Primitive Christianity Revived, Again
I am a Communist because it is the logical outcome of my childhood Pentecostal faith in Jesus. I am a Communist, because Jesus was a Communist.
I am not a Christian, because Jesus was not a Christian. Jesus was a Jewish rabbi who mobilized a mass movement to usher in the Kingdom of Heaven on earth, that is Communism. Communism is the logical fulfillment of the teachings of Jesus.
The story of Pentecost was at the heart of my childhood faith. As the story goes, a group of 120 followers of Jesus gathered in an upper room in Jerusalem after the crucifixion of Jesus as a messianic rebel king. Some of them had experienced appearances of Jesus, which seemed more than a mere ghost or hallucinations. In these encounters, they came to believe that the death of Jesus wasn’t the death of their rebel movement, but a new beginning for them. As they are gathered, a stirring of awakening dawns among them as a fiery wind, liberating them in an ecstatic dance of their own tongues into spontaneous joy. They burst back into the very streets where Jesus was tried and executed, declaring that Jesus had been taken alive into heaven and was even now still bringing about the new heaven on earth.
I must admit that I have been brainwashed by the culture I grew up in to believe many things, but my perception of communism is that it involves violence and I don't recall Jesus advocating physical violence. I also believe Jesus' kingdom is of the heart and legislating sharing according to need doesn't work as the founding Pennsylvania Quakers discovered and the corruption among well meaning, at least initially, politicians attests to. We have to overthrow our own carnal desires so we can love our neighbor(s) as they are and not as we would have them be and it's not important that we achieve the actual goal so much as we live and die trying.
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