simply didn't understand what I had read.
"Jesus simply advocated a redistribution of wealth."
He advocated love for all men, and love foremost for the creator of all men, God.
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