Jesus Christ Religious Right

Jesus Wept Over Present and Coming Destructions

A comment added to the “Many Christians Do Not Vote Republican” post below mentioned how some Bible-thumpers seem to welcome the idea of catastrophe, apocalypse, or Armageddon, and even feel they should help bring it about. Unfortunately I have indeed heard people talk like that, or promote that line of thinking. It is repulsive.

That’s not the way Jesus felt or operated. When he faced the reality that his friend Lazarus was dead, “Jesus wept.” He felt considerable sorrow for what he saw coming upon Jerusalem. “Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem … Look! Your house is left to you desolate.” And coming there for the last time, “As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it.”

Was He unwilling to face and rejoice in the just punishment? Could He not deal with the appropriate consequences of public stupidity and evil behavior? Where was His courage? Where was His moral outrage? Where was His joy in the righteous judgment that was coming?

I think Jesus was (and is) God Incarnate (Whatever that means, it’s a big deal.). I think we need to be taking some lessons from Him about our emotional responses, our desires, and our practical behavior. If He felt great sadness and wept, then we need to figure out how to start seeing things, and responding emotionally to things, in the same ways He did.

The tragedies and disasters going on in our world are not just charades or something in the movies. It’s more than appropriate to have some deep sorrow about them, especially the ones “we” are inflicting or helping to cause. This is real life.

Jesus is still weeping. We can be here and accept the tears with Him, or we can reject His take on things as shallow and unrealistic and proceed in our belligerence and arrogance. I think the former would be the wiser course.

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Leave a Reply to Anonymous X

8 Comments

  • Oh, I remember. Jonathan?

    Your first sentence in the comment prior to this one speaks volumes. And obviously, if the “silly view” I presented is not one held by you, then I was not challenging you. I was challenging those who hold or who have been influenced by that silly view. You clearly should not feel you are part of that group.

  • I see your point, and I suppose it is accurate to say that I would disagree even more with someone who thinks we need to try to bring about the apocalypse ourselves than I do with most of the opinions expressed on this site. However, I am still not convinced that it is not a straw-man, and if you want to challange conservatives like myself, presenting silly views like this one to tear apart does not work.

    I do not believe that you ever blocked me, but I was reprimanded pretty strongly for my prolixity and tone back on the “kingdom come” comments; fairly so, for my verbosity, but not so much for my tone, as I was polite and sincere through all my comments, and avoided the slightest trace of an ad hominum.

  • Well, I did say “some Bible-thumpers seem to,” and that is entirely accurate. I’m very glad there are many who do not; and I know some of them (I guess I am one). Still, it’s a problem that needs pointing out.

    DID I request that you not post here? I know I blocked a few commenters back last fall who seemed unable to control their tone or frequency, but can’t say I remember asking anyone to just stop posting.

    Larry

  • As a conservative Christian, surrounded by conservative Christians, let me assure you that the attitudes attributed to us in this article, and the comment refered to are selfish, stupid, and not at all representative of our views and movtives. In all my many disscussions with fellow conservatives about the war, etc., I have never once heard the modes of justification mentioned here employed.
    I do not usually post here anymore, at your request, but I felt that it was my duty to point out this most gross misstatement of our opinions. If you disagree with the conservative standpoint, at least take the time to find out where true conservatives stand.

 
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