acts 5:1-15

[jjwilkman]

i need some one to explain this to me, i don’t understand. how can a God of Love do this in the Christian era. i have said things that i haven’t to been able to comply with, does that mean that i will be struck down by a bolt of lightning???

this passage is completamently incomprehensibly to me.

 

[Ann_Cheryl]

jjwilkman:

i have said things that i haven’t to been able to comply with, does that mean that i will be struck down by a bolt of lightning???

From the footnotes of the New American Bible:

The sin of Ananias and Sapphira did not consist in the withholding of part of the money but in their deception of the community. Their deaths are ascribed to a lie to the holy Spirit (Acts 5:3, 9), i.e., they accepted the honor accorded them by the community for their generosity, but in reality they were not deserving of it.

God knows the true motives of people. In the case of Ananias and Sapphira it was not a matter of them not being able to fulfill their promise but it is the lie that they had.

 

[Seeks_God]

jjwilkman:

i need some one to explain this to me, i don’t understand. how can a God of Love do this in the Christian era. i have said things that i haven’t to been able to comply with, does that mean that i will be struck down by a bolt of lightning???

this passage is completamently incomprehensibly to me.

I’m assuming you are talking about the sins of Ananias and Sapphira…
Their sin was in appearing to look like believers by ‘tithing’, but in fact, in their hearts they had denied God. This message is telling us that you can do everything you can to appear to be believers, but you need to be believers in your heart. In other words, love your God with your entire mind, heart and soul.

Does that help?

SG