Weren’t the early Christians a bunch of long haired pinko commies?

[moobu2]

(no offence intended)

1. They had long hair and beards and even wore sandals.
2. I used pinko in the sense of them being the more faded red commie version.
3. They sold their belongings and pooled the cash and handed it out according to the needs of the individuals in the group, so they were a little more than socialists to say the least.

Read these verses from the Holy Scripture itself (King James Version)and tell me these folks weren't a bunch of long haired pinko commies. (no offence intended)

"Acts of the Apostles chapter 2 and verses 42, 44, and 45:

42 And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.43 Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. 44 And all that believed were together, and had all things in common; 45 And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.

Acts 4:32-37:

32 And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common. 33 And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all. 34 Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, 35 And laid them down at the apostles' feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need. 36 And Joses, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, (which is, being interpreted, The son of consolation,) a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus, 37 Having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles' feet."

[Ken Burch]

1. They indeed were.

And most of today's "Christian conservatives", had they been around back in the day, would've shouted for Barabbas. Pontius Pilate was a strong "law and order" type, the sort the Robertsons and the Palins love.

[panader0]

2. Damn hippies

[elocs]

3. Yes, and Jesus was not only a homeless man, but a dangerous Liberal as well. n/t

[DeSwiss]

4. Nah...

...I wouldn't say so. The only indication that this idea bears any semblance to truth, comes from a singular, extremely biased and unreliable source; that of the bible. These so-called "holy" book's authenticity is dubious. At best. Their stories are best seen as the vestiges or leftovers of other's stories, mixed with Christian politics. And in short, they're outright forgeries with the so-called "holy prophet's" names slapped upon them, in an bogus effort to garner credibility.

- So while it might be nice for some to think that the early Christians were not the rank heathens, manipulators, murderers, in-fighters and backstabbers that they truly were according to those parts of the historical record which we can confirm independently, then it's only an applicable consideration if you're prepared to unquestioningly accept this (one) pitifully poor-ass source.....









"If fifty million people say a foolish thing, it's still a foolish thing" - Bertrand Russell

[47of74]

5. And what did it get them

Persecution from the establishment, such as the Romans.

[Igel]

6. Watch definition drift.

Yes, they essentially formed a collective--not that they lived and worked together, a la commune. Just that they formed a very giving mutual help association. That's not what most people think of by 'collective'. It's not a co-op, either. Projecting current American ideas back 2000 years and into a different culture is risky (it's risky to project them onto a contemporary non-American culture, and also risky to project such ideas back 200 years to former versions of American culture).

There's also no indication that this was forced; it was self-collectivization, if anything. Not much later in the narrative Ananias and Sapphira are pointedly told that they didn't need to sell what they had, nor should they have lied about giving everything while keeping stuff back. If you wanted to be selfish or limit your generosity, that was your business. Most "commies" and socialists deviate from this idea quite a bit: The entire idea is the same as with the health insurance mandate, you broaden the pool as much as possible. Voluntary communes tend to not be incredibly long-lived. Even Social Democrats engage in non-voluntary wealth redistribution, overlooking that without the voluntary part it's not Xian on the part of the givers, just possibly on the part of the redistributors. . . although I always wonder about those who decide to take money to redistribute it using the state's apparatus yet calling it Xian, since it's essentially "render unto caesar the things that are God's".

There's also no good evidence they were all long-haired. Roman fashion was clean-shaven and short-haired, and there are more than a few indications that this wasn't an uncommon fashion in Palestine at the time when Jesus is taken to have lived. In any event, the long-haired among them, were there any, would have, as did the short-haired ones, had pretty greasy hair--think pomades, for pretty much the same purpose as in more recent centuries. Cuts down on lice and smell.

Most people wore sandals then; it was pretty much that, wrappings, or barefoot. It's why you washed feet before eating. Jesus is reported to have washed his disciples' feet, the act of a servant. My church's Passover service included foot washing prior to the unleavened bread and wine.