BWA6067@TAMAGEN (01/17/90)
>Marco, you mentioned the quote, "Give to Caesar what is of Caesar." It is my >opinion that Jesus meant that what Caesar requested (in the way of taxes, etc.) > was to be paid to him with his money; in this sense, we should repay God with >the many blessings He has given us. > >God be with you, > >Christian Renegade<--------| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ | | This is an interesting concept. ;-) How might a fleshly, mortal man "give" to God? Jesus made it very clear, and then Paul muddied the waters a bit. Actually, by our propensity to render greater practical significance to Paul's explanations of Jesus' teachings, we ourselves have muddied the waters which were undoubtedly clear to the first-century Christians. Jesus taught that we give to God Himself when we feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the imprisoned, infirmed, or lonely, or take in a sojourner. You've read the parable a million times. The gift is that much more meaningful when it is given to one who cannot repay it. That is a very general carte blanche, essentially. Then Paul came along, and in a very specific instance, when the Jews in Jerusalem were in need, called ahead to the Gentile churches he was planning to visit and commanded them to set aside a certain amount on the first day of the week (I Corinthians 16:1-4). (See also Acts 24:17, II Corinthians 8 and 9.) We may have taken this specific commandment from Paul and institutionalized it until it is no longer recognizable as the free exercise of spontaneous generosity that Jesus intended it to be. Do we feel bound to give every Sunday morning, or is it a result of our desire to be justified by good works? This is why I hope to build a very low-budget building for a congregation to worship in one day. Unawares, we have placed ourselves in so much debt through building massive, million- dollar edifices that our "Sunday morning contribution" is required, not spontaneous. We have to give so much on the first day of the week that we can't afford to help our neighbors out between Sundays. The gift Paul commanded the Greek churches to collect was in response to a very pressing need. We needn't impose upon that passage a meaning beyond that, for Jesus' parable is really all we need to know. off my soapbox, queue ball That's my opinion too. I made my remark because Jesus "proofs" money is something of Ceasar (or the state or the world or so) by pointing at the sign of Ceasar at the coin, and we were discussing a reference to God on our coins. As a matter of fact, I think "wealth"/money is be a blessing that we might repay God by sharing it with our fellow human beings. There are many other like honour and worship that we should give to God, and not to Ceasar (well, some kind of honour probably, but not the kind I try to give to God). Marco.