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Sadducees believed that their wealth was a blessing in reward for pleasing God. They rejected the Pharisees plan to earn God’s favor because the Sadducees believed they already had it
http://www.curlyfarm.com/edu/Four%20Major%20Sects%20of%20First%20Century%20Judais
The Sadducean party was generally the party of the wealthy aristocrats. This is not actually stated in the sources; but it is a reasonable conclusion given the fact that they lived near the Temple and saw more of their needs fully satisfied by having their lives intertwine with the nobility.8 Josephus says they were able to persuade none but the rich,9 meaning among other things that they had a small following of their peers, whereas the Pharisees were backed by the masses. The party may have originally developed out of the conservative members of the aristocracy, the supporters of Onias III.10 And while it certainly had the confidence of the rich, not all the Sadducees were rich.
http://bible.org/seriespage/sadducees
the Sadducees were forced to observe the Pharisees’ oral tradition. This they did not wish to do; they preferred to be unconstrained by customs and deal with the written law only. Written laws left uninterpreted were vague, which would mean that they were free to decide what they meant.13
http://bible.org/seriespage/sadducees
This sounds much like the GOP’s current hate of government regulation, trial lawyers, laws against torture, warcrimes etc.
Scripture and Tradition. The Sadducees had what has been called a conservative attitude toward Scripture–they restricted authority to the written law interpreted literally, and were not open to change.
They objected to unwritten traditions, because they preferred to have the freedom to interpret the Scriptures as they wished.
What we call Fundies are in fact Sadducees the Gospel of Wealth seems to be older than Christ. But make no mistake the GOP Fundies are not Christian
I wonder if the excuse for wealth because rich people create jobs and the richer people get the more jobs there will be Reagan’s a rising tide lifts all boats was also used by the Sadducees did they have their own Ayn Rand?
I wonder if Rome fell in part because their economy fell prey to the same unprofitable speculation that ours had? If the grain boats from Egypt were late the rich grain ship owners made a fortune off of starvation. Is this any different than Credit Default Swaps and bank bailouts?
Were Samaritans hated because they were an outgroup scapegoat?
Off topic but hey I’m doing a bunch of bible research today.
JC said that the bible said that divorce was allowed because
Mark 10:2-12:
2 And Pharisees came up and in order to test him asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” 3 He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” 4 They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce, and to put her away.” 5 But Jesus said to them, “For your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. 6 But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ 7 ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, 8 and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. 9 What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder.” 10 And in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. 11 And he said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another, commits adultery against her; 12 and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”
http://matt1618.freeyellow.com/divorce.html
I tell you now that just like we changed our minds about divorce and slavery the bible’s position on Gays is wrong. Ask yourself this what harm to you or society does it if two people of age fall in love? I cannot control heck can anyone control who they fall in love with? I cannot expect others to control who they fall in love with nor would I want them too.
Laws should be made to prevent harm to others lacking evidence of such a harm the law should stay silent.
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What came first; the ‘right’ or ‘Christianity’?
Interestingly Christianity was used to control the masses by the Romans. It would seem that history repeats itself once again.
Does anyone see what the constant is in this equation?
“I wonder if Rome fell in part because their economy fell prey to the same unprofitable speculation that ours had? If the grain boats from Egypt were late the rich grain ship owners made a fortune off of starvation. Is this any different than Credit Default Swaps and bank bailouts?”
Yes. No.
There are lots of parallels between the American and Roman Empires; and there are certainly parallels between the ruling classes of both Empires.
There used to be a custom in the Roman Republic and the early Roman Empire. Mothers of young aristocrats would tell their sons as they went off to join the legions, “Come back with your shield, or on it.” Later, this custom declined. So did Rome.
The Roman aristocracy eventually felt so privileged and entitled that THEIR precious little darling shouldn’t have to rub shoulders with ordinary soldiers. They quit serving in the legions. Eventually, even the middle and working classes refused to enlist in the legions, so the Empire employed mercenaries, and then tried to steal their pay from them. That did not end well.
See any similarities? I sure do. The last two Presidents who actually served in the active duty military were Jimmy Carter and George HW Bush. The only current presidential candidate with active duty service is Rick Perry, who was just a cargo pilot safely out of harm’s way.
Few members of Congress were in the service, and even fewer have kids in the service during wartime.
And, just like the Romans, Americans are employing more and more mercenaries like Blackwater or whatever the hell it is called now to do their fighting for them. When those mercenaries die, do we ever hear about them? Not often.
Just like the Romans, American aristocrats are now setting about cutting the pay and benefits of the military while making more and more demands on the same. That didn’t end well for the Roman aristocrats. It won’t end well for their spiritual descendants in America, either.
A large Wealthy Class that is as dependent on being a parasite as our wealthy class has become and actually stops innovation like National Healthcare and Green Power because it would hurt their profits and raise living standards.
Their concern with rising living standards is because it means they would have to pay their workers more?
There is a reason why the rich stopped joining the army the ungodly wealth they could make shorting Roman grain.
You name a symptom I name a cause. Our rich join Wallstreet because wealth is a safer path to political power than the army. To get elected money is the most important factor to get elected its much more important than being a war hero.