Does This Sound Like Socialism To You?

Acts 4:32-35 (NIV)
32 All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. 33 With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. 34 There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales 35 and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.
 
Hi Josh,

This passage of scripture may sound like 'socialism' but it is more about the body of Christ giving 'voluntarily' to help others. Putting others needs above their own to aid the building of the church.

Socialism on the other hand is a system whereby people are forced to live equally run by people who have an agenda of manipulating and feeding of the misery of others.

The difference is the 'heart' - one is voluntary to expand the kingdom of God, the other is a forced politically motivated system. We cannot force people to give - only God can change a heart.
 
Acts 4:32-35 (NIV)
32 All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. 33 With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. 34 There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales 35 and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.

NO. It sounds to me like UNITY.

Socialism is "State" monitered and what we have in Acts is a "Church" deciding how to live together as one body.

The apostles knew full well the weaknesses of men. Because of the Bible, their lessons are still remembered. Unfortunately, they are not remembered well or easily put into practice. Thus Will Rogers had occasion to remark not quite so long ago:

“Communism is like prohibition, it is a good idea, but it won’t work.”
 
The Russians put it very well "we pretend to work and the government pretends to pay us".
The main problem with all left wing government schemes is a complete lack of understanding
of human nature. You can't rob from the productive members to feed the unproductive, all that does is promote collective laziness.
The system has completely failed here, the Democrats act as if they hate the well off, while the Republicans act as if they hate the poor. Both are doing nothing for the welfare of the people or the republic.
 
It really makes you wonder what, if any as we know it, economic system will be in the Kingdom to come. Capitalism run amok has proven a disaster in the making, while we all know the evils aetheistic communism spawns.
 
Acts 4:32-35 (NIV)
32 All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. 33 With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. 34 There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales 35 and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.

It sounds like true Christian faith, which has defintely affected socialism to a degree. The stigma with the word 'socialism' has to do with the old Marxist movement. Today, unfortunately, socialism is constantly attacked by staunch capitalists and many Christians of the right wing. Americans do NOT seem to be able to separate their political ideology from their Christian ideology. From MY perspective, as a Canadian, MOST Christians in the U.S. think being Christian means being a member of the GOP, or at least voting for them.
 
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