vlyons (915 posts)
39. That's correct
Members of the earliest church pooled all their resources and wealth to benefit the entire community.
Well not quite, and ignores the historical context as well.
Acts 5:1-11, among other things, illustrates how things were done. For brevity, I'll only quote verses 3 and 4:
But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back for yourself part of the proceeds from the sale of the land? Before it was sold, did it not belong to you? And when it was sold, was the money not at your disposal? How have you thought up this deed in your heart? You have not lied to people but to God!â€
IOW, the sharing was entirely voluntary, not under government or church leadership duress. Quite different from any variety of socialism. Which leads to the obvious question, why did they do that?
The first few years of the first church, in Jerusalem was a challenging time, even ignoring any persecution by the established religious leadership and/or the Roman government. Early in the morning of the day of Pentecost the church numbered all of 120 believers. By the end of that day they numbered over 3000. More to the point, many of those 3000 were hundreds or thousands of miles from their home, and stayed on in Jerusalem. That would be 1 or 2 thousand (possibly more!) people with no permanent homes, no jobs, and no food beyond what they had provided for their Passover holiday. So the believers who did live in/near Jerusalem did what made sense. They helped them find housing, get food, and get jobs.
IOW, the sharing of resources in the first church was not an act of spirituality that somehow has since gotten neglected, but a temporary practical measure to deal with a large temporary problem. And while the collection and distribution was organized, the donations were voluntary rather than coerced and given rather than taken.
Not understanding such things is what happens when one sees the Bible as a collection of just-so stories or uses it as a source for mantra-grade quips.
