Arguable. For example look at Acts 2:44 which reads "All the believers were together and had everything in common." Or Luke 3:11 which states "Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same."
> For example look at Acts 2:44 which reads "All the believers were together and had everything in common."
Be sure to read the whole story there. Ananias and Sapphira come shortly after that part and you'll soon get to the verse saying "those who do not work shall not eat."
They did indeed live communally for a while, but it didn't work out very well and it didn't last.
Ok not sure I’d say it didn’t work out well. The important thing to emphasize is that they were voluntarily showing their love toward each other by selling goods to help take care of needs within the community. It sets a fine example that many strive for today within the church.
I'm mostly going with that because of the whole "it didn't last" part. It did seem to help them get through some tough times when the world had basically turned against them.
Sure, but he's commanding the individual to share voluntarily. The early church didn't force its members to give up their property: they did it willingly.
That's a poor reading of Acts 5, from a literary perspective.
5 Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. 2 With his wife’s full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet.
3 Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? 4 Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.”
To point out the salient quote, "Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal?" The reason for the death was lying. It was lying to the community. It was lying to look good to community, but in fact not having its interests at heart.
This also stands as evidence that Christianity, while wholeheartedly communialist is not communist nor socialist as defined Marx or Engles. The State, i.e. the Church/Apostles, does not lay claim to the means of production or personal/private property. It asks for charity. Communism has the State own everything. If anyone doesn't fall in line, they're killed.
Charity isn't collectivist, but it is anti-capitalist. Giving away wealth and property to those who haven't earned the means to purchase it, and without making a profit from the exchange, undermines the entire premise of capitalism.
A capitalist Jesus would have offered loaves and fishes to a few followers then opened a restaurant after the buzz spread.
I think you have a rather stunted view of capitalism. Go and earn your money in the free market. You are then free to spend it how you want. Capitalism doesn’t dictate that every voluntary monetary transaction has to be market-driven. Charities exist. Donate to those of your own volition.
In fact Jesus came from Galilee, the working/merchant class area. Generally the more capitalist area. He spoke a lot about money, but all of the vitriol was aimed at Judeans, who were close to Jerusalem and politically connected. I.e. ones who didn’t necessarily get their money from usual hard work, but through political exploitation. Good podcast on it here https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wROu4IPB4bQ
> Capitalism doesn’t dictate that every voluntary monetary transaction has to be market-driven. Charities exist. Donate to those of your own volition.
True, but only the market-driven transactions are capitalist.
>He spoke a lot about money, but all of the vitriol was aimed at Judeans, who were close to Jerusalem and politically connected. I.e. ones who didn’t necessarily get their money from usual hard work, but through political exploitation.
Jesus said it would be easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. He didn't make an exception for those who earned their fortune "honestly." He constantly told people to give all of their possessions away to the poor and abandon their individual identities and ambitions to the extreme of even attending their families' funerals ("let the dead bury their own dead.") He said "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
The goal of capitalism is the accumulation of material wealth, which is clearly at odds to what Jesus and the early church were trying to preach.
> He constantly told people to give all of their possessions away to the poor
No, this is an imbalanced view. Listen to the podcast linked, it was directed at Judeans.
I’m not saying that individuals shouldn’t be wary of holding wealth up as the most important thing as Jesus said you cannot serve God and mammon. But that’s a different thing entirely from “how do you get wealth to begin with”. One can become wealthy in an honest way and then be quite generous if he serves God instead of mammon.
Also not laying up treasures speaks to what one should do when they have money, not the system by which they got money. Coming from Galilee, I think he’d be more pro-free market since he railed against the politically connected who got their money through corruption.
Also there’s a time and a place to take care of the poor voluntarily, but don’t trust everyone whose says they care for the poor. You should donate to them out of your own heart, and be wary of centralized programs. Socialism is the Judas Iscariot view of economics: pretend to care for the poor and then line your own pockets.
Arguable. For example look at Acts 2:44 which reads "All the believers were together and had everything in common." Or Luke 3:11 which states "Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same."
In fact, there is an entire ideology referred to as [Christian communism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_communism)