The money changers who sat in the Temple in Jerusalem changed Roman coins and other secular coins for the temple shekels which were used to pay the priests and make offerings. Much Roman coinage, and much of the coinage of other countries was debased, clipped, or otherwise not worth its declared (fiat) value.
One of the aspects of the money changers which irritated Jesus was that the priests and money changers were colluding to set exchange rates, making it difficult for the devout to obtain the shekels to make offerings and pay priests. It was this collusion that Jesus remarked upon in calling the money changers thieves.
The story of Jesus holding up a Roman coin and indicating that it had the face of Caesar on it, and therefore that which was due unto Caesar should be rendered unto Caesar was another clear illustration of the debased nature of Roman coinage. Jesus did not say "you should pay your taxes" but He did say that you should pay what is due unto Caesar, and pay what is due unto God.
Since when exactly where exchangers starting to exchange gold for paper?
In the Tenth Century AD the Chinese empire instituted a paper currency based on the Byzantine bezant, a unit of gold currency. By the time of Marco Polo's journey to Peking, the paper bezant issued in China had been significantly inflated. There were also difficulties with counterfeiting by then.
And when did the paper loose it's implied metal backing?
A large number of paper money issues have lost their redeemability. These include the aforementioned paper bezants, the John Law money in 17th Century France (it was "backed" by land), the Bank of England paper money of the late 17th and early 18th Century, the assignats and mandats of late 18th Century France, the paper money of the Weimar Republic, and the paper money of South Vietnam, just to name a few.
Now we are down to 30 years for an eon.
I think you are mistaken. It is far more than 30 years. It is about a thousand years to go back to fiat paper supposedly redeemable for gold bezants. Other paper representations of money go back to Egyptian times, though clay seals were more popular then. Various forms of clay tablets representing money go back as far as Sumerian times, around 4000 years before Christ.
About 40,000 years ago, tally marks on animal bones may have represented a claim to a herd of animals, and would be one of the earliest forms of money. Tally sticks have been used in the time since as money, and at least one tally stick was used to capitalize the Bank of England in the late 17th Century.
However, the term "eon" in geology refers to the longest period of geological time, encompassing two or more eras. An example of an era is the Cenozoic era, in which we are presently in the Quaternary period. Another example would be the Mesozoic era, which had periods Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous. So, an eon encompassing both these eras would be about 300 million years.
I think the notion that the Nazi Reich was laudable in any way for redeeming their paper Reichsmarks for silver, given their proclivity for stealing the silver and gold from their victims, is a bit weird.
Regards,
Jim http://www.ezez.com/
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