Posted on 08/17/2004 4:23:06 PM PDT by COEXERJ145
AUSTIN - Just a few miles from George W. Bush's former office at the state Capitol, a panel of religious experts Tuesday weighed a question with relevance to many people of faith: How would Jesus vote?
It's a complex question that can't be boiled down to simple political terms, say religious leaders who attended a Texas Faith Network conference in Austin.
But at least one conference speaker - James C. Moore, co-author of "Bush's Brain: How Karl Rove Made George Bush Presidential" - said he knew exactly how Jesus would vote.
"If ever there were a bleeding-heart liberal, it was Jesus Christ," Moore said. "I think the carpenter from Galilee was the original Democrat."
Moore drew laughter and applause from a moderate to left-leaning crowd of about 250 clergy and lay leaders who met at Congregation Agudas Achim synagogue.
Many at the conference voiced concerns that the religious right dominates discussions of faith and morality in politics. They complained that issues such as abortion and gay marriage seem to take priority over hunger, corporate crime and even the war in Iraq.
Some research has found that white Christians who attend worship services at least once a week are far more likely to vote Republican, while less frequent worshippers and those who are not religious tend to lean Democratic. Many analysts have criticized Democrats for failing to more effectively reach religious voters.
"The sound bites and the headlines have co-opted people of faith," said the Rev. Tom Heger, pastor of St. John's Presbyterian Church in Manchaca, south of Austin. "It would be a surprise to a lot of folks to discover that there are some very faithful, regular church attendees who aren't going to vote for Bush."
(Excerpt) Read more at thestate.com ...
Actually, the Bible doesn't say anything at all about abortion.
Although you can extrapolate from some of its other principles to show quite clearly that the practice is anti-biblical.
Jesus probably wouldn't get much airtime nowadays. Except for His televised crucifixion.
The Bible does not address abortion by name, but the Old Testament says something about murder, if I remember correctly. Abortion is murder.
Neither would you or I get airtime. If it makes you feel better, Jesus was executed before he had to suffer the full life we get to deal with.
I think you missed the big picture.
1: And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.
2: And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets.
3: And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.
4: And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand.
5: And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake.
6: And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.
7: The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
8: And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood;
9: And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.
10: And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters;
11: And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.
12: And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise.
13: And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!
1: And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.
2: And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.
3: And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.
4: And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.
5: And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.
6: And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.
7: And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men.
8: And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.
9: And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.
10: And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.
11: And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.
12: One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.
13: And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
14: Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.
15: And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.
16: And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them.
17: And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.
18: By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.
19: For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt.
20: And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk:
21: Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.
....And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.
i.e. No more elections when the Lord comes again
bump for comment
I think you missed the point...
It is humor. The article alleged that Christ was the first Democrat. The headline asked who Jesus would vote for.
I responded that Jesus wouldn't vote, he would run as a Republican.
So, I really didn't miss the point. I was telling a rather obvious joke.
So I guess He would either sit out this election or vote for Nader according to your question. Fortunately, what Jesus taught was that when God became the center of a man's life and he accepted the gift of life given through the sacrifice of His life on the cross that man became a new creation. All old things pass away and everything is new.
Comment about what, please?
Can't decide if your post was Haiku or Dr. Seuss!! :)
If not, I guess Jesus will have to vote for Ralph Nader.
Well, let's see....Jesus believed in objective truth; despised hypocrites; preached judgment as well as grace and mercy; and finally, he obviously believe in God. What do contemporary liberals have in common with these things?
Is this the same group that asked the question last year, "What would Jesus drive?" Did they ever come to a conclusion about that crucial question?
I hear what you're saying, and concur, but in all honesty, I can't help escape the notion that if John "Christmas in Cambodia" Kerry becomes president, God's focus toward this nation will be judgment, not mercy. (That is to say, Kerry's election will be an indication of God's judgment on this nation.)
That being said, if Jesus wants to bless our nation, I believe he will keep GWB. If God wants our nation to be cursed, then Kerry is a shoe in.
Well, he sure as heck would never have voted for a woman's "choice."
Would Jesus pick a zelot, our modern day equivalent of an anti-government militia nut? Yes, He chose Simon the Zealot to be one of the 12 disciples.
Would Jesus choose one of the Pharisees, the very sect that saught His death? Yes, He did. He chose the Apostle Paul, while Saul (at the time) was on the Damascus road.
So, I would dare to say that He would vote for whomever He chose, and He is not ignorant of the secretive operations of any organization.
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