Why don't Christians listen to what Christ actually said?
Today, conservative Christians have been given another name - "values voters". These are defined as voters who pledge only to support candidates that are pro-life, pro-family, and pro-faith.
(Here, sign it if you want - it is of course, your civic responsibility: http://www.focuspetitions.com/135/petition.asp)
Boil that down, and the "most important" issues prescribed to these Christians are to be against abortion, against gay marriage, and for supporting religious liberties.
So, pro-life, eh? Why doesn't the fact that over 80,000 innocent Iraqi civilians have died because of the war outrage us to the point that the killing of the unborn does? When it comes to unjust deaths, you can't choose whom you will be upset over.
And pro-family? Gay marriage creates families, divorce destroys them. Don't get bent out of shape - I am not for gay marriage. But how many times did Jesus talk about homosexuality? Let's count: zero. Among his top priorities, apparently.
And lastly, pro-faith. Meaning?
I see Christians all up in arms when the taking down of the Ten Commandments in public places is discussed, yet - doesn't it say in there "Thou shalt not kill?" Oh, yeah.
Maybe we should listen and obey what Jesus really focused on.
In the gospels we have approximately 2,000 accounts of Jesus talking about caring for the poor, the sick, the least of these.
He tells a rich man that in order to be saved, he must sell everything he owns, and give to the poor. Then you will have treasure in heaven. (Matthew 10:21, Luke 18:22) So, why don't we see many Christians in this country eager to do that? Instead, we see church parking lots filled with BMWs and Lexuses, pastors owning airplanes, and congregations building bigger buildings to bring in instead of reaching out.
Then, in Matthew 19:24, Mark 10:25, and Luke 18:25 he says it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God! (But he didn't really mean it.)
And then, to top it all off, Jesus separates the peoples as to how they have cared for the poor and the needy. (Matthew 25:31-46) Those who cared for the least of these (Jesus in disguise), he invites into his Kingdom, those who ignored them he tells to depart from him.
In the words of Jack Sparrow as he munches on his apple: "Funny little world, isn't it?"
Let's be followers of Jesus with our highlighters at the ready -
and if we don't like what he said, feel free to skip right over it, and highlight the parts that serve our agenda, our cause, our freedom, our comfort.
All else is regarded as "well, sacrifices must be made."
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3 comments:
it's all basic capitalism. supply and demand. people want to hear that their country is doing the right thing. people want to hear that they are safe. people want to hear that the enemy is barbaric. there's heavy demand. and the propaganda machine is running at capacity to keep up the supply of religio/political garbage spewing.
I understand where you are coming from but the rich young ruler was being invited by Jesus to follow him & become a disciple. Jesus told him this so that he wouldn't be hindered by them while gone & worried about the management of them, either. But, Jesus also knew his heart. The ruler didn't want to and that was his loss! Remember the good Samaritan had money to help the poor man left for dead, otherwise the innkeeper may not have let him leave him in his care! It's what we do with our money that's important, not that we always give it all away! Jesus didn't tell everyone to do that, but was telling them in many verses, not to be ruled by it or let it keep you out of heaven!
As far as the war in Iraq, we are there fighting evil. Remember in the "LOTR" movies, that they had to fight to save lives but many died in that fight as well as the people they were trying to save but good did triumph over evil. "Gondor calls for aid...and Rohan shall answer!" is a great analogy, which is why he wrote it! "Sometimes all that is needed for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing!" As Christians, we should do no less. We need make our votes count at the polls, but we need to live by what we say, too. I love Jesus with all of my heart and commend you for searching what it is that He is calling you to in life, as well.
We actually read the story in Matthew of the rich man for theology for last week, and our teacher Sr. Alice pointed out that it didn't say to sell all he had. I thought it was an interesting point.
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