Was Jesus A Socialist?

This question seems to be on the minds of many as of late. As many 43 of my last 100 blog visits (at the time of this writing) were from people searching some variant of "Was Jesus a socialist?" That led them to something I posted in August of 2005 on this very topic.

Since it seems to be so interesting, let's cover the topic again.

Was Jesus a socialist? YES! Give money to the poor, take care of those who are unable to take care of themselves, love your neighbor, etc. There was some communal living mentioned in the New Testament as well.

I've heard people use Jesus' example to justify government socialism. Ohhhh, we have to take care of the poor, the hurting, the sick, etc. It's our CHRISTIAN DUTY! But they've got it all wrong. The socialism that was advocated by Jesus and the apostles was always VOLUNTARY.

Give from your heart or God doesn't honor it all all. The giving that Jesus advocated was never to be done by force which is the only way that government does things.

Those of you reading this that want to use a Biblical example to justify more government in our lives in the name of Christian charity (my regular readers know better) just stop and think for a moment and go read your Bible and see what it really says.