I would like to ask all the tea party people and especially conservative republicans who wave the bible,what do you think jesus would answer if he was given the choice of raising taxes on the rich or feeding the poor.
According to what is recorded in Matthew, Jesus did pay the temple tax, although I think the way he did it is sort of like cheating. -well, resorting to a miracle. And notice that he did argue that technically he was exempt from it. (Matthew 17:24-26) And of course in this more famous story, he does seem to argue that we should pay taxes to the authorities -Rome in this case-. (Mark 12:13-17) But of course, his message was more about personal charity, not about having to pay taxes. This verse might be more relevant: (Luke 18:18-25)
That was debated for centuries by the early Christians, eventually a Roman Emperor picked a side and the trinity Christians won out.
Why use logic when you can come up with logic defying concepts to confuse people? It's really simple: A=B, A=C, A=D But: B=/=C, C=/=D, D=/=B Does it make sense? Nope, so let's just call it a mystery... Hey, I have a square circle at home! Wow, how is that even possible? I don't know, it's a mystery... Can I see it? Nope, unfortunately it's invisible. Ooohhhh, even more mysterious then. That means it MUST be real...
"It is easier for an elephant to go through the eye of an needle than for a rich man to go to heaven"
Elephant? Is that from the North African Bible, or the Indian Bible? I know in the Greek Bibles it is usually a Camel.
Also, isn't this believed to be a translation error? AFAIK, "eye of the needle" can also be translated as (or at least sounds very similar in Aramaeic as) "noose" or something like that. I'd have to look it up though. Anyway, that would open up very different interpretations. Edit: Nah, I got it completely wrong, it's not the "eye of the needle" translation that is debated but the translation for "camel" which is some believe is better translated as "rope", which doesn't change the interpretation very much. Sorry for that...
They talked about this on QI. Can't remember it exactly, but I think they mentioned that some Christians believed the 'eye of the needle' thing was the name for a small arch in some ancient city that camels etc passed through, but if the camel was carrying to much stuff it struggled to get through. I'm guessing it was the more well off Christians, making the impossible a bit more possible, who came up with that one.
Well, according to Luke's account Jesus followed up by implying that yes they can, but only by a divine act. Here is the following verse, right after Jesus made his comment about the camel and the needle: (Luke 18:26-27) Well, yeah, but who takes the Bible literally, anyway?
I'm pretty sure that the bible never actually comes out and says anything like the trinity. John might come closest, but even there the unity of father and son is merely implied and one could just as well make the case that they're two distinct divine beings, akin to the Gnostic concept of god which was closely related to early Johannine Christianity.
Actually, there are people who claim that the Jesus myth is based on the Mithras cult. In that case, we really could blame the Iranians for the mess