The Acts passages in the bible have some explaining to do. As members of the Christian community were invited to sell their homes and land and invest the proceeds into the apostles', one couple tried to deceive the Apostle Peter. Ananias and Sapphira were the names of the unfortunate church tax evaders, although they sold their land, they kept some of the money for themselves.
Acts 5:1 (Taken from the New International Version (2011) bible)
Ananias and Sapphira
1. Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property.
2. With his wife’s full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet.
3. Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land?
4. Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.”
5. When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened.
6. Then some young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him.
7. About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened.
8. Peter asked her, “Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?”
“Yes,” she said, “that is the price.”
9. Peter said to her, “How could you conspire to test the Spirit of the Lord? Listen! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also.”
10. At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband.
11. Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.
Nowadays caught tax evaders no longer have to worry about the physical, but at best the medial and social death. Yet it is still something called wicked or sinful, as the very term "tax evaders" manifests, pretending that it is not the most natural thing in the world, wanting to keep as much money possible for oneself.
In many countries, the state has replaced the god. The community, or society uses the “we" instead of the “he” god. So when we “sinned”, in religious terms, or just “did wrong”, in secular terms, we have no longer lied to a god, but we have lied to ourselves, to people we can face and be judged by. It is simply called "antisocial".
In the case of secular state citizens, like for example in Germany, yet more in the south like in Bavaria, the state tax is still often found as a remnant of the relationship with a god, that was once taught and executed by the church before. As the priest had to preserve the secrecy of confession, today, the tax officer must take control of the secret. In return, “wrongdoers” or “sinners” and tax citizens must confess everything they wrongly declared.
The ethical and moral role of behaving and acting morally upright is here no longer combined with the fear of a god, by trying to betray such superstition, but to simply execute “fair play”, like it is expected and handled in sports for example. It is a giving and taking act. Taxes are paid proper to benefit the society, and government uses the money to benefit its citizens. That is the ideology of a “present life system”, whereby fairness, judgment and rewards happen within our life. Only this benefits all, and can form a universal fairness towards all good and bad doing individuals.
For some countries, it has become high time to secularize the ratio of tax to the tax state citizen. No one must be compelled to "disclose all economic and private affairs" towards the state. In return, the tax secrecy would be abolished. In Norway, Sweden and Finland the people seem to get along very well without a tax secrecy.
In Norway, you can even read the tax lists in the local newspaper. This is probably a very effective remedy against tax fraud. So if someone has no income, or just a small salary, yet lives above his standard, the neighboring people should feel alert. So instead of waiting for a punishing god, or even trying to bypass a divine, people are in charge, and the tax evader will have to pay back the equivalent tax, or face punishment through legal means.
Calculated that Peter, the one who denied Jesus three times in the bible book, now blows himself so much up against Ananias and Sapphira, and just because of a lie about some money, that is one of the undeniable twists and contradictions, that can be found everywhere in the bible. It is time for the church, and other religions, to stop moralizing and having double moral standards.
By Thomas Fleckner
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