Tax collectors?

[mikekle]

My father worked for Revenue Canada as a tax agent.

He is an honest, moral, and upright man. I can only hope to be half the man he is.

Maybe you should cut back a bit on the conspiracy theories.

Well, I dont think its any surprise to any of us that the modern world has definitely fallen further away from God than times past, we all know Satan has this world tightly in his grip…so it should be no surprise there is more corruption, more greed, reaching higher levels, etc. but sure there are still some good people, as there was in days past, but as a rule, things have gone downhill, I think we can all agree on that.

 

[GratefulFred]

Well, I dont think its any surprise to any of us that the modern world has definitely fallen further away from God than times past, we all know Satan has this world tightly in his grip…so it should be no surprise there is more corruption, more greed, reaching higher levels, etc. but sure there are still some good people, as there was in days past, but as a rule, things have gone downhill, I think we can all agree on that.

I cannot agree. We have imperfect knowledge of the true state of affairs in past times. we have only stories that represent what some leaders were saying and doing. We do not have enough stories of what the rest of the people knew and did. One example does not represent the entire society. Cain killed his brother Abel. We know this is so wrong. But we cannot conclude that brother killing was an acceptable standard of behavior.

Can anyone say what percentage of the population in various times past tried their best to follow God as they understood him versus the percentage today?

We now have more than 1 billion Catholics so I have to think that while disgusting behavior still exists, we are better off with Christ as our teacher.

What Christ was about, IMO, was teaching us a better way to live - love God and love others. He identified what was sinful and encouraged us to live a better life.

Gone downhill? Don’t know. Same challenge to live a moral life? O yes. We are just as challenged today as they were in times past.

As for tax collectors being morally challenged: I had a 20 year career as a government auditor. We have laws, regulations, policies and procedures to prevent, detect, and correct errors, intentional or unintentional. My job was to detect and correct. A certain amount of error happens, but the vast majority of transactions were indeed compliant with the law. Given the tax collecting methods of the time of Christ, I have to say today is much, much fairer with less opportunity to rip off the taxpayer.

 

[Kay_Cee]

This has bothered me for awhile now, in biblical times, it seems everyone hated the tax collectors, people spit on them, cursed them, did other mean things to them all the time, no one had any respect for these people, but in our times, Ive never heard anyone speak in a negative way about people who collect taxes, in fact, many times, they are considered ‘professionals’!!! Hard to believe, but seems to be the case in our times.

Is this is just another ‘sign of the times’ and/or turning away from the bible, or…?

I also realize tax collectors back in biblical times were corrupt and greedy, but nothing has changed, Im sure all these people today are the same as back then, greed has definitely not changed in that regard, so this would not be an explanation.

I find this comment extremely rude. What, exactly, are you basing it upon?

My husband retired from the IRS after working there for 30 years. He is an honest man who worked hard to find deductions for people. In fact, sometimes after he audited a person, that individual was issued a refund.

It may come as a surprise to you, but everyone who works for the IRS is audited before being hired. Furthermore, if they are caught cheating on their taxes, not only do they have to pay back taxes, interest, and a penalty, they are fired.

 

[GerLocke]

Furthermore, if they are caught cheating on their taxes, not only do they have to pay back taxes, interest, and a penalty, they are fired.

Even if they are the Secretary of the Treasury??? Just Kiddin’!