Was Jesus A Liberal?

Toogood Reports ^ | December 26, 2001 | Henry Makow Ph.D.

[Starmaker]

It was dark and snowy late last Friday night. The city was eerily quiet in expectation of Christmas.

My 15-year-old son had hurt his thumb in a basketball tournament and I took him to Emergency.

There was a TV in the waiting room. Bill Maher was doing a Christmas show, about Jesus' message of Christian brotherhood.

"Just as in nature, there is a human ecology," Bill Maher intoned.

"As long as America monopolizes the world's wealth, as long as there is poverty and sickness, there will be terrorists. We have to level the playing field."

The audience applauded and Bill Maher instantly became a moral giant.

"Oh sure, we all respond positively to words," he continued.

"But would you be willing to give 15% of your wealth to people in the Third World? Would you be willing to level the playing field?"

Again, the audience responded dutifully.

My jaw dropped. What is this man saying?

That America is to blame for the attack Sept. 11 because it is so successful? That we have to pay guilt money, or else?

First, "human ecology" doesn't cause terrorism. Ideology does.

The Taliban and Al-Queda were brainwashed by religious schools. Improving their economic conditions would make no difference.

Second, everyone knows that you can't give money away. People have to work in order to feel self respect. Has Bill Maher forgotten about "earning" money?

My father was a Jewish holocaust survivor.

After the war, he took just one year to make up for missing high school. He won an Entrance Scholarship to Albert Einstein's alma mater in Zurich, and became a distinguished physicist. Like millions of immigrants in his day, he didn't ask for affirmative action or "diversity" programs. He asked for an even chance.

He never gave me a cent.

When I was 11-years-old, I told him I wanted to go to university. He told me to start saving for tuition. This inspired me to approach the local newspaper to write an advice-to-parents column.

"Ask Henry" ran weekly in 35 newspapers from 1961-1964, and later paid for my tuition.

If my father had said, "no problem son, your tuition is assured," I would never have acted on my own behalf.

Bill Maher may be a sincere idealist, but surely our focus in the Third World should be on improving economic opportunity, on providing a hand-up NOT a handout. If we turned people into welfare cases, they would hate us more.

Jesus said we should love our neighbor. He didn't say we should support him.

Christ's teaching is NOT about economic equality. It is not about money at all.

Christianity is about wealth of Spirit. Jesus told the rich man to renounce money altogether and follow the gospel. Jesus knew that the experience of God's grace makes money insignificant.

Conversely, the farther we are from God, the more important money becomes.

"It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven."

Notions of Christian brotherhood make us vulnerable to manipulation by Liberals and Marxists who accumulate wealth and power by pretending to champion "have-nots". Social workers and charities grow fat. Hollywood stars gain moral stature.

At Christmas, let's be critical of appeals to our higher nature.

For example, what if Bill Maher was being paid to soften us up for "world socialism?" That's what he's talking about, after all.

What if the real aim was a world government designed to perpetuate unsustainable inequities, not alleviate them.

"The people never give up their liberties but under some delusion," said Edmund Burke in 1784.

I know this sounds paranoid but we live in strange times.

Let's be discerning when proffering the hand of Christian brotherhood.

"Be simple as a dove and lay snares for no man: but be cunning as a serpent and let no man lay snares for you."

Jesus wasn't a liberal.

[ZULU]

"Liberal" and "Conservative" are meaningless terms in the historical context of Christ's mission and the political and religious situation in Palestine at the time. These left-wing revisionists make me sick.

[sausageseller]

Webster's: radical 3. Of or pertaining to the root or foundation; esential;basic.

[constitutiongirl]

Lenin said that, not Jesus.

[ProudGenXLibertarian]

"For what purpose would they twist his words?" For whichever purpose suited them at the time. The bible has been used and quoted for many years, by many men to justify their political viewpoint. As much as I think Jesus would dislike the anti-religion view of the communist regimes around the world, I also think he would find distasteful the theocratic and capitalistic regimes, who use his name to further propegate themselves.

