The basic sources of authority through which Christians learn the will of God are scripture, church, and Spirit. This study seeks to understand how one of these sources, scripture, directs Christians on the morally agonizing question of whether those who seek to follow the Prince of Peace should support a war-oriented federal budget. Can we be Good Samaritans and support a systematic spiraling of weaponry that maintains "the balance of terror" and portends human genocide?
The Temple Tax
When they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the half-shekel tax went up to Peter and said, "Does not your teacher pay the tax?" He said, "Yes." And when he came home, Jesus spoke to him first, saying, "What do you think, Simon? From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tribute? From their children or from others?" And when he said, "From others," Jesus said to him, "Then the children are free. However, not to give offense to them, go to the sea and cast a hook, and take the first fish that comes up, and when you open its mouth you will find a shekel; take that and give it to them for me and for yourself." -- Matthew 17:24-27
Though many might cite this text to support payment of taxes, it has little relevance to this discussion. The tax under question was not a tax that directly benefited Rome, but Judaism itself. It was the half-shekel temple tax, instituted in Exodus 30:13. Jewish law required every Jewish male over 20 years of age to pay this tax annually. It is more accurate to call this tax the annual temple tithe. Even the Zealot who opposed Rome's rule with dagger and sword had no problem in paying this tax.
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