That's... almost always been true? That is true of most governments? I mean, throughout history, most taxation systems included payouts for the recruitment and training of someone who would be considered an agent of violent terror by someone else.
That's why it was such a big deal that Jesus broke bread with a tax collector (Nicodemus? Or was that Zachariah? One of them was really short?) - this was a guy collecting taxes from his family and neighbors, fellow Jews, for THE OCCUPYING INVASION FORCE that was the Romans. He was taking his community's money and funneling it back into their own oppression. And yet...
That's... almost always been true? That is true of most governments? I mean, throughout history, most taxation systems included payouts for the recruitment and training of someone who would be considered an agent of violent terror by someone else.
That's why it was such a big deal that Jesus broke bread with a tax collector (Nicodemus? Or was that Zachariah? One of them was really short?) - this was a guy collecting taxes from his family and neighbors, fellow Jews, for THE OCCUPYING INVASION FORCE that was the Romans. He was taking his community's money and funneling it back into their own oppression. And yet...