M
Mintaka
Guest
Arghhhh. So much misunderstanding in this thread…
The only early Christian community that “shared their goods in common” was the one centered in Jerusalem, because Jesus had already predicted that Jerusalem would fall and they would all have to flee at a moment’s notice, losing everything.
Prophetically, it was a good move that paid off in 70 AD or so. Meanwhile, however, we see people like St. Paul raising money and sending food to the Jerusalem community from Christians outside the Holy Land, because without land and houses and property, Jerusalem’s Christians had a really hard time keeping clothed and fed. Things might have gone better, except that there were a few famines all across the Empire at various times.
In order to keep Jerusalem’s church community alive until the fall of Jerusalem, the rest of the Christian world had to work hard, and keep their properties working too. This is also the way religious orders that depend on charity work: other people help them out.
- If you’re forced to give things away, it isn’t charity. It’s robbery.
- If you’re forced to give things away to the government, it isn’t charity. It is taxation. And as the prophet Samuel warned the Israelites, having a central government means giving the government control over your kids, your fields, your work, and everything you do. Keeping Caesar from getting what is God’s becomes a big problem very quickly… even if your particular Caesar is King David, or King Solomon.
- Koinonia, the Greek word for “communion” or “fellowship,” is also the word for “corporation, partnership.” St. Peter’s fishing company was a “koinonia” of equal partners.
- There are a few people out there who cannot support themselves, and it is supposed to be our privilege to provide for them through personal charity. In Jesus’ time, the normal procedure was that any needy widows, orphans, etc. would be given alms (money, food, clothing, etc.) every week at the synagogue, often at the communal meal after the service. It was the job of the “president” and the elders of the local synagogue to make sure that sufficient alms were given out.
The only early Christian community that “shared their goods in common” was the one centered in Jerusalem, because Jesus had already predicted that Jerusalem would fall and they would all have to flee at a moment’s notice, losing everything.
Prophetically, it was a good move that paid off in 70 AD or so. Meanwhile, however, we see people like St. Paul raising money and sending food to the Jerusalem community from Christians outside the Holy Land, because without land and houses and property, Jerusalem’s Christians had a really hard time keeping clothed and fed. Things might have gone better, except that there were a few famines all across the Empire at various times.
In order to keep Jerusalem’s church community alive until the fall of Jerusalem, the rest of the Christian world had to work hard, and keep their properties working too. This is also the way religious orders that depend on charity work: other people help them out.
