Below is an unfinished draft of a letter I plan to send to a Christian brother and pastor who publishes a newsletter. We've discussed the issue of a Christian commune without private property and without a monetary system on a number of occasions. He doesn't believe the Scriptures call for the abolition of money during the Millennium and believes that silver and gold will be used in place of the monetary system that's currently in place.
Norm's a pretty good pastor just the same. He doesn't force you to believe what he does. You can still be a part of his church even if you have a different understanding than his. We also disagree on vegetarianism and the Scriptures. He plans to make his church nondenominational to permit diversity of beliefs and opinions within the Sabbatarian tradition.
I would like your opinions on this letter. Would you live in a Christian commune if it would cut the risk of premature death, lengthen your life substantially, and provide the ideal environment for living forever? To live out lives that are dramatically longer than today, will take close, caring, communal relationships where the children and the aged are highly esteemed and well provided for.
In my opinion, it's going to take the right environment to practice longevity and immortality. You can tinker with the biology of aging all you want, but if the environment and human character are not hospital and they defeat you in the end what's the use of it?
I hope to improve my writing skills in the near future so I can write a lengthy article or even a book raising this matter.
Dear Norm,
As a result of our discussions at Bible study and your suggestions, I've put in writing my reasons for believing money - including the use of gold or silver as such - will be abolished in the kingdom of God during the Millennium. I believe the use of money will be and should be abolished right along with privately held property during Christ's Millennial reign and everything shared. The reasons for my belief are as follows:
1) The early Christian Church shared everything they had without exception. Acts 2:44 says "[a]ll the believers were together and had everything in common", and Acts 4:32 says "[a]ll the believers were one in heart and mind, No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had." No exceptions were made for money. It was considered the same as any other property.
2) Just as Jesus Christ is our role model or example, so is the early Christian Church in Acts. The Church in Acts was following Christ's teachings and example when it gave up its personal property. Jesus taught that in order to attain perfection it was necessary to give up personal property and follow Him. Even His disciples did this. Matthew 19:21,27. The money Judas carried was communally held, not belonging to anyone person. John 12:5,6; 13:29. I believe it to be significant that Judas stole from the communal purse and sold Jesus out for money. Matthew 26:14-16. Jesus also taught to "be on your guard against all kinds of greed", and "a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." Luke 12:15. What better way to follow this teaching and be on guard against greed than to build your life in a communal setting without personal property or money?
3) Apostle Paul also understood that it was desirable and righteous to be content with only the basic necessities and that money and riches were a temptation and a trap for the unwary and weaker brethren. 1 Timothy 6:6-10. I'm sure he learned this from Christ's disciples and from the example of the Church.
4) Jesus and His followers were clearly ascetics who had no respect for wealth, the luxuries of life, or property and money. See, for example, Matthew 4:8-10 (Jesus refused the riches of the world offered to Him by Satan early in His Ministry), Matthew 11:7-9 (Jesus recognized that fine clothes were not worthy of a true prophet from God), Matthew 8:20 (Jesus had no home or place to lay His head), Luke 6:30 (Jesus considered property and money to be of so little value that He teaches that it be given away to anyone who asks for it and that it not be demanded back when taken away from you); Luke 4:18 (Jesus preached good news to the poor and release for the oppressed; no similar message was given to the rich); James 2:5 ("Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?"); Matthew 3:1-4; 9:14; Luke 1:80 (John the Baptist lived in the desert, dressed simply, ate frugally and fasted regularly); Matthew 4:1-3; 6:16 (Jesus practiced and taught fasting); Acts 13:1-3 (The early Christian Church fasted).
5) Money and personal wealth is recognized as a source of great unhappiness and serious problems by today's world. It's a perpetual lament frequently appearing in popular literature, in plays, in poetry, and in songs.
6) Its long been the dream of Marxist communists to establish a fully developed communist society without privately held property and without a monetary system where the profit motive will not be able to engender greed, create conflict, waste resources, time and efforts better spent on constructive improvement and development of Christian character necessary for attaining a long, healthy and happy life. See, for example, the World Socialist Party website at http://www.worldsoci...s_socialism.php. The Marxists, however, wanted this Utopian society without God, without Jesus Christ, and without the early Christian Church in Acts as models and guides. This is where they failed.
7) God's law and Christ's teachings are perfectly suited for strengthening and maintaining a communal society without private property or money. Marriage and family life will be strengthened instead of weakened by the negative influence and stress that money normally puts on the marital bond and other human relationships. It is well recognized that the key to a stable society is strong marriages that produces well adjusted children. Under communal conditions, Children will be better able to internally assimilate God's law and Christ's teachings due to there brevity and simplicity as a opposed to the large body of complexly written laws that make up our modern American jurisprudence which is largely inherited from the Roman Medieval school of law. The Roman Medieval law is incompatible with God's law.
8) We are in great need of communal societies without private property and money that will strengthen marriages and family life as a contrast to the false monastic models of communal living that do not strengthen marriages and families or provide for procreation. The early Christian Church in Acts did not segregate on the basis of gender, and families with children received the full blessing of the communal lifestyle. The monastic model of communal living needs the complete antithesis of a true model of Christian communal living to be successfully defeated.
