Posted on 09/21/2013 10:14:52 AM PDT by rhema
“I’m researching Killing Jesus, do you know why Jesus was killed, by the Romans? … You don’t know and you shouldn’t know because it was about taxes, taxes!” – Bill O’Reilly, The O’Reilly Factor, March 2013 (see here: Jesus killed over taxes)
Now, I am no expert on Jesus Christ or the Roman occupation of Judea in the first century A.D., but I am a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ and once, on the way to visit my in-laws, I slept in a Holiday Inn Express. But it wasn’t until that statement, from the renowned theologian Bill O’Reilly of Fox News, that I realized the true reason that Jesus Christ was killed was not atonement, redemption, propitiation or reconciliation, but “Taxes! It was taxes!”
I know, right! Those Romans are brutal! I mean, the IRS raided Willie Nelson and jailed Wesley Snipes, but crucifixion? That’s just medieval!
On Tuesday, the 24th of September, Killing Jesus: A History by BILL O’REILLY (in big bold all caps and the same font size as the words “KILLING JESUS”) and Martin Dugard (you better be wearing your bi-focals to see his name, but he’s the guy who does all the work and gets none of the credit; well, in this case – none of the blame) will arrive in bookstores and on e-shelves.
And according to the prophet of the “No spin zone,” the guy who said, “render unto Caesar” and who miraculously summoned a fish with a silver coin to pay, not only his own taxes but also that of his servant Peter, was somehow the spearhead of a tax revolt against the Romans.
The history of the Greeks, the Romans, the Christians and the Jews deny this, as does Christ himself, who, in a less than Simon bar Kokhba moment, told Pilate to the face that his kingdom was not of this world else his servants would fight. But then again maybe Fox’s own Ron Burgundy and his ghostwriter have discovered something that thousands of scholars, billions of words, and history itself have overlooked?
The write-up of the book promises to “take readers inside Jesus’s life, recounting the seismic political and historical events that made his death inevitable – and changed the world forever.” Now, I’m all for tax revolts, but has the death of any tax revolutionary really “changed the world forever?”
And I’m pretty confident that the death of Jesus was inevitable because God decreed it and prophecy declared it:
Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. (Acts 2:23)
The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ. For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done. (Acts 4:26-28)
After all, wasn’t Pontius Pilate reluctant to the last minute? Do you really think that a Roman Procurator would pause for reflection in the face of a tax revolt? A man renowned for his cruelty?
As a student with intellectual curiosity and somewhere around 3,000 theological volumes in my library, I appreciate the diversity among the scholars that appear there. I have the early church fathers, the great minds of the Reformation, Catholics, Calvinists, skeptics, scoffers and even atheists; though I must admit that O’Reilly will be the first theologian to grace my shelves that has been sued by a former producer for offering to introduce a falafel into her nether regions. But as a Christian who believes in redemption, I was excited to hear that the trouble-making Roman Catholic kid who was the bane of his Catholic school had grown up to write a book about Jesus. What an opportunity for a man who has truly been blessed with a magnificent platform and millions of viewers. How sad that he wasted such a golden opportunity. How truly tragic.
As nutty as Louis Farrakhan sounds when he claims that a Jew of the house of David and the tribe of Judah was black, as loopy as those in Queer Nation who claim that Jesus was “a gay man, extraordinarily gay, steeped in gayness,” nothing quite compares to the complete denial of thousands of years of Jewish prophecy and two millennia of Christian tradition. Not even Dan Brown had the chutzpah to write his anti-Christian screed as a work of non-fiction. That’s right “folks,” you don’t see this kind of pride and prejudice outside of the major cults or the halls of Pandemonium.
The fresh, bold piece of humanity has revealed himself as the hot steaming pile of vanity that both Mark Levin and Rush Limbaugh have warned us about by implication for years. O’Reilly’s wacky, unhinged conjectures promise to make Oliver Stone seem like St. Augustine. Imagine the ego that went into his decision to straighten out God, history, tradition and even the skeptics about the life and death of Jesus Christ? Imagine the arrogant naiveté to suggest that a history of the death of Jesus belongs on the same shelf as Lincoln’s and JFK’s?
And the irony of a man who boasts, “The Factor has stood up for Christmas for fifteen years, defending the holiday from secular progressives.” I guess it’s all right to have Christ in Christmas but let’s revisit that whole Easter Sunday thing. So, we have been wrong all along with the “Christ died for your sins” confession; actually we should revise that to “Jesus died for your deductions!”
