Several of the Republican candidates trying to be their party’s nominee in November’s presidential election have made G-d, religion and its teachings at the forefront of their campaigns. It started with Sarah, who after consultation with Him and public opinion surveys decided not to run. Then it was her surrogate, Michele, who thought that her Lord or her husband wanted her to be President. She was terribly wrong. Then there was Rick, who was in love with America and G-d. Neither reciprocated. Now there is Rick II or the Saint. He is preaching Catholic gospel that even the Catholics no longer ascribe to but that the Christian evangelicals just can’t get enough of. These people love Jesus and follow his teachings. They think that his teachings include having sex only for procreation, not recreation, and therefore not using birth control, not having prenatal screenings to check for predictable future medical problems and never having an abortion even in cases of rape, incest or congenital irregularities. They believe that Jesus hated gays and so they do too. Many are not crazy about minorities or Jews either. They love their guns and are willing to fight to the death to protect their right to use them.
These evangelicals are very conservative and believe that government is interfering too much in their lives and businesses. They fear that their hard earned money will be squandered on helping the poor by providing them with health coverage, education and food subsidies. They are for the rich who they feel pay too many taxes to help the neediest instead of going where it should - to build a larger and more powerful armed force to keep our country number one in the world.
These people say that they love Jesus and want to live the life he recommended. They love him so much that they want this to be a Christian country, preferably a white, Christian country filled with people just like them.
What would Jesus say? What would Jesus do?
Jesus is said to have preached for less than three years. He perhaps realized that he wouldn’t have much time since he no doubt knew his fate, so he kept his teaching very simple. The Jewish tradition from which he and many of his followers came had 613 laws governing all forms of activity. There were laws about what animals could be eaten and how they should be slaughtered, laws governing commerce including the treatment of servants and slaves and laws about relationships and inheritance. While many Jews even back then were able to read and write, few probably knew all 613 laws and did not carry them around on note cards or on their iPads.
When asked which of the 613 to focus on, Jesus is quoted as replying “Love thy neighbor as thyself” taken to mean “do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” but probably actually meaning “treat each person as an end as well as a means to an end.” I think that he believed that if that one law could be followed, every other law would be obvious. If you treat everyone as though it were you, the ultimate end, you would not kill, steal, lie, commit adultery, envy your neighbor, cheat, keep slaves etc. He apparently was not that concerned about keeping kosher or making sacrifices at the temple.
When a crowd was stoning an accused prostitute, incorrectly identified later as Mary Magdalene, Jesus said “Let he who has not sinned, throw the first stone.”
When confronted with severe income inequality, he said: “A rich man has as much chance of going to heaven as does a camel of going through the eye of a needle” and “the way you treat the poorest among you, is the way you treat me” and Jesus could have added “and the way I will treat you,” but that went without saying. So what would Jesus say to the new Republican Party which seems more and more like the New White Man's Christian Party. What might he say to these “good Christians” who live to win G-d's love and salvation?
Should they hate homosexuals? Should they want a stronger armed force to crush our many enemies? Should people be allowed to be as rich as they can possibly get? Should the poor be left to their own devices to teach them some self-reliance? Should people be punished for having sex for non-reproductive purposes? Should we all have as many weapons as we have room for to protect us from our neighbors?
What is Aramaic for “Hell no!”?
These evangelicals are very conservative and believe that government is interfering too much in their lives and businesses. They fear that their hard earned money will be squandered on helping the poor by providing them with health coverage, education and food subsidies. They are for the rich who they feel pay too many taxes to help the neediest instead of going where it should - to build a larger and more powerful armed force to keep our country number one in the world.
These people say that they love Jesus and want to live the life he recommended. They love him so much that they want this to be a Christian country, preferably a white, Christian country filled with people just like them.
What would Jesus say? What would Jesus do?
Jesus is said to have preached for less than three years. He perhaps realized that he wouldn’t have much time since he no doubt knew his fate, so he kept his teaching very simple. The Jewish tradition from which he and many of his followers came had 613 laws governing all forms of activity. There were laws about what animals could be eaten and how they should be slaughtered, laws governing commerce including the treatment of servants and slaves and laws about relationships and inheritance. While many Jews even back then were able to read and write, few probably knew all 613 laws and did not carry them around on note cards or on their iPads.
When asked which of the 613 to focus on, Jesus is quoted as replying “Love thy neighbor as thyself” taken to mean “do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” but probably actually meaning “treat each person as an end as well as a means to an end.” I think that he believed that if that one law could be followed, every other law would be obvious. If you treat everyone as though it were you, the ultimate end, you would not kill, steal, lie, commit adultery, envy your neighbor, cheat, keep slaves etc. He apparently was not that concerned about keeping kosher or making sacrifices at the temple.
When a crowd was stoning an accused prostitute, incorrectly identified later as Mary Magdalene, Jesus said “Let he who has not sinned, throw the first stone.”
When confronted with severe income inequality, he said: “A rich man has as much chance of going to heaven as does a camel of going through the eye of a needle” and “the way you treat the poorest among you, is the way you treat me” and Jesus could have added “and the way I will treat you,” but that went without saying. So what would Jesus say to the new Republican Party which seems more and more like the New White Man's Christian Party. What might he say to these “good Christians” who live to win G-d's love and salvation?
Should they hate homosexuals? Should they want a stronger armed force to crush our many enemies? Should people be allowed to be as rich as they can possibly get? Should the poor be left to their own devices to teach them some self-reliance? Should people be punished for having sex for non-reproductive purposes? Should we all have as many weapons as we have room for to protect us from our neighbors?
What is Aramaic for “Hell no!”?
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