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To: Tailgunner Joe
Christ preached that we should give freely of ourselves out of love, while Marx preached that we should steal from others out of hate.

And Christ's teaching "... that we should give freely of ourselves out of love ..." is now dogmatized to the point where free will has nothing to do with it -- within Christianlty, altruism is a virtue and selfishness a vice.

But it is in man's nature to care for one's own interests first -- meaning that selfishness is virtue and altruism is vice.

That truth -- selfishness is a virtue -- is obvious to those living under a communist dictatorship. That truth is less obvious, however, in a mixed Communist/Christian environment where altruism is a matter of dogmatic faith and personal selfishness is acceptable when one is not in public view.

46 posted on 08/06/2003 7:35:10 AM PDT by thinktwice
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To: thinktwice; Mr. Jeeves
Compulsory charity is an oxymoron.

Christians understand quite well that we do good unto others out only of our own free will. It is very wrong not to acknowledge this crucial distinction between Communist theft and Christian charity. It is only non-Christians who believe that we are so mind-numbed and brainwashed that we can make no choices of our own. We do what we think is right.

"If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' lend to 'sinners,' expecting to be repaid in full." - Luke 6:32-34

Jesus tells us to "love others, as we love ourselves." It is true that enlightened self-interest is a good thing, but so is love of one's neighbor. There is more to life than taking care of yourself.

"If I am not for myself, then who will be for me? If I am only for myself, then what am I?" - Rabbi Hillel

Where your treasure is, so will your heart be also. A man can store up treasures for himself on earth, but what does it gain a man to amass worldly wealth, only to lose his soul?

It is true that just as racist nazis call themselves Christians so as to invade the church and destroy it from within, so have Marxists infiltrated Christianity to preach their lies as if they are the commands of God. It is not true however, that true Christians ever denounced the right to own private property or that the earliest Christians held their property in common. When two of Peter's followers falsely claimed to be donating all the proceeds of a property sale to the ministry, but in fact kept back part for themselves, Peter rebuked them for their lie, even while making it clear that they had every right to keep their property for themselves.

"Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? - Acts 5:4

Don't believe lies about Christianity from the mouths of the enemies of Christianity.

48 posted on 08/06/2003 3:33:26 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
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