Joe Offer,

Why do I think that you and I read Acts 4:32-35 differently?

Some of the early Christians owned property. Some sold their property and gave it all away. All shared voluntarily. Everyone showed concern for the welfare of all or, one might say, participated in private charity by giving away their own money. That's what I wrote. Unless I have suddenly developed a new form of dyslexia, that's also what you wrote.

How do you think I read it?

Do you think we read it differently because I didn't call the arrangement in Acts 4 a commune or a cooperative? I didn't call it a commune or a cooperative because, as I understand it, the terms "commune" and "cooperative" generally imply common ownership of the means of production and/or the land. The early Christians could have set up a commune by laying the deeds to their land at the Apostles' feet. They could have, but what they actually did, according to the passage, was they kept individual ownership of real estate until they individually chose to sell it, and then brought the money from the sale to the Apostles. We agree on that, don't we?

WAV's chosen title and first post, including his poem, imply that Acts 4 tells us how to vote. Surely we agree that it does not.

Kent