But will the Factor-heads bail him out on this one? You betcha! O’Reilly could “ralph” into the Holy Grail and there would be a bidding war on ebay. He still lives off the fumes of the average person’s middle finger to the media in their disdain of mainstream propaganda and their appreciation of Fox as a reliable news source. As for me, I would rather have him sign my loofah than toss him thirty pieces of silver like the Fox lemmings that will buy anything that bears his name and visage. How’s that for pithy?
The question that we must ask, that even fans of The Factor must demand, is why? Why would he write this book and why should we continue to pretend that Bill O’Reilly hasn’t morphed into the media version of the perpetual thumb in the eye that is John McCain? If I’m wrong about his following, and I hope that I am, then the title of his next book will be, “KILLING RATINGS”!
I leave you, my dear reader, to your own better discretion on whether to buy this book or support this man but let me just point out a question that should make “the folks” uncomfortable. “When is MSNBC more reliable than Fox News?” The answer is when Martin Bashir has to correct Bill O’Reilly about the true reason for the death of Christ.
Martin Bashir,
You don’t know and you shouldn’t know because it was about taxes?’ Well, as anyone with a modicum of Biblical history will tell you, the death of Christ was an act of substitutionary atonement for the sins of the world. He neither lived nor died for taxes, in fact he simply said that one should discharge one’s responsibilities to the state by rendering unto Caesar that which was Caesar’s. But the purpose and meaning of his death is spelled out by the prophet Isaiah: He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. Isaiah 53:5
“He died for the sins of the world,” continued Bashir, “including the lies and the misappropriation of his life by those whose sole purpose is to make money at his expense.”
Watch Martin Bashir’s Commentary here: Bashir on O’Reilly’s Killing Jesus
Words fail me
People will still buy this piece of crap.
Off his meds again.
Well... umm... earthly motives were many. Which doesn’t in the least negate the divine plan to put Jesus on that cross to pay for your sins and mine and those of the world (at least those who are willing to accept this sacrifice on their behalf).
I hadn’t even thought of the taxes angle. And I don’t know where Bill’s book is — it might be off in left field.
But the bible does suggest that the love of money is the root of all [kinds of] evil. It would be only one of a lot of worldly motives, and of course all of those motives would ludicrously mischaracterize Jesus. By definition of what worldly is.
Nutty, maybe, but maybe not as nutty.
O'Reilly's mistake was thinking that religion is reducible to politics and politics is reducible to economics.
Maybe it's rare to hear somebody making both those reductions at the same time, but you can hear people arguing for one or the other every day.
BOR is killing Mexicans?
If that’s his approach then yes, he’s sapped the whole power of his faith and given it to an idol! Who wants to believe in worldly economics as the summum bonum? Doesn’t that status belong to God?
I am simple minded. I look at the joy of the Lord which is my strength. God’s up there in heaven saying yeehaw and we’re down here saying leave us alone to our card games Cowboy (or more accurately Shepherd). Well He will, for a while. Till we realize where that goes, which is nowhere. And so Bill’s book would be useful... as a cautionary lesson in vain thinking.
The most damning sentence, that no scholars have ever unearthed this supposed ‘true story’.
I am stunned.
How can a Catholic not understand Jesus’ death. I’m not a Catholic and I understand it .. believe in it, and know for certain that Christ did not die because of taxes.
I’ve already stopped watching O’Reilly. He just seems to be much more arrogant; argumentative; constantly talks over his guests, etc. I just kept thinking, if he doesn’t like what these people are going to say then why is he inviting them to his show? Can’t understand that.
Anyway, I WILL NOT be purchasing this book. I’m done!!
I love thinking about how Jesus will rule the world (with a rod of iron). The perfect politician. First all His enemies will be wiped out with a single command, then all the nations will have to pay tribute to Him or they have a drought. Other than that, seeing Him in person, no war, playing with lions and tigers and bears, never locking your doors, meeting angels and the resurrected who were beheaded during the tribulation, and everything in our homes will glorify God, healing, healing, healing. As a start. That is where I go for peace. Oh, we will all celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. I love sleeping under the stars.
I received his Lincoln book as a gift, and was very unimpressed.
Bill O’Reilly can’t kill Jesus. He is killing himself. Reap - Sow, Bill.
The rod shouldn’t, I believe, be taken in a worldly manner, like some enraged despot who can forcefully strike down but not build up. This is God with the supernatural power to make good things happen with vigor. The thing about God that we keep a big secret, overwhelmed with our own worldly point of view, is that God would far rather bless than curse; the anger of His chastening is for a moment then His lovingkindness is forever.