[ProudGenXLibertarian]

Liberals, Socialists and Communists are evil?? They may be wrong, misguided or uninformed, but to call someone evil because they are a not a capitalist nor a conservative is a bit of a stretch. There are plenty of regimes around the world, some of which our government supported, that were much worse in the human rights arena than some leftist regimes were.

[Woahhs]

actually, St. Paul said it.

[Liberty Ship]

Those regimes are evil, too. As are Liberals, Communists, and Socialists.

[Matchett-PI]

"Some of the things he commanded, particularly of his followers, were highly socialistic (giving all your money to the poor or to the church, to store up your treasures in Heaven rather than on Earth, to choose between God and riches, etc.)"

Excuse me?

Please stop misrepresenting God and Christianity.

[Conservative til I die]

I don't think it's clear cut to portray Jesus as either a liberal or a conservative. Some of the things he commanded, particularly of his followers, were highly socialistic (giving all your money to the poor or to the church, to store up your treasures in Heaven rather than on Earth, to choose between God and riches, etc.) The Catholics, in particular, lean towards this type of lifestyle.

Big difference between commanding personal charity and government redistributionist schemes. Big, huge difference, and you should know better.

[Tall_Texan]

**Please stop misrepresenting God and Christianity.**

Why? My bible has the Gospel according to Matthew and the Book of Acts. Maybe yours does too. Go read it.

[NeoCaveman]

Well, Jesus lived at home till he was thirty, that sounds like my liberal cousin.....

[Tall_Texan]

**Big difference between commanding personal charity and government redistributionist schemes. Big, huge difference, and you should know better.**

I do. That's why I used "socialistic" with a little "s" rather than Socialistic. He teaches the idealism of socialism (taking all one's resources and giving them to the group that those in need will not lack), not the government style of Socialism.

Actually, the early Christians in Acts behaved more like a commune, but if I'd said the teachings were communistic, you'd have REALLY had trouble understanding.

And if THAT blows your mind, read Acts 5 and find out what happened to the guy who held something back for himself...

[Tall_Texan]

LOL! And don't you know the women in the family kept trying to find somebody nice for Him to marry...

[Publius6961]

This could be maddening, but not on brief reflection.
Look at Bll Maher's audience.
Parasites, most of them.
And who would appeal to such a group?
Why a bigger brainless parasite.

I would guess that most of those who are so willing to share their wealth have never made any of it.

[Publius6961]

For what purpose would they twist his words?

There are as many different reasons as there are individuals.
Just look at this site. Why do so many twist historical facts?

[Tall_Texan]

If this is truly your view of consevratism, I wonder what interested you to visit and become a member of a CONSERVATIVE news forum.

I agree with your general assertion regarding Jesus and how He would be perceived politically today but you do a great mischaracterization to think conservatives just want to shoot people, put them in jail and keep all the money. That's what brainwashed LIBERALS think of us. Is that what YOU think?

[Tall_Texan]

Around here, Attila the Hun might be considered too liberal by some people (or do you not notice all the bellyaching about GWB that goes on here?).

It's a straw man to say either a)give the thief your shirt or b)shoot him. I don't own a gun, so what am I to do? I would want the person to be arrested or at least to give back what they stole. Now if the crook brandished a weapon in the commission of a robbery, I might feel justified in using violence to stop him, particularly if I thought someone's life was in danger. The options are more plentiful than what you state.

It is stereotypical to portray conservatives as greedy, violent, judgemental and uneducated because the liberal media does such a thorough job of painting conservatives (and particularly Christian conservatives) in this light. The typical Republican has more education than the typical Democrat (according to exit polls) and I'll bet they are more generous with their money too since they don't believe it's the government's job to take it and give it elsewhere. And are the places with the highest rates of gun violence typically ones that vote Republican or Democrat?

And I've never met anyone more judgemental than the people who berate others for "being judgemental". They are typically the most intolerant and insufferable folks imaginable.

But, at least you are honest in your liberalism so I can now accept your statements in context. Thanks for clarifying.