Sunday, January 27, 2008

Render Unto Caesar

Every once in a while, you go to church or you're reading your Bible and you run into something that makes you say "wow!" Today was one of those days.

Most people that have any sort of rudimentary Christian background have probably heard the phrase "render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's." And lots of people know that Jesus was talking to some of the religious people about whether they should pay tribute, or taxes, to the government. There are some people out there that like to argue that you shouldn't pay taxes, but they tend to be on the fringe and a lot of them are in jail.

What reason does Jesus give for knowing that the coins belong to Caesar's? Whose image is on the coins? Caesar's. Because Caesar's image is on the coins, we are to render them unto Caesar.

But what if you put that into context Genesis 1:27?

So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

~ Genesis 1:27


Whose image are we in? God's. So doesn't that mean that we should listen to him... or render unto God's the things which are God's?

Just something interesting that I saw today.

1 comment:

Ned Netterville said...

Jesus, "Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's, but render unto God what is God's.

Inquisitor: "But Jesus, what is God's and what is Caesar's?"

Jesus, "What do the Scriptures say?"

IQ, "Ah, Psalms 24:1 says, "The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it."

Jesus, "You have answered well my child."

IQ, "But what then is Caesar's?"

Jesus, "The rest is his."

IQ, "I don't get it."

Jesus, "Neither does Caesar. But don't feel bad, Christian-church scholars have misinterpreted these explicit words of mine for 17 centuries, ever since their church was enthralled by Rome and they began to receive a share in the booty. I told them they could only serve one master, but, nooo, they were loyal, patriotic citizens of the State. Even when their other master turned them into tax slaves they remained loyal subjects, if rather subjugated ones. There's just no accounting for the depth of stupidity among those who try to serve two masters."

http:www.jesus-on-taxes.com/