I was confident from the first day I heard about this book that O’Reilly would screw it up.
Jesus was executed by Roman soldiers, not because they had any reason to want him dead, as neither did their immediate Big Boss, Pontius Pilate, but because the Jewish high priests and Sanhedrin insisted that Jesus be put to death and conjured a clever political squeeze play that Pilate dared not refuse for the sake of his own life.
Remember Pilate’s judicial finding: I find no cause of death in this man.
The immediate cause of Jesus’ crucifixion was the Jews, although Christians know the fundamental, existential cause, why He had to die. I know of nothing in O’Reilly’s life experiences that would lead him to understand this.
Thanks rhema.
O’Reilly and “Killing Jesus”: Cause for Concern for Conservative Christians
Freeper Editorial | 6 Apr 13 | Xzins
Posted on 04/06/2013 7:51:02 AM PDT by xzins
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3004813/posts
Bill O’Reilly gets hostile to the Gospel
http://www.cbPatriot.com | Publius321
Posted on 04/28/2011 6:13:54 PM PDT by publius321
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/2712142/posts
Losing Your Religion
Townhall.com | June 22, 2013 | Bill O’Reilly
Posted on 06/22/2013 3:36:12 AM PDT by Kaslin
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3034255/posts
Bill O’Reilly — Now ‘Looking the Other Way’
[Christians who believe the Bible and attempt to live according to its precepts are “religious fanatics.”]
Agape Press | 9/10/02 | Gregory J. Rummo
Posted on 09/11/2002 10:04:12 AM PDT by truthandlife
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/748753/posts
O’Reilly blasts same-sex marriage critics
CNN | 3/27/2013 | Ashley Killough
Posted on 04/07/2013 12:35:31 PM PDT by IbJensen
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3005153/posts
Vanity: Bill O’Reilly, shut your mouth about oil
Posted on 02/29/2012 5:28:51 PM PST by jsdjason
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2852814/posts
Bill O’Reilly Pens Love Letter to Obama in Parade Magazine (Projectile Barf Alert)
Politics Daily | 08/07/09 | Carl M. Cannon
Posted on 08/07/2009 11:59:04 AM PDT by MissesBush
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2310756/posts
Social Security claim vanishes from O’Reilly podcast
WND | April 16,2011 | Bed_Zeppelin
Posted on 04/16/2011 7:40:58 AM PDT by Bed_Zeppelin
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2705777/posts
Oops, he did it again: Bill O’Reilly defames the victims of the Malmedy massacre
Respectful Insolence | 6/2/2006 | Orac
Posted on 06/04/2006 5:51:50 PM PDT by Born Conservative
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/1643406/posts
O’Reilly The Historian??
Vanity | 5/30/06 | Blau993
Posted on 05/30/2006 7:39:49 PM PDT by blau993
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1640952/posts
It does indeed appear Bill O’Reilly is coming out with a book about Jesus’s life.
https://www.billoreilly.com/killing-jesus
I read the sample chapter and could find nothing in it that contradicted scripture. However, there’s also this...
http://clashdaily.com/2013/03/oreally-oreilly-according-to-bill-jesus-was-killed-over-taxes/
O’Reilly claims the Romans killed Jesus over taxes?!? I don’t of any scripture that supports that.
The Sanhedrin had Jesus executed. Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor, only weakly supported the execution. According to scripture, Pilate actually wanted to release Jesus at one point. To the best of my knowledge, scripture does not state or imply that Pilate or any other Roman wanted to kill Jesus over taxes.
To the (hopefully few) Bill O’Reilly fans out there. There’s no reason to read O’Reilly’s version of events when you can go directly to the Bible and read it for yourselves. Here’s a good place to start:
I didn’t buy any of his “killing” books. I watched the TV show Killing Lincoln and if it was true to the book, I didn’t see anything earth shattering or new that wasn’t known before.
As far as killing Kennedy, once I read that he was putting his political spin on Kennedy’s death, I wanted no part of it.
And Killing Jesus is just a way for him to make money off the name of Our Lord.
I would not be sad to never hear anything about BOR again.
“O’Reilly’s mistake was thinking that religion is reducible to politics and politics is reducible to economics.’
So true.
A few months ago, he stirred some reaction to gun violence in Chicago, blaming it on the breakdown of the black family. His solution was mass public service campaigns to discourage out of wedlock pregnancy.
Not once did he mention the root cause of the breakdown - absence of morality and any sort of religious or spiritual foundations in their lives. The all-knowing BOR was confusing effect with cause.
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.