Maurice, I can understand why you would pick taxes as a topic to focus on. It was imposition of taxes (taxation without representation) that served as one catalyst for the American Revolutionary War. They only seem to grow more burdensome. Even TurboTax doesn't make it fun.
You will have to lay a little groundwork (the more concise the better) before I can understand why you say, " Religious groups are smaller predators..." in the context of discussing taxes.
Parenthetically, because I realize this was tongue-in-cheek on your part, and it is off the topic of taxes: (You can't have a plug for your company on the money, because you weren't involved in the decision process when it was designed. You can (and maybe do) have a plug for your company printed on your checks. I have John 3:16 printed on our checks.)
This is also off the topic; the joke about your father risking his life for you before you were born: Though your father didn't know about you before you were born or conceived, God did. That your father survived the war is one indication that God wanted you to be born. This fact follows from God's omniscience. His "cpu" runs at an infinite speed of the highest degree (mathematicians tell us there is more than one degree of infinity. One scriptural reference for the fact that God has always known about each of us is something he said to the prophet Jeremiah: "Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations." (Jer 1:5)
Yes, I know it can be mind-boggling to think about omniscience and infinity, being everywhere at once and other attributes of God. But for anybody who knows a little about computers and/or is a "Star-Trek" fan, it shouldn't be difficult to imagine. Using computers as an analogy, think of multi-tasking. Computers are so totally primitive compared to the human brain. They can only process one instruction at a time, in serial fashion. But they can seem to be doing many things at the same time, if the cpu clock is fast enough. Extrapolate that thought to a cpu that is processing at an infinite speed. Thinking, for example, about how it is that God can listen to more than one prayer at a time - that analogy helped me rest my mind on the subject.
But I am "guilty" of straying from the topic of taxes. Since I don't know what you mean about religious groups being predatory, I'll say a few things and you can tell me if any of them are relevant to your concern regarding taxes and religion. Pastors and priests have to pay taxes on their income, just as you and I do. Religious groups and non-religious non-profit groups that fill out the right papers and satisfy the IRS are not taxed on their income as an organization, but the individuals who receive salaries or wages are subject to income taxes.
You are so right, when you say, "It sure is a big field." You then asked, "Couldn't you apply to the Big Guy, to make it all smaller and more intelligible?" Yes, to put it in perspective, what the "Big Guy" (Jesus) said about taxes was admirably concise yet far bigger and deeper than it appears at first glance.
In his conciseness, Jesus (in my understanding) communicated that concern about taxes is very low priority.
The first mention of taxes was when impetuous Peter spoke before he thought on the subject: (I prefer the KJV simply because it is the most poetic version) "And when they were come to Capernaum, they that received tribute (tax) money came to Peter, and said, Doth not your master pay tribute? He saith, Yes. (Now, where did he get to be so certain about that? But that was the way Peter was.) And when he was come into the house, Jesus prevented him, saying, What thinkest thou, Simon? (that was Peter's first name) Of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute? Of their own children, or of strangers? Peter saith unto him, Of strangers. Jesus saith unto him, Then are the children free. Notwithstanding, lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money: that take, and give unto them for me and thee." (Matthew, in chapter 17)
One group of people who should like Jesus' way of paying taxes would be the ecologists. He used recycled money - a coin that someone had lost and a fish had swallowed. It was also a little tiny reminder of the sign he said he would give to the Pharisees and Sadducees that had pressed him for a sign. His answer to them said that he would give them a sign all right and that it would be like what happened to Jonas when that guy was in a fish's belly for three days and nights. It also tells us that taxes are something we tolerate while we are still "behind enemy lines'" so to speak. The enemy being the devil.
It was a taxation program combined with a census decreed by Caesar Augustus that made it neccesary for Joseph and Mary to journey to Bethlehem, where the prophecies said Jesus would come from.
Man (and the devil) each use taxes for their own motives. God uses "Judo" on everything so that it serves his purposes instead.
Probably Jesus' most well known words about taxes were in response to the question posed to him by those who were trying to get him to say something they could use to accuse him of a crime to the Romans. They asked him if it was right to "pay tribute (taxes) or not. He asked for a coin, asked whose inscription was on it (Caesar's) and said give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's. That put an end to that discussion, because they had painted themselves into a corner.
John |
