Eh...going out on a limb here. Do Christian Republicans know who they're worshipping?

he wouldn't have understood it. this intense focus we have on bible study alone is something that would have been entirely foreign to people of his day. they met together to read the scriptures...not from their own bibles, but from the one communal book in the synagogue.

 

i can give lots of examples, unfortunately. i live in an area of houston that's very heavily populated with churches that look like country clubs...that decide the best use of their money is more amenities for their members instead of serving the community. i know a church currently investing $40 million in a new chapel...despite the fact church attendance is sagging, even for this very big church. i don't think that's what God had in mind for the church. That doesn't look like an Acts 2 church to me.

 

I think we are referring to different contexts. In the sense that Jesus advocated compassion, love, and deliverance for all people, he was definitely not an advocate of "groups".

Therefore, given that church's (human constructs in general really) tend to gravitate towards feelings of "I am better because I am in this group" (aka collectivism), Jesus was advocating the dissociation of groups.

Maybe a better way is to think of this as Jesus advocating a "reversal of groupthink" - to dissociate oneself from ego-centric ethnic/racial/social/community/religious etc. borders and submit to universal compassion. Love your neighbor as yourself, love god, and ignore other trivialities.

 

link?

 

<object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Yje1vKHqoRs&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Yje1vKHqoRs&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>

 

And just in case you don't trust Buchanan, here's a link from ABC News (same book with help from 20/20):

http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Story?id=2682730&page=2

 

It says the rich give more to charities, not conservatives.

 

Did you read the whole thing?

 

Jesus' kingdom was "not of this world."

nuff said.

and BTW Jesus' ideal kingdom would be an absolute theocracy where everyone acknowledge he was god.

 

Where does it say this?

 

yeah, i was ignoring that part.

 

I think you are confusing Jesus with John Lennon.

 

I swear I heard "Imagine" in the background as I read this post. Weird!!

 

I don't remember where I saw it, but I remember seeing a portrait of what Jesus actually resembled compared to what he is traditionally believed to look like.

Like, instead of the tall, lanky, long haired, WHITE, attractive man often depicted, he was in actuality short, stocky, short-haired and not so attractive? And also middle eastern?

Jesus is HOT in a lot of movies/pictures. The Bible says he was unattractive. I guess it doesn't really matter, but maybe he didn't actually have long hair...

 

it probably doesn't matter.

in different cultures around the world, Jesus is depicted with every skin tone possible. there have been mosaics done of all these pictures. i find more beauty in the meaning behind the mosaic than i do in any one picture of what someone thought jesus might look like.

 

It's the same thing.

 

Um... I think the Jews knew a thing or two about "intense focus...on bible study."

 

it's not important. what color his hair was or its length isn't what's important about Jesus.

 

Not saying they didn't.

I'm saying they didn't all have their own copies of the Bible. They didn't tuck away in their breakfast rooms with a cup of coffee and their own copy. Scripture was read aloud in large groups..pondered over...discussed...looked at in new ways. This is a very different approach than what I see happening in MOST churches today. Though I have been in churches that read scripture aloud together and ask for voluntary comments on what is striking to each person about it...or what's important.

 

He kept is hair in accordance to the Jewish customs and law. I would think the truth of Jesus being a Jew is pretty important, rather than being downplayed.