Oddball
Unobtanium Member
Which is an entirely irrelevant point to the fact that inflation destroys the buying power of everyone...All you're doing here is exposing your envy of the wealthy and sheer ignorance of how the fiat monetary system works.How much you have in the bank is irrelevant to the fact that inflation destroys the buying power of everyone.It's a tax on everyone who has accumulated wealth.Inflation is a tax.The Bible teaches that charity should come from the heart, family and church. Nothing about giving your money to a Roman bureaucrat to dole it out for you.
Actually, Jesus was pretty clear... "Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's" Caesar's picture was on the coins. You give him his coins back when he asks for them. Render unto Washington what is Washington's, he'd say today.
You are obviously confused.
If you ever went to church and studied things like you would understand that passage was part of a larger conversation to challenge the faith of the Jewish leader to chose between God or the secular world.
Render Unto Caesar: A Most Misunderstood New Testament Passage | Mises Institute
Jesus's instruction to "render unto Caesar" is an example of subtle sedition against the Roman state — and not a command to pay taxes.mises.org
Render Unto Caesar: A Most Misunderstood New Testament Passage
With one straightforward counter-question, Jesus skillfully points out that the claims of God and Caesar are mutually exclusive. If one's faith is in God, then God is owed everything; Caesar's claims are necessarily illegitimate, and he is therefore owed nothing. If, on the other hand, one's faith is in Caesar, God's claims are illegitimate, and Caesar is owed, at the very least, the coin which bears his image.
Jesus' counter-question simply invites His listeners to choose allegiances. Remarkably, He has escaped the trap through a clever rhetorical gambit; He has authoritatively refuted His opponents' hostile question by basing His answer in scripture, and yet, He never overtly answers the question originally posed to Him. No wonder that St. Matthew ends the Tribute Episode this way: "When they heard this they were amazed, and leaving him they went away."
Jesus hardly promoted the idea of "individual freedom".
You may also be confused.
Jesus was a citizen of a country that hated an oppressive government. In fact He was crucified by the Government.
If you want to use political terms He was a Libertarian.
God gave us free will. The ultimate personal freedom. It was Man that turned the freedom of free will over to oppressive government.
Jesus wasn't political. You are arguing politics. Don't infuse Jesus into that argument.
You are confused at the point I was making.
I was arguing that God gave us free will which is the ability to chose our own fate.
If we let government oppress us then it is our own fault.
Jesus told us many times to chose God over the state.
The Romans oppressed the Jews as they did most of the conquered lands.
We get that kind of oppression from government. Even in a country like the US that founded on the principle of "In God We Trust". For instance, in some places our government was even telling us recently that we couldn't even go to church and we even have a Bill of Rights that guarantees freedom of religion.
However, to get back to the subject of this thread. Charity should be an act of the heart, not the oppression of government.
I hate welfare, taxes and government oppression. I don't want the government taking my money by force and giving it away to the special interest groups that vote in the politicians.
However, I am a generous person. I help to support an orphanage. My wife and I go to the grocery store every month and buy food and donate it to a food bank. We spend quite a bit of our income on charity.
I want to have the ability to chose who I help. That is called Liberty. I do not want some stuipid and corrupt politician stealing my money and giving it away to the special interest groups that help to get him or her reelected.
Socialism is slavery to the state. Nobody in their right minds would support something like that.
You make the mistake in assuming that those who wish to see a fairer country is worshipping the state. You are wrong.
You are confused about this. Ii don't think you really understand what the word fairness means.
How can the oppressive government taking the money that I earned and giving it to some worthless welfare queen or Illegal alien be considered fair by any definition? Isn't that slavery? Isn't that thievery?
I had to work hard for my money. Why should the government steal it and give it to somebody else that didn't do a damn damn thing to earn it?
Nobody is taking your money to give to others. The government is just creating it out of nothing.
For the poor and middle class. I've argued over and over to end it.
When you get 10 million and have to pay $150,000 in tax it's not really a tax.
Are you being obtuse on purpose?
You are calling me names over something I'm not even discussing or arguing. Those getting millions are doing OK with inflation creation. The rest not so much.
IOW, you're being obtuse.