Have you ever seen a RWer actually follow any of Jesus' teachings?

Besides hating gays of course, which to them is the #1 principle of Christianity

The fictional Jesus who sounds a lot like Moses.

He did have plenty to say on divorce (basically, if you remarry after a divorce, you are an adulterer, but they ignore that).

Other things that JC said:



On defense :Jesus said "Love your enemies." and "Blessed are the peacemakers." If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also." (Matthew 5:44; 5 :9; 5:39.)

On social programs : "If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven." (Matthew 19:21.)

On rugged individualism and the pursuit of self-interest : "Love your neighbor as yourself." "So in everything, do to others as you would have them do to you."(Matthew 22:39; 7:12.)

On financial success : "Truly, I say unto you, it will be hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven." "You cannot serve both God and Money." (Matthew 19:23; 6:24.)

On the philosophy that "greed is good" : "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." (Luke 12.15.)

On paying taxes : "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's.' (Matthew 22:22.)

On crime and punishment : "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her."
"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." (John 8 :7; Matthew 7:1,2.)

On money-hungry televangelists : "In the temple courts found men selling cattle, sheep and doves and other sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. (John 2:14,15.)

On the free lunch : "Taking the five loaves and two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves ... The number of those who ate was about five thousand men ... (Matthew 14.19,21.)

On moral absolutes : "If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out?" "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath." (Matthew 12:11; Mark 2:27.)

On family : "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters - yes, even his own life - he cannot be my disciple." Also : ",Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?' Pointing to his disciples, he said, 'Here are my mother and my brothers.,, (Luke 14:26; Matthew 12:48,49.)

On race relations : In the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus praised the morality of a hated foreigner over his own countrymen. (Luke 10:30-37.)

On the superiority of one's native country : "These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions : 'Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel.'" (Matthew 10:5,6.)

On letting others pull themselves up by their own bootstraps :When you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will repaid at th resurrection of the righteous." (Luke 14:13,14.)

With the way they slash funding for kids' services, everything from Head Start, to schools, to medical care, to food supplement programs, the conclusion I have come to is that they can't read.

They saw sumptin' in their Bibles that referred to "SUFFER, the little children!!" so they're doling out the suffering in spades!

The 4 gospels were written around 70-80AD, and Paul's letters were around 30-40AD before the "approved" gospels. This is before the long translation after translation over history.

gospels, including the ones that are not in the Bible, that said anything along the lines of "beat the crap out of gays, take their wallets, don't let them serve in the military, and tar and feather them, to boot!" that they would have dusted that one off and put it at the front of the book!!

n/t

I've actually known a few "Jeezers" who were politically conservative, but who weren't haters. They tried to "walk the walk" (and "the walk" is now a major Christian cliche). I'm sure there are many of them. But they tend to get drowned out by the screech-monkeys who like to fling poo and call it Righteousness.

The entire movement is beginning to break down. The idea that "Jesus Is A Republican" has no credibility in the wider Christian community. All that is left is the "remnant" of haters who are rapidly annoying the rank-and-file. And just as Christianity and political conservatism are becoming uncoupled, so are the various smaller hook-ups of the Right. It is a movement in decline -- we don't even really have to give it a push, although I am dismayed that we aren't even giving it so much as a love pat.

But don't get me wrong -- the haters still have the power, and they won't be going away without a fight. But when they claim 20 or 50 or 100 million followers in the USA alone, they're lying.

--p!

Every time a Jesus appears on Earth, the conservative types crucify him/her.

they follow the opposite of good.

Also know as...Satan, Beelzebub, Mephistopheles, the AntiChrist.

which or whatever one believes, Bush is that same negative.

of a single act by any rightwinger, fundie or freeper
that could be called a christian deed. Not one.
That's not say it may not happen now and then...
it just seems to be pretty rare or secretive... maybe it
embarrasses them to not act like thugs and bullies.
God forbid they actually have to love their neighbor.

