Tell City Nazarene Church's Biblical Journey
With Pastor Charles Areson
Today's reading is Act 4-7
The verse in Acts 4:32 has been claimed by many as proof that Christians should be socialist. The verse talks about the disciples held all things in common. So much so that I have heard it said that in the New Heaven and the New Earth socialism will be the economy of that age.
As a capitalist, I happen to agree. In the age to come, we will be as they were at this time “one in heart and mind.” Today though, we are not of one mind and one thought, so socialism doesn’t work the way it promises (capitalism doesn’t work perfectly either, but that is a discussion for another time).
So how should we live in this time of imperfection? As if everything belongs to God. This is after all how the church responded here. It wasn’t that they had communal ownership, but when needs were made known those that had supplied the funds to those who were responsible to see that they were distributed correctly. They lived as if they were family.
On a side note, the verses here don’t say that they were taking care of all the poor, but those who were among them. This causes me to believe that the church that doesn’t take care of its own is missing the mark if they are helping others.
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