Posted on 11/05/2016 1:35:27 PM PDT by The Revolutionary Act
Several years ago, I was at a large luncheon function sitting next to the long-time editorial page editor at the paper where I worked as a special projects reporter. Right before the speaker arose, this editor turned to me and said, “I don’t understand how you can be a conservative and a Christian. Seems like by what Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount, you should be a liberal Democrat.”
Setting aside that this man was himself an atheist, and the Biblically clear moral issues surrounding abortion and homosexuality, did he have a point? It’s relevant because that train has traversed so far down the tracks that a recent trending topic on social media was that Jesus would be a Socialist or a Communist.
Now it’s great to see people reading the Bible. It’s less great to see people cherry-picking the Bible to support preconceived positions — which unfortunately all of us do too much.
(Excerpt) Read more at therevolutionaryact.com ...
No.
Next question.
Beat me to it. To repeat, No.
Probably.
Sorry but your web site loads too slow.
Post the entire thing here and I will read it.
Thank you.
“My Kingdom is not of this world.”
good heavens, NO. Jesus, the son of God, wants us individually to believe in him, and because of that believe, to do good works, to take responsibility, not sit back, be taxed and let some government pretend to do it.
I have a feeling Jesus would think we were all idiots...
Where the idea comes from?
So first let’s stipulate that Jesus certainly taught Christians to love one another, even to love our enemies. He taught us to feed the poor and clothe the naked. The New Testament letters expand on those teachings with caring for orphans and widows and the elderly. All of these things sound like a fit for socialism or communism.
Without going into the differences in the two — and the extraordinary miseries that have been brought to bear on hundreds of millions of people through those philosophies — let’s take socialism in its most pristine form on paper. Karl Marx, the primary promulgator of socialism in the 19th century, popularized the phrase “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.”
Well that sounds just lovely. Alas, among the myriad flaws in socialism has always been its inability to account for human nature. People simply won’t work hard just to have it taken and given to someone who is not working hard. Simple truth. The apparently lovely concept always runs aground on the rocks of reality, spiraling into worse and worse living conditions for everyone except those at the very top. Every time. And the ensuing corruption!
The audience is key to understanding
But philosophically, would Jesus be a socialist? Here’s the rub, and the answer I sent to that editor in a note to which he never responded. Jesus was addressing his followers, future Christians. He was not talking to the entire world. And he most certainly was not talking about a role for government. The only thing he ever says regarding government is to render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s but unto God that which is God’s. In the context of the attempted trick question by the Pharisees, it means: Pay your taxes.
It is the Christian’s responsibility, and by extension the church’s responsibility, to help those in need. And that is a major reason why there are so many orphanages, and soup kitchens and relief organizations that are Christian. Actually, an awful lot of Christians really do these things. We are to give sacrificially to those in need. We are not to use the force of government to take from one we deem has too much and give to another we deem has too little. There is no evidence — zero — that Jesus wanted his followers involved in any such earthly schemes. Jesus was always after the heart of man, not the policies of government.
Jesus’ disinterest in worldly governments makes clear that if he were alive today, he would not endorse any candidate, party or policy. His purpose for coming to earth as man was to save those who would believe in him.
We rate this claim about Jesus being a socialist as “Pants on fire!”
No. Socialism is bad for all people. Jesus would not approve....He said those who don’t work, don’t eat. He also had a lot to say about being slothful - the recipients of socialism.
This, of course, has nothing to do with how we treat those who are not capable of providing/caring for themselves.
May be, but he wouldn’t try to profit off the backs of the poor to enrich himself.
A socialist would never say that.
Might want to explain to your friend that there’s a huge difference between a voluntary charitable contribution and a tyrannical confiscation of the fruits of one’s labors.
Read the Parable that Jesus told about a master handing out "Talents" to three of his servants to take care of while he is gone.
If the people do not know God it doesn’t matter what structure they use to govern, the result will be an oppressive mess.
If the people are moral and godly it doesn’t matter much what form of government they use. The quality of a society reflects the condition of the souls of the people who inhabit it, not the structure.
But a moral and godly people serve a king who is not of this world. Any human king who tries to rule them will find that he is always second fiddle. Any structure you try to impose on them will always take a back seat to the one that rises up from within the souls of the people themselves.
Political scientists will never get this. They are always looking for a structure that doesn’t require virtue on the part of either the people or the rulers. It doesn’t exist.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.