Ananias and Sapphira

There is an account in Acts 5 of God striking down two people, Ananias and his wife Sapphira.

Acts 5:1 Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. 2 With his wife’s full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet.

3 Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? 4 Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.”

5 When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened. 6 Then some young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him.

7 About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8 Peter asked her, “Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?”

“Yes,” she said, “that is the price.”

9 Peter said to her, “How could you conspire to test the Spirit of the Lord? Listen! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also.”

10 At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband. 11 Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.

It raises a number of disturbing issues.

Slaughtered for what?

Firstly, why were they killed? They sold the land, and donated a big chunk of money to the community. Likely they contributed more than most - the disciples had already sold all their goods and given away the proceeds as per Jesus instructions. Sure, the couple kept some back, but that would seem to be prudent, not dishonest.

The text does not even tell us that they were obliged to hand it all over. It just kind of implies that.

So Christians say they were slaughtered for lying. But curiously, there is no record of that lie. Peter said they lied, but where? What exactly did they say? And how do you lie to God, when he knows everything? Did they lie in their prayers?

They just died...

The text says they died, but does not say how. Christians interpret this as the Holy Spirit striking them dead, but it does not say that.

Peter said they tested the Spirit of the Lord, but based on what? How did he know what the Spirit of the Lord thought? Nothing in the text suggests any communication from the Holy Spirit to Peter.

Let us suppose that rather than the Holy Spirit striking them down, Peter, stabbed them both in the guts with a long knife, and then just made up some BS about the Spirit of the Lord. Now read the passage again... 

It fits! Arguably it makes more sense. If they had been struck down by the Holy Spirit, we would expect the others to be in shock and awe. But instead, Peter's henchman calmly dispose of the bodies, while the rest of the people tremble in fear.

A Cult

Verse 11 says: "Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events." This was a cult, with all the evil connotations that implies.! It was founded squarely upon on fear, and members knew that if they did not keep to the rules of the cult they would be killed.

The Problem of Evil

A wider issue is how the story impacts on the Problem of Evil. The Problem of evil can be characterised as asking why God does not intervene to prevent rape. He is supposedly all-knowing, so he knows it is happening. He is supposedly all-powerful, so he capable or preventing it happening. He is supposedly all-good, so he would want to stop it happening. And yet he does nothing.

Christians have contrived all sorts of explanations, but many collapse when we think about Ananias and Sapphira.

For example, a common rationalisation is that God wants to uphold free will. If he intervened to prevent rape, the free will of the rapist will be denied. It does not make a lot of sense, but this is the one they usually trot out.

But the story of Ananias and Sapphira refutes it. Turns out God is perfectly happy to strike dead those who withhold money (or tell a lie to the Holy Spirit if you want to spin it that way), but he chooses not to strike dead rapists.