This is an example of thinking outside the box, which I do many times. But you can only think outside the box, if you are thoroughly familiar with the box characteristics. I am not trying to be sacrilegious here, nor am I illustrating a particular religious persuasion. The question comes from Matthew 17:24-27, of the Christian Bible. In order to pay taxes, Christ told Peter to catch a fish, grab a coin from the fish, and pay the taxes. Now I ask a philosophical and theological question, which has implications not only for Christianity, but Judaism and Islam as well (since they regard Christ as a prophet). Where did the coin come from?
- If we say that it was created from scratch, then it didn’t exist in the Roman currency in circulation. Would we say God was a counterfeiter?
- If we say that it came from the Roman currency in circulation, then what are its origins? Did someone lose it, like a poor fisherman, who dropped it from a ship? Did a rich man want to give to the Christian cause, and it was transported from his pocket into the fish’s mouth?
Now we might not know the answer to this question – at least now – but has anyone asked it before?
Randy Kemp
“The time has come,” the Walrus said, “To talk of many things: Of shoes – and ships – and sealing-wax – Of cabbages – and kings – And why the sea is boiling hot – And whether pigs have wings.”
Filed under: Spirituality | Tagged: Christ, Christianity, God, Jesu, Matthew, Peter, Roman, Saint Peter |
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Mike Harmon