If Jesus were alive today, the Religious Right would kill him, just like

they did in the 1st century.

I re-read the Gospels, ostensibly to find places where the values taught by Jesus are contradictory to the values of *.

What really stood out to me was that the Religious Right, the official religious establishment, known at the time as the Pharisees, were denounced by Jesus for their harsh judgment of 'sinners' and general hypocrisy. They got so mad they had him killed.

The Pharisees sounded a lot like James Dobson and Jerry Falwell and all those on the Religious Right. Pompous, self-righteous, praying loudly in public, condemning sinners, ignoring the poor and flattering the rich...the parallels are amazing. I don't understand how people can read the Bible, and not see the similarities.

If Jesus were alive today right wingers would kill him...and this was before they were called right wingers. She always called them fascists.

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped... /

On edit - I don't see it - here's some of it...



JAMES CARROLL

The politics of the Christmas story

December 21, 2004

THE SINGLE most important fact about the birth of Jesus, as recounted in the Gospels, is one that receives almost no emphasis in the American festival of Christmas. The child who was born in Bethlehem represented a drastic political challenge to the imperial power of Rome. The nativity story is told to make the point that Rome is the enemy of God, and in Jesus, Rome's day is over.

The Gospel of Matthew builds its nativity narrative around Herod's determination to kill the baby, whom he recognizes as a threat to his own political sway. The Romans were an occupation force in Palestine, and Herod was their puppet-king. To the people of Israel, the Roman occupation, which preceded the birth of Jesus by at least 50 years, was a defilement, and Jewish resistance was steady. (The historian Josephus says that after an uprising in Jerusalem around the time of the birth of Jesus, the Romans crucified 2,000 Jewish rebels.)

<snip>

His(Caesar Augustus) census decree is what requires the journey of Joseph and the pregnant Mary to Bethlehem, but it also defines the context of their child's nativity as one of political resistance. When the angel announces to shepherds that a "savior has been born," as scholars like Richard Horsley point out, those hearing the story would immediately understand that the blasphemous claim by Caesar Augustus to be "savior of the world" was being repudiated.


When Jesus was murdered by Rome as a political criminal -- crucifixion was the way such rebels were executed -- the story's beginning was fulfilled in its end. But for contingent historical reasons (the savage Roman war against the Jews in the late first century, the gradual domination of the Jesus movement by Gentiles, the conversion of Constantine in the early fourth century) the Christian memory deemphasized the anti-Roman character of the Jesus story. Eventually, Roman imperialism would be sanctified by the church, with Jews replacing Romans as the main antagonists of Jesus, as if he were not Jewish himself. (Thus, Herod is remembered more for being part-Jewish than for being a Roman puppet.)
<snip>

This is how it came to be that Christmas in America has turned the nativity of Jesus on its head. No surprise there, for if the story were told today with Roman imperialism at its center, questions might arise about America's new self-understanding as an imperial power. A story of Jesus born into a land oppressed by a hated military occupation might prompt an examination of the American occupation of Iraq. A story of Jesus come decidedly to the poor might cast a pall over the festival of consumption. A story of the Jewishness of Jesus might undercut the Christian theology of replacement.
<more>

I was teaching this same thing back during the war in Nam. It is even more true today with the cabal we have ruining the world.

<>
Rome is on the move again. Covering of the tracks has already began. Outsourcing around the globe of the vital operations to continue it's course has been the norm for many years.

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2004/12/21/the_politics_of_the_christmas_story/

~snip~
Today the Roman empire is recalled mainly as a force for good -- those roads, language, laws, civic magnificence, "order" everywhere. The United States of America also understands itself as acting in the world with good intentions, aiming at order. "New world order," as George H.W. Bush put it.

That we have this in common with Rome is caught by the Latin motto that appears just below the engraved pyramid on each American dollar bill, "Novus Ordo Seculorum." But, as Iraq reminds us, such "order" comes at a cost, far more than a dollar. The price is always paid in blood and suffering by unseen "nobodies" at the bottom of the imperial pyramid. It is their story, for once, that is being told this week.
~snip~

Novus Ordo Seculorum - A new order of the ages
http://www.greatseal.com/mottoes/seclorum.html

in his day. He was progressive. The Romans were conservative.


You gotta love how the turnabout is fair play but unfortunately you'll lose any argument where you try to show this. They are blind to their ways.

I also have come to believe that if Satan was allowed to have his "whack at it" at Earth. Is'nt that what it's all about, who can run the place better? For what ever amount of time God gave him, Wouldn't Jesus's death be within that time? A time ruled under Satan? It only seems logical to me?

The term "Only the good die young." seems to be ringing louder then ever since then as well. If you live on Earth and have something positive to say or do to help mankind, chances are you won't be around for long.

If Jesus were alive today he'd be condemned by the RR because he'd be breaking bread with fags, baby killers, etc.

My favorite Jesus quote is about how it would be easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven. Amazing how all these cash oriented mega-churches seem to forget that.

and they are killing him, everyday.

every time they vote to slash subsistence programs they are sealing their own damnation.

*********************************************

Matthew 25:31-46 (New International Version)

The Sheep and the Goats

31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory.

32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.

35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,

36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?

38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?

39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

40 “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’

41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink,

43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

45 “He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

**************************************

And if you are facing Jesus, those on your right would be on his left...

Thanks for posting the scripture.

Think it's in the Brothers Karamazov - about the Grand Inquisitor and Jesus...

The old man berates Jesus for not properly using his power to control the masses and then sends him off his death.

Replace the old man with anyone of the "religious" and godless right - it's the same old story.

he will bring Moses and some other ass-kickers with him. The false prophets are getting out of control around here. J-Man needs to bring some rough housers with him to clean things up a bit. Just my humble.

Likely were jesus awakening to his true profound purpose in 2005
america, he would teach whomever was willing, and set up a school,
or some sort of safe haven for his devotees.

In this regard, he might or might not secure that inside US borders,
given that jesus was of the world and no nation state. Likely he would
be more focused in teaching his devotees, than correcting the
phairasee world for something they have no intention of fixing.

Jesus would probably have good accountants, and an impeccable
advertizing agency, probably running a meditaiton school, that
attracted a few various strange folks from cities around the place,
and they'd likely have a great time meeting together wherever they
could find the space, to meditate and share the divine inspiration.

Of course jesus would be diametrically opposed to the murderous bush
clan and their evil counterparts, but that said, opposed would likely
manifest as jesus spending even more time dispelling demons, and
hanging out with those in need... not necessarily the physically poor,
but rather the spiritually poor... those for whom a dead book of
printed words does not satisfy. Then indeed, jesus would be called
in our modern age, a cult leader, and branded in the media as a
fraud, a charlatan, and a con artist, by all the phairasees who use
modern media to undermine truth. Only the devotees who were ready,
deeply ready, would be able to penetrate the veil to see they were
in fact dealing with the very core nexus of all they call religion.

ha!... Phairasees indeed.