Taxes as tithes?

[BavarianWheels]

BW - just like said before, you know nothing of my financial situation, nor will you. Much less do you know anything about what I give, nor will you. The rest of what you said I already talked about with Zoe and clarified by views there. In any case, even if I were an utter hypocrite, that doesn't for one second change the fact that it is flat wrong indulge yourself while your brother starves. One sin hardly justifies another.

I didn't ask. I would just be curious how much of this rubbish about 'having luxuries equals not caring for others' you're promoting, you actually apply to yourself? You yourself promoted the thought of "within one's means..." which I agreed with, but that seems to have gone out the window.

For all the promotions you give that the OT is over and done with as far as teaching and rebuking or ONLY for Israelites, you seem to want to go back to the days of Abraham and wealth being a measure of animals and land...which btw he was blessed with by God. Abraham was the Bill Gates of the OT...what number of sheep is too many in your estimation?
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[ageofknowledge]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_communism

Interesting. The early church certainly did share with each other. Later though we see Paul collecting donations for them abroad. Is this a result of their economic model not working well, the persecution they were enduring with the Jewish state seizing their assets, both or other factors?

The early church wasn't "communist." The fact that some Christians appealed to certain texts that talk about the way Christians tread one another in order to establish a biblical basis for their own form of government doesn't establish their interpretation of the text as valid.

As far as your specific question, Paul collected donations because of a famine (Acts 11:27-29).

A famine. Interesting. Thanks for that tidbit. The hippie communes of the 60's didn't last either except for a few rare situations like the Jesus People in Chicago http://www.jpusa.org/