 | http://www.jesus-on-taxes.com/Objective2.html
The purpose of this website and the essay, Jesus of Nazareth,
Illegal-Tax Protester, is to repair the damage done to Jesus'
reputation by the orthodox exegetes, and to reveal what Jesus truly
taught about taxes by his words and deeds, to wit:
TAXING VIOLATES GOD'S LAW. NOT ONLY IS IT SINFUL TO COLLECT TAXES,
IT IS ALSO SINFUL TO WILLINGLY PAY TAXES!
That is not my opinion. That is what Jesus taught.
LOVE THINE ENEMIES, IT BEFUDDLES THEM!
The man who executed Jesus was the Roman procurator of imperial
taxes for Judea, which is the equivalent of an IRS district director
of taxation for an area of the United States. Mr. District
Director Pontius Pilate had Jesus brutally flogged and mocked and hung
on a cross in a form of death reserved for those who dared to
threaten Rome's tax-funded hegemony over its vassal territories.
The sanction of taxation attributed to Jesus by church-state
scholars would realistically be attributed to Pontius Pilate--not
Jesus.
In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus denounced the use of force--even
in self-defense. He also vividly stated that a bad tree cannot
bear good fruit. Thus, in accordance with Jesus' principles, taxes,
which depend on force for their collection, cannot produce anything
good.
Some will protest, "But taxes go to feed the hungry, succor the poor,
and what's more, America could never have put a man on the moon or
developed the Internet without taxes. Besides who, if not
government, will build and maintain the roads, bridges, schools,
hospitals and other critical components of modern society's
infrastructure?"
Answer: If mankind's ability to think is so limited as to be unable to
create such "goods" without resorting to force (viz., taxation), then
either Jesus didn't know what he was taking about, or we aren't worthy
of the redeeming principles for living that he prescribed.
This "who-but-government" mind set demonstrates a form of idolatry,
to wit: the worship of state force, which I fear is the equivalent of
worshipping Satan. One of the great minds of the twentieth century
call it statolatry.
The abominable lie that there is a moral or religious duty to pay
taxes probably emanated from the unholy alliance of the Christian
church and the Roman empire.
It is likely that Bible interpreters who were financially supported by
that amalgam first put words of praise for taxes and the state into
Jesus's mouth. The time is long past due to rescue
Jesus' reputation from the minions of church-state conspiracies,
who to this day have the temerity to claim that Jesus endorsed paying
taxes. He did not!
In fact it is very possible and even likely that Jesus was crucified
for preaching principles that condemn taxes and tax collectors,
and thereby influencing others not to pay taxes.
Tom, Without Prejudice
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