The Generation Gap-WHY? - Herbert W. Armstrong

40 Th e PLAIN TRUTH November, 1968
and elsewhere gat hered toget her at
Jerusalem to observe God 's fest ival of
Pentecost (Acts 2: 5-ll ) . As all these
believers who received God's Holy
Spirit gathered toget her, they were
un ited in a bond of Christia n love and
felIowship perhaps never before known.
As many of those who came from a
distance stayed 111 Jerusalem longer
than they or igina lly int ended, it became
necessary for them to sell part of their
possessions and goods. They had need
of cash proceeds to pay the expense of
this lengt hened stay.
As is stated in Acts 4 :32, there was
such a feeling of un ity in dealing wit h
common prob lems, that no mall Mid
o r recko ned in his own mi nd that
his possessions - which he personally
owned - were solely h is own. Rath er,
he voluntarily used his possessions in
such a way that they would fi ll the
needs of the gro up as well as h imself.
A man 's property still-legdliyremained
his own, but he did not say it
was his own. Instead he treated his own
personal property as if it were common
property.
T hat the early Ch ristians did not
pool all their resources and goods can
also be proved by other scriptures.
In Acts 5 : 1-1 1 - the vcry next chapter
- is the story of Ananias and
Sapphira who had a piece of pro perty
they wished to sell in order to g ive the
proceeds to the Church. T hey said they
were giving ALL of it, but actually they
kept back part for themselves. God
pu nished them for lying.
\'(fhen Peter rebuked them for this
deed, he exp lained the legal relationship
existing between these two people and
their property. He said, "\X'h ilc it [ the
property] remained, was it not tbine
ou-n? And after it was sold, was it
[ the money] not in thine own power?"
( Acts 5:4. )
There is no Communism here. Th ese
early Christians were capitalists - they
own ed p roperty !
Th e property - as well as the money
when it was sold - belonged comple tely
and totally to Anan ias and Sapphira
to do with as they willed . T hey could
spend it, or contribute it. If contr ibuted,
it was a voluntary, freewill offering.
Th is is a far cry from Commun ism as
it IS practiced today, whe re each indiv
idual's property is confisc(Jted and
the proceeds are distributed by a single
person or a small committee or party.
A final point to remember is that the
New Testamen t makes frequent references
to the rich and the poor in the
Church. (See especially I Ti m. 6:17-19;
James I :9-10. ) Th e believers at Antioc h
were instru cted to give, each "according
to h is ability" (Acts 11:29 ), when a
collection was taken for the "poor
saints" (Rom. 15:26) who were sufferin
g a d rought in Jerusalem. Such
d istinctions wou ld have. been impossi ble
if all pro perty were had in common.
Th ese facts PROVE that the early
Chr istians did NOT p ractice Commu nism
of AN Y kind. The Bible simply docs
not teach Commu nism !
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