[TheRealThing]

Amen brother that is what happened. I thought you were talking about the people in ACTS, which of course was ruled by the Roman Empire. They saw the destruction of the temple in 70ish AD.

As far as wealth is concerned, who owns it... again, one of my favorite things that the Teacher should us, and it still applies today.

I liked some of what Bernie had to say, I voted for him.

Also judging from a brief read from the comments above, I think you proved Urban S. point of how Christians jump from one leader to the next, with the example of the old testament, which also gives testimony of why the O.T. is still relevant for us today. I thank you for that.

This is fun. I really enjoy this.

Posting under two names doesn't make you any more formidable a debate opponent, though I freely concede the three of us will likely never agree.

To your shallow points. Rome could not have cared less what was going down in Israel as long as things remained orderly. And even then only because tribute taxes don't come from chaos, said taxes being Caesar's only real interest. The point? The last thing Rome wanted was to get bogged down in the daily machinations of Israeli governance, thus the daily affairs of the nation Israel were allowed to function under the same theocratic fashion of her forefathers. As I mentioned which evidently got past you, Pilate ruled as Governor over Israel in the days of Christ, appointed of Caesar. Pilate feared an uprising among the Jews as the opposition between the Church Orthodoxy and The Savior, had come to a head. And because if news of the escalating foment reached Caesar, he would surely replace Pilate who would be in some amount of trouble or disfavor with Rome. Thus the appearances of the Lord before Pilate, who would have much preferred to wash his hands of the whole affair. The Church governed the people of Israel, but she was subject to the authority or Rome. That's why Publicans were so despised by the Jew as the yearly Roman taxation was as oppressive as it was ruthless.

Did you know that Roman citizens only paid a 5% rate of tax to the state? We Americans pay many times that amount and as I have said to you repeatedly. While it's true that government gives much of our tax dollars to the so-called poor, it is also true that Dems use the power of the same US Treasury to buy the votes of them who depend on that government money to live. Your hero Bernie Sanders would gleefully extort up to 90% from the taxpayer because he is a socialist. I knew you were a Bernie supporter by reading those shallowly conceived posts of yours.

Lastly, I'm not at all surprised to see that you and Sombrero are of kindred spirit. But as you say is your case, when somebody is a teacher, owns a number of businesses, is an inventor, and is a self defined entrepreneur in the green energy industry, a contractor and a Church leader among other things, I suppose he really needs to be more than guy. :biggrin: