My best friend was very conservative when I met him. He was a devout Christian and was active in the church leadership. He worked a regular job, made good money and tithed from salary to his church. I was what I guess you would describe as Christian Left. (This is the first I have heard of that term and I have big problem with a lot of the people on that list they are identifying as Christian Left.) We met in 2002, maybe six months after 9/11. We discussed the facts of that attack in depth. I told him that I was uncomfortable with our governments path and was becoming more alarmed as to the rhetoric. He said I was too bleeding heart liberal to understand that sometimes even the religious have to pick up a sword. Then the war in Iraq started and I (of course) had immediate issues with it. He thought it was the right thing to do. Over the course of the next couple of years we would have open, frank conversations about how we feel about world events. At the same time he was having issues with church leadership and their use of patriotism and church doctrine that seemed to by tied too closely to each other. Soon after he decided to give up a great paying job to actually help people around the world. He decided to stop giving money to churches to built bigger churches and start giving money to organizations that actually spend their money helping people in a direct way. He also started showing me videos and books by Rob Bell. (BTW, If you are a Christian and you feel that the church doesn't seem to represent your core beliefs any longer, I would invite you to read "Velvet Elvis" by Rob Bell and check out his videos on nooma.com Until I read "Velvet Elvis", I thought I might never step foot in a church again. ) I could see a change in my friend but I didn't want to push. Finally the other day he looked at me and said "I was wrong and I'm sorry. After seeing what I have seen in the last 2 years when I read the New Testament now I wonder how I ever voted for a Republican." Is he saying that Democrats are perfect? Far from it. But the Republican party seems to be about policies that are driven by hate, ignorance, and greed. They have co-opted the American "Church" and it makes me sick. Take from this what you want. Flame me if you feel necessary. I am not trying to convince you of anything. I just know that for me and people like me, the words "What would Jesus do" take on a whole new meaning when you are faced with those that are truly less fortunate. I know we can do better. I know that this is not the way Jesus would want people who profess to believe in him to behave.
I read that book, and while I think there are changes in the church that need to be made, I find many of the assertions he makes in that book to be contradictory to Scripture.
Conservatives +1 No, he would most likely say that if you give a man a fish he would eat for a day, but if you teach a man to fish he would eat for a lifetime. So, provide job training not handouts. Conservatives +1 Nope, not big on the demonizing. Liberals +1 This is pretty general, but overall Jesus would probably side with "the masses" part of your argument here. Liberals +1 Yep, conservatives +2, 1 for being against affirmative action, and 1 for supporting a flat tax. Looks like the conservatives take the Jesus Cup at a score of 4-2. Of course, since I personally am for gay rights, I am better than both sides at a whopping 5-1 with only my evil pro-commerce stance standing in my way.
No flaming necessary. I feel a ton like your friend feels. You could have written that about me and it would have been an almost identical story. The co-opting of the American church for political purposes, in particular, is what sickens me most from the GOP. The equation of the cross and the flag is nothing short of idolatry to me. I'm just not willing to question other people's faiths based on how they vote.
I think Jesus would want his followers to help those that are in need in an individual/church-wide capacity. The problem is taking the charge Jesus gave us to personally perform and legislating it in His name. I think Jesus understood that the people of His day were hurting, but instead of lobbying for government programs or forcing those that weren't interested, He helped them himself or taught His followers to.
Highly doubt that would be what he means because this is the full line in his view on how to pray. "When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you." This was right before "the Lord's prayer".
I read that book on the suggestion of Mad Max, and since then have read his other book, Sex God. Terrific stuff. One of the things I enjoy most is biblical study, and I love the way Bell flavors his book with simple but well thought of historical context to bring even more meaning and understanding to the scripture being discussed.
That was different than my experience. It did change some of the ideas I had about scripture, but I think there were changes needed because the book enlightened me to things I hadn't been aware of before, or showed me a new way to look at the scriptures. I find what a lot of churches teach to be contrary to scripture, but I understand that my knowledge of it, is limited, and I'm always willing to learn more.
Jesus wouldn't use the government to force people to do anything so I would hardly classify him as 'liberal'. Jesus also didn't care about social distinctions like rich/poor. He saw past this life and viewed life with a bigger perspective realizing it didn't matter if you were oppressed/persecuted as long as you were a good person. He also never condoned revolution.
How do you define revolution? Was the Civil Rights movement a "revolution"? What makes a good person? If Republicans decided they did not want to spend a single dime on welfare programs and children starved, that's ok? Even if Jesus was not political or did not distinguish between rich and poor, the basic philosophy of right/wrong is still there.
I think there is a profound problem of trying to reflect modern political distinctions back to the Jesus' lifetime. Whether Jesus was liberal or conservative in the sense that we would think about it now doesn't apply due to the vast differences between the World then and now. While we can say there were some similar problems most things were vastly different. In a way this is the same problem brought up in the gun rights discussion with applying original intent of the Framers of the Constitution to an age where we have nukes. From my own limited understanding of the Bible it also seems that Jesus has very little to say regarding political philosophy. Where he does comment on it he seems willing to accept the status quo, "Render unto Ceasar what is Ceasar's and unto God what is God's." He does seem to embrace some revolutionary social concepts those seem to be apolitical. Even there though any real revolution he advocates is almost entirely within the spiritual realm. contrary to GW Bush's belief Jesus isn't a political philosopher.
I agree again with you, you're thinking Jesus thoughts . Issues like women's rights, servitude/discrimination, health care, child care, economics were all basic political issues in the context of the time Jesus lived. Certainly the context of these issues is completely different today, but I stand by the assertion that Jesus did not get involved in the politics of those issues then and He wouldn't today. He made not one political agenda. Like you said he led a spiritual revolution. He asked for a change in man's relationship to God. That's all He was about and all I was meaning. I think we see it the same.
rhester, Another great post! Have you ever met a pastor named Duane Sherriff? He pastors in Oklahoma [not sure what neck of the woods you're at].
