And from what I read, especially in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John the teachings of Jesus are actually pretty left wing. They talk about helping out each other, loving one another, and making the world a peaceful place, not a war zone that's full of corporate greed and a prison industrial complex. I'm 100 percent certain that Jesus and his dad are against all killing, even capital punishment (sorry Mike Huckabee you're wrong when you say that Jesus supports capital punishment because he didn't crawl down off the cross). I'm pretty sure Jesus is against amassing great wealth while others starve and live in squalor and poverty, I recall something about how it was easier for a rich man to go through the eye of a needle than to get into heaven, and I'm pretty sure that also refers to rich churches (I'm looking at you modern rich mega churches and at you too ancient Roman Catholic churches, especially the Vatican.).
The conservatives have it completely wrong. God's will isn't that we start wars for oil and that we waste resources he supposedly gave us, his will, if he existed, would be that we don't fight wars and murder innocent people and that we protect and cherish the planet he gave us. God's will isn't that we should all become filthy rich and use tax loopholes to keep from paying taxes that help all people, it's that people use whatever they have to help others who have nothing. I'm certain that God is pretty pissed that we citizens of the USA treat the rest of the world like they are our slaves and that they exist for our amusement and their natural resources are ours for the taking. I'm pretty sure when Jesus said to love thy neighbor he meant Mexicans, Iraqis, those gay and lesbian folks who want to have equal marriage rights, the Asians with the funny sounding names, the homeless people, and all the rest of the people that rich conservatives like Malkin, Coulter, and Limbaugh make fun of and use for target practice.
You see people, and by 'people' I mean Christians who think that God is a Republican who likes low taxes on rich folks, you can't have it both ways. If you believe God is love and that he sent his only begotten son Jesus Christ to save all people then you have to believe all the Bible and it's teachings, not just the parts you use to hate on gays and love on getting rich.
(Let's just think about this 'only begotten son' business for a second. If God is so powerful that he created everything why would he limit himself to only one son, why not 10 or 20, or 50? Why not a daughter? Why not a gremulator? A gremulator is a one fifth man, one fifth woman, one fifth octopus, one fifth throbbing shade of purple , and one fifth radio controlled Lego block. I mean come on people, he's fucking God, he can do anything he wants, he can make anything he wants, why just have one son? Let that be your starting point to critical thinking about this whole stone age religion business.)There's no way any sane rational person could read the Bible and conclude that God's will is remotely anything like what conservative right wingers say it is. In fact, the political systems that come closest to emulating the Biblical teachings, especially those in the New Testament, are Marxism and socialism.
But for anyone to claim to know the will of a non existent thing is pretty much madness anyway, so there you go.
15 comments:
Well said sir, well said.
I don’t accept the currently fashionable assertion that any view is automatically as worthy of respect as any equal and opposite view. My view is that the moon is made of rock. If someone says to me “Well, you haven’t been there, have you? You haven’t seen it for yourself, so my view that it is made of Norwegian Beaver Cheese is equally valid” - then I can’t even be bothered to argue. There is such a thing as the burden of proof, and in the case of god, as in the case of the composition of the moon, this has shifted radically. God used to be the best explanation we’d got, and we’ve now got vastly better ones. God is no longer an explanation of anything, but has instead become something that would itself need an insurmountable amount of explaining. So I don’t think that being convinced that there is no god is as irrational or arrogant a point of view as belief that there is. I don’t think the matter calls for even-handedness at all.
- Douglas Adams
I couldn't agree with you more.
I do believe in God (but you know that) and I like to point out to conservative friends that Jesus was the biggest socialist ever.
i'm with CDP!
the hubby and i are christians and socialists (to a point) and we think that's what Jesus would do!
What would Jesus Do?
He'd give that homeless guy 5 bucks :)
Lemmy, great comment!
I'm with you Dr. Monkerstein, so as a socialist and atheist, I'm more likely to get into "heaven" than, say, George and Laura, right?
I think we should do this blog against theocracy thing more often.
If you read how the first apostles structured the social groups, it was downright COMMUNIST.
But I'd rather talk about my favorite Bible story, when King David came dancing into town in a too-short tunic, and his Royal Wang was a-jinglin' and a-janglin', and his wife got all pissed off about it.
They never show that in those Hollywood Biblical blockbusters.
to commenter above: Um, what?
I just love your label: "are you there god it's me monkey"--you crack me up.
Conservative christians do the same thing with Jesus that Disney does with animals.
Well said.
I'm glad someone got my joke Delia, and I'm glad it was you. ;)
Check out my "currently reading" sidebar. Interesting book. According to the author, much of what is attributed to Jesus was added later, and what is believed to be authentic boils down to : Forgiveness, love, give to the poor. Sure doesn't seem to be the agenda of the so-called Christian right.
Brother, you are speakin my language. Just posted about the late JC myself and have read much sweet blasphemy lately. From the lair of the Purple Spagetti Monster I thank you for your rant.
What Would Jesus Do? Not capitalize from the use of his name.
People will be fooled by what they examine least. You are right in pointing out conservative hypocracy, but remember to look at the four fingers pointing back at you. You rave about conservative hypocracy in order to justify and ignore your own. You ignore those who actually live conservitive ideals in a spirit of love, not condemnation, you ignore the 100s of millions of babies killed by abortion, the destruction of the family, and the rise of crime resulting from fathers being "sexually liberated" and not taking care of their kids. In short you are justifying your perpetual adolescents pointing to your hypocritical parents as the excuse.
pointing out the flaws of others, in order to justify your own, your opinion will lack validity, because it does not take enough into account
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