American Christianity has distorted the original teachings of Jesus, says Gregory Paul, an independent researcher in sociology and evolution, who insists that if the savior were alive today, he’d probably be a socialist.

 

Paul argues that many conservative Christians have shaped Jesus into someone advocating deregulation, union busting and minimal taxes for the rich. These assertions couldn’t be more wrong, he says.

 

Paul quotes Acts 2 and 4: “the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need… No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had…. There were no needy persons among them. 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.”

 

Later in Acts, the apostle Peter tells the story of Ananias, who sold property and, rather than given the money to apostles to be shared, kept part of the profit for himself. When Peter confronts him with having “not lied just to human beings but to God,” Ananias falls down and dies.

 

Thinkers on the right strongly disagree with Paul’s claim of Jesus being a socialist.

 

David French and Jordan Sekulow of the American Center for Law and Justice interpret the story of Ananias differently. They say that Ananias’ transgression was not that he kept the money, but that he lied about it. They quote the passage that precedes Paul’s chosen quote: “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal?”

 

French and Sekulow also insist that the Bible reveals the importance of the poor helping themselves, and not just the idea that they should be cared for. They call attention to the Bible’s narrow interpretation of helping those in need. In Timothy, widows are only eligible for material support from the community if they have no family to support them and if they are aged 60 or older, raised children, did not commit adultery and have washed the feet of the Lord’s people or engaged in other good deeds.

-David Wallechinsky, Noel Brinkerhoff

 

From Jesus’ Socialism to Capitalistic Christianity (by Gregory Paul, Washington Post)

The Impossibility of a Socialist Jesus (by David French and Jordan Sekulow, Washington Post)