Jesus Christ Politics Resistance.

Is Jesus a Republican? Is Jesus a Liberal?

As far as we know, Jesus never directly mentioned either homosexual behavior or abortion / infanticide. And we can be sure that’s not because he cared nothing for moral or social issues. He cared a great deal.

As for power and politics,

one of my favorite lines from Jesus

is when he was doing a meandering teaching – healing tour on the way to Jerusalem for the last time. Religious authorities, harassing him, suggested he go into hiding because “Herod is looking for you”. (Herod the non-Roman ruler under the Roman thumb, was not known for excercising democratic or humanitarian procedures very regularly.) Jesus says, in effect, “Go tell that sneaky predator where I am, and what my agenda and schedule are. Don’t forget to mention that I’ll be in Jerusalem in three days”.

That’s not the response of a man cowed by authority religious or political.

But “the common people heard him gladly,”

and he saw and heard them gladly, and loved them deeply, and served them any way he could. Is that liberal? Probably. He was very liberal in his remarks about wealth and power (critical of the misevaluation and misuse of those gifts), and very conservative in refusing to advocate any kind of overt rebellion.

He was very conservative in his love for God, Temple, and the Scriptures, and very liberal in his willingness to critique the use of those things, and to be misinterpreted as disrespecting those things — and in his readiness to get kicked out of synagogue for speaking what he saw in the Scriptures and in the world around him, no matter the situation or the “gravity” of those present.

So Liberal and Conservative are probably the wrong parameters.

But it’s a very valuable and stimulating question.

Is Jesus a Republican? Would he be a Democrat OR Republican today? Well, it’s VERY hard for me to imagine him being associated with today’s machiavellian Republican party, and not easy to imagine him being officially associated with the [greedy, manipulative – 2017] Democrats. In his day he would not even take a political stance against Herod, Pilate, or Ceasar. But he undermined all of them AND the religious establishment by his clearly emphasized moral priorities.

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Leave a Reply to Anonymous X

29 Comments

  • Martin and Connie:

    Why is it so important that this earthbound society keep homosexuality marginalized by legislating against the rights of homosexual citizens? If Earth and the humans who inherit it are inherently imperfect and fallible, why, then, do we claim to do the Lord’s work in repressing others? Does Jesus not say that we should not judge one another, for that is the sole concern of the Lord? Why, then, do so many Christians feel the need to moderate the actions of others (inconsistently, no less)? I understand the desire for “collective standards”, but at the end of the day, humans do not know the true will of God. IF it is true that homosexuality is a sin worthy of God’s wrath (and I say IF because I don’t believe that the God Jesus preached would so quickly dismiss a love between two people merely because they happened to be of the same sex), should that not be between those individuals and God? What if we humans have misinterpreted or warped God’s teachings with our own imperfections and prejudices? Also, given that the Bible was only a verbal tradition for centuries before being written down, is it not also possible that God is, in fact, more likely to punish those that condemned others than those that society condemns?

  • Do you guys not know the Bible?
    Leviticus Ch 18 and Ch 20 cleary speaks out against homosexuality. Furthermore
    the apostle Paul wrote in Romans 1 and 1 Corinthians stating that homosexuality is a sin.
    “All scripture is God breathed and useful for teaching and rebuking”

  • I read a lot of opinions all bolstered by Biblical quotes and references. The Bible, ANY version, is like a huge buffet. Search long enough and you can find anything that suits you and you are not required to put anything else on your plate. I do not see homosexuality as a problem but the response to it is . For something that is mentioned so few times in the Bible it has certainly drawn a lot of attention. If God considered it to be such a terrible sin why is it mentioned so infrequently? The plight of the poor and the deep moral dangers looming over the rich are detailed in the entire Bible thousands of times. We seem to be able to live with that with no problem. If God thought homosexuality was such a problem He would have included it in The Big Ten that he gave Moses. He included adultery. How about a huge moral outcry over that? Adultery is a much greater threat to the fabric of society and family life than being gay. But then bringing down the wrath of God on adulterers would mean big trouble for quite a few of those doing the condemning.

  • I would also like to thank Connie and Martin Bauer for their lengthy contributions that have furthered my awareness of different opinions. May God be with you.

 
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