9) Marxist historians and philosophers, like Gustav Bang, have recognized Jesus to be a socialist agitator who, in behalf of the poor, denounced wealth, private property and money in favor of communal sharing, and have recognized the early Christian Church in Acts to be a model of Christian communism that was destroyed by the medieval exploiting church before it could be fully develop into a mature Utopian society. See Crises In European History, by Gustav Bang, at http://www.slp.org/p...crises_bang.pdf (pages 22-25).
10) Money is not necessary to conduct transactions for the goods and the necessaries of life amongst communal societies. All transactions can be conducted through a system of barter negotiated and approved by elders' councils acting democratically and with Christ's teachings for guidance.
11) The Jubilee law described in Leviticus 25:8-17 would only limit the extent of greed, not eliminate it. A society without privately held property and a monetary system would prevent the possibility of exploitation and oppression and would greatly reduce the potential for greed beyond that of the Jubilee law. God's intent in establishing the Jubilee law was to put limits on and to rectify the taking advantage of one's neighbor during business deals over land or property. In a society practicing communally held property, this would never be a problem.
12) Ezekiel 45:9-12 does not point to or require the use of money during the Millennium. The shekel, the gerah, and the mina was established and used as money before Ezekiel's time and was used during Christ's time without any success at limiting greed, exploitation, and oppression. All God was calling for here was that the wealthy princes of Israel use accurate measures and weights and an accurate system of money which apparently they were not doing. To adequately prevent greed, violence, and oppression due to private property and money, will require living and sharing according to the example Jesus and the early Christian Church in Acts set for us. The sharing of all property and labor will render money useless and unnecessary.
13) Micah 4:4 does not indicate that there will be privately held property during the Millennium as many claim. This particular prophetic announcement is vague and must be interpreted in light of Christ's teachings and example and in light of how the early Christian Church actually lived. In many cases, people living communally consider the communal property to be their own - even though it's shared property. In fact, the most logical way to provide everyone with a vine and fig tree to sit under would be through the communal sharing of the agricultural property and the necessary labor.
14) When Jesus used money or gold in His parables or in metaphor, this didn't mean He approved of money, private property, or wealth. He was only trying to get His point across to His audience using language and ideas that were readily understandable to the people.
15) It is clear by the Scriptures that when you are loving your neighbor and your brother properly you are also loving Jesus Christ as well. See Matthew 25:31-46. What better way to love your neighbor and your brother with the same strength as you love God as commanded (Matthew 22:36-40), than to share everything with him so he's never in need? Also see 1 John 3:17.
16) It will take a fully developed communal society, without the stresses, the conflicts, and the unnecessarily excessive labor hours that private property and the accumulation of money typically produces, to practice the ascetic Christianity needed to practice calorie restriction diets, strict vegan diets, and periodic fasting to achieve optimal health and longevity that is prophesied in Isaiah 65:20. Medical research shows that a substantially healthier and longer life can be obtained through calorie restriction diets, vegan diets, and periodic fasting, but that these severe diets are difficult to practice under the stresses and negative influences of our so-called modern day, enlightened society. For more information on the health benefits of calorie restriction diets, vegan diets, and periodic fasting see http://en.wikipedia....rie_restriction, http://en.wikipedia....Veganism#Health, http://en.wikipedia....native_approach, http://carcin.oxford...t/full/23/5/817.
17) A well developed communal society will be necessary to abolish punitive legal practices and punitive child rearing practices. Practicing God's law and Christ's teachings to the fullest extent possible within a communal setting without private property and money, will be the only way possible to attain a way of life where punitive laws and other punitive practices will not be necessary. Apostle John teaches us that, in order to be made perfect in love, fear - and the punishment associated with it - most be driven out. 1 John 4:18. Psychological research has shown the harmful side effects of punitive practices on the human psyche and its inability to control human behavior. For more information on the harmful effects of punitive practices see http://www.ncbi.nlm....1&dopt=Citation, http://www.ncbi.nlm....t_uids=12734459, and http://www.imminst.o...=0.
18) Science and technology would be better practiced and utilized in small, simple communal societies without private property and money. Small communal societies sufficiently spread out but well connected through a computerized Internet network would be the ideal way to keep these simple societies progressing on course and in harmony with one another.
19) A fully developed communal society without privately held property or a system of money will be the answer to crime and violence, terrorism, and global warming. As the destruction caused by global warming and other disasters prophesied in the book of Revelations pick up, it should become obvious that the only solution is small, well spread out, communal settlements with God's law and Christ's teachings as the foundational ideology.
Possibly you can publish this letter in your newsletter and address the points I make. I realize that communism is a distasteful subject. Our capitalist/materialist society has long been opposed to it. The media bombards us with the idea that more money and more luxury items is the ideal state of existence. But this clearly wasn't the Lord's way. The Scriptures can't be denied.
For more information about communal living you can go to the websites listed below.
Christian Communism at http://en.wikipedia....stian_communism
International Communal Studies Association at http://www.ic.org/icsa/about.html
Federation of Egalitarian Communities at http://thefec.org/about/
The International Communes Desk at http://www.communa.org.il/e-about.htm
Damanhur at http://www.damanhuri...Det.asp?IDArt=6
Your brother in Christ,
elijah3