Another reason why I lol at the religious right:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/293537/jesus_the_last_communist.html?singlepage=true&cat=9Since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the breakup of the Soviet Union nearly two decades ago, it has been widely assumed that communism is dead. With North Korea in shambles, the Castro era ending in
Cuba, and the move to a free market in China, this does appear true. In fact, most attempts at instituting the ideals of communism have failed, mainly because they were instituted by megalomaniacal despots.
However, there is one model of pure communism that has over a billion followers, although most don't practice it the way their founder taught them to. That model is Christianity. Forget Marx and Lenin and Mao; if you want an example of a true Communist leader, Jesus is your man.
Sure, it sounds crazy, and maybe even a little blasphemous to some, but before you judge, consider Webster's definition of communism: "a system in which goods are owned in common and are available to all as needed." Now let's look at the guide all Christians use as the basis of their belief, and that some consider infallible: the Bible.
The second and fourth chapters of the Book of Acts give a clear example, too seldom followed in Christian churches today, of what most would consider communism:
"All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts." (Acts 2:44-46 NIV)
"All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need." (Acts 4:32-35 NIV)
The Gospels are filled with teachings by Jesus or his followers that encourage, and even demand, a social and economic equality foreign to us today:
"But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind." (Luke 14:13 NIV)
"Jesus answered, 'If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me'." (Matt. 19:21 NIV)
"John answered, 'The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same'." (Luke 3:11 NIV)
"Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, 'Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,' but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?" (James 2:15-16 NIV)
This was the model Jesus instituted, and it is one that, minus the religious aspect, Karl Marx would have endorsed wholeheartedly. It was a model of equality that two thousand years ago brought together merchants and beggars, rabbis and prostitutes, soldiers and slaves and eventually converted an empire.
But the movement Jesus founded has lost its way. Many Christians today are the single largest commercial consumers on the planet, with mega-churches, their own bookstores and recording labels, and a political agenda that attacks the very people Jesus called on us to defend. Entire denominations are obsessed with a "prosperity gospel" that equates faith with financial gain.
Some years ago, the Brazilian Archbishop and liberation theologian Dom Helder Camara lamented the situation with these words: "When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist."
Jesus asked the same question and faced the same dilemma, and the elites of his society responded by killing him. I wonder if we would react differently today.
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