Frankly I just don't think they are christian at all.

the Christ's, teachings, talk to them. You will find they are simply ignorant and thought they were "r/w conservative."
Many times I've done this. If you have a strong relationship with them, you can point out, to their astonishment and grudging acceptance, that they are, in fact, flaming liberals of the finest stripe.
It's sort of like an honest, committed racist, on discovering his father is dying from sickle-cell anemia. After the confessions are done, the truth must be faced. One's skin color has nothing to do with one's humanness.
One at a time, the misguided, head in the sand, lazy thinking asshats can be enlightened.
The really vile, evil ones, however, can be guiltlessly treated to burning bags of feces on their porches, however.

Most of the ones in the church I used to go to.

Pacifist, as far as their own persons were concerned; the older ones knew people in jail during WWII and the Korean War, or who went to jail during Vietnam if they couldn't miss the draft. They tithed. They were Sabbath-keeping. They did not believe in divorce and remarriage; God hated it (and shrimp) so they did, too. Minimum of 10% of their income--gross or net, their choice--went to the poor and indigent. First they took care of their own sick and poor, their own widows; then the funds went to community groups that had some transparency and accountability mechanisms in place. Personal service was encouraged. I tutored English and literacy (in addition to the 10% "poor tithe") or volunteered at the local NPR station, since I was too poor to actually donate; the office secretary spent hours a week cuddling preemie children whose mothers had no time for them. The choir director organized a community orchestra, church funded (not from the "poor fund"), to play at nursing homes and retirement centers.

They were also strict social and fiscal conservatives. They were in favor of a strong military; they believed that Christians should be pacifist and there should be a clear opt-out clause from military service, and that Xians/God would compensate society somehow. But since society wasn't in the least Christian--except in name--it didn't matter if they were pacifist or not.

Folks who do not judge others, are not duplicitous, do exude love and charity, examine what they do with the words of Christ in mind, learn, grow, accept and love gays and those of races other than their own (and I'm talking races/gays "into the family" here. Not any of that "some of my best friends are..." stuff.)

Maybe the decent members of the Republican party should just split from the current one if the party-heads don't do MAJOR house-cleaning, including impeachment and a trial or two. (or twelve or twenty.)

they are Pharisees

but then, I don't claim to be a Christian either.

EVERYTIME! They love that stone throwin shit.

Unless there's money involved. Then, nothing is sacred.

general -- know very little about theology or church history, and while they might use the Bible as an easy prop they likely are familiar only with those passages which their sect points to in order to prop up its bigoted fearmongering. The RW has become very anti-intellectual; like their duh-duh preznint they value their gut feelings over facts, and I don't doubt that they KNOW what Jesus wants, even if it's at odds with the printed word.

and thanks to a DUer around here I know what he said.

"I like your Christ, I do not like your christians, They are so unlike your Christ."

RWers hate that radical liberal Jesus.

their ice cream off the cone last summer. I didn't think Jesus would clean up the mess. :shrug:

And his wife and children. He is my mentor. He was my art teacher in NJ and subsequently my boss in my first job at my old high school. He is a black man and has seven children, all now grown. He has the most direct link to God of anyone I have ever known and there is not a hateful bone in his body. He has an innocence in his beliefs that is endearing and astonishing. He mourns behaviors that he considers sinful and he will pray for you all night long, but I never saw him ostracize or even criticize anyone who had a different lifestyle. And in our job as high school art teachers we saw many, many examples of kids and their parents who lived very unique lifestyles, believe me. (you know..the art room kids). He will give you his time, his prayers, his money, his assistance, and I do believe his life if called upon to do so.

This man is so unique that if anyone here is from my little town in Central NJ you know exactly who I am talking about.

out there who understand the New Testament and try to live by it. They really ought to change the name of the religion from Christianity to something else. It's not fair to real Christianity.

I work with several church going people whose church groups have made several trips to New Orleans and have handed out thousands of dollars of donated food and clothes to the victims of Katrina.

and where I had taught adult Bible study for more than 20 years because of their love for all things bush. I couldn't figure out a way to reconcile my belief that bush was evil and their belief that he was God's annointed for this period in time. I began to realize that this effected my ability to worship with them and my ability to love them. I am looking for a new church, but not very hard. I miss church and I miss group Bible study.