XPost: alt.atheism, alt.politics, aus.politics   
   XPost: aus.religion, alt.politics.republicans, uk.politics.misc   
   From: darstec@neo.rr.com   
      
   HD wrote:   
      
   >   
   > "Seon Ferguson"  wrote in message   
   > news:49840f73$0$14863$5a62ac22@per-qv1-newsreader-01.iinet.net.au...   
   >>   
   >>   
   >> "HD"  wrote in message   
   >> news:IsTgl.16012$cu.974@news-server.bigpond.net.au...   
   >>>   
   >>> "Seon Ferguson"  wrote in message   
   >>> news:4983fd52$0$14899$5a62ac22@per-qv1-newsreader-01.iinet.net.au...   
   >>>>   
   >>>>   
   >>>> "Peter Webb"  wrote in message   
   >>>> news:4983e8a8$0$20975$afc38c87@news.optusnet.com.au...   
   >>>>> Atheists have done lots of bad things, but not because they are   
   >>>>> atheists, but because they are bad people.   
   >>>>>   
   >>>> Your dead right. Stalin murdered millions of people because he was a   
   >>>> communist not an Atheist.   
   >>>   
   >>> Jesus Christ was a Communist.   
   >>>   
   >> Just because he told his followers to give up everything and follow him?   
   >> (you don't see the super rich religious right doing that today now do   
   >> you?)   
   >   
   > Neither did the Pharisees (Seperatists) the super rich who seperated   
   > themselves from the poor. They didn't like His communist teachings so they   
   > had Him Crucified.   
      
      
   There are several problems with that scenario, the least of which is that   
   Jesus is a fictitious character of the second century CE.   
      
   First of all, the Pharisees were not reviled in the first century.  That   
   occurred in the second century.  Secondly, the Jewish people had the   
   authority to administer capital punishment on their own.  This is evident   
   from the passages (at least three) where they tried to stone Jesus in   
   public but he got away.  The Jewish people had to give up that right to the   
   civil authority after 70 CE in part, and finally in 135 CE when they were   
   totally driven from their Holy Land.   
      
   As to the Pharisees, while they were of a special class and powerful, they   
   were not necessarily rich.  The correlation between power, class, and   
   wealth was a complex one.  Wealth did not necessarily equate to class, but   
   the upper class were allowed to acquire wealth, while for the most part,   
   that was denied to the lower classes.  For a fuller explanation of the   
   topic see http://tinyurl.com/b535eu.   
      
   I do agree, that the Jesus portrayed in scripture was a communist.  Acts   
   clearly demonstrates that.  Most people confuse the militaristic feudalism   
   of modern (relatively speaking) communists with real communism to the point   
   where that is now the de facto definition of communism.  Strictly speaking,   
   it is not.   
      
      
      
   --   
   Later,   
   Darrell   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)