Biblical prophets & Jesus SLAMMED the rich, violent - does the RW know?

[checks-n-balances]

(A look at "Moral Values" that Democrats could agree on)

Thursday, November 4, 2004
"Your Rich Men are Full of Violence"
by Robert Jensen

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1104-37.htm

<snip>

Many in the anti-war and anti-empire movement tend toward the pacifist language of the gospels when they invoke religion, but I've always been a fan of the so-called "minor prophets" of the Old Testament, such as Micah. Probably the best-known verse from Micah is: "And what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" (6:8).

<snip>

But Micah doesn't stop at articulating the ideal; he speaks of the failure of those in power to live up to the ideal. He names the wickedness in the land: "Your rich men are full of violence; your inhabitants speak lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth" (6:12). Micah's language is harsh: "The godly man has perished from the earth, and there is none upright among men; they all lie in wait for blood, and each hunts his brother with a net" (7:2).

<snip>

I like reading the prophets, not just for their passion but as a reminder that there are many moments in history when leaders -- whether they are the kings of ancient Israel or the presidents of the United States -- will have amassed such concentrated power that no challenge in the short term is possible. There are moments when those leaders will have bought off or deceived the majority of people so that they rule with popular support. Bush won a second term with a 3 1/2 million-vote margin. Many of the people who voted for him believe, or want to believe, that the United States is God's instrument on this earth.

They should read Micah more closely. Perhaps we can turn back from our assault on the rest of the world, and our disregard for the cascading ecological collapse, before it's too late, before "the earth will be desolate because of its inhabitants, for the fruit of their doings" (7:13). One day, perhaps, we will reach the point Micah promises: "The nations shall see and be ashamed of their might" (7:16).

<snip>

The Radical Religious Right either haven't been taught or they choose to ignore that God has really been on the side of the poor and the disenfranchised. The political party they support is the EXACT OPPOSITE of what the prophets, including Jesus, suffered and died for. The God that I find in the Bible was not against the poor but IS against taking advantage of and cheating them, as the GOP does. (my own opinion)

On edit: change of wording

[The empressof all]

1. They have co-opted Jesus

His truth is too frightnening for them. They have put Jesus in a box to control his word.

[oscar111]

2. Jesus superceeded OT:use only his words if want to be convincing

HI,
Liked your quote and comments, but to convince others, i think

one must keep in mind the idea that jesus superceeded the whole OT.

Also, in the NT, the words of disciples are not as core as the words of Jesus.

Also, even those are said to have been deleted and added to over the centuries.

To persuade, one has to revert to only jesus's words that scholars agree are in the group not added to, for modification, by clerics.... over the centuries.

I am not sure which fall into this group {a book on such is not online.. written by THE JESUS PROJECT i think .The project is a group of scholars.}, but i have a favorite quote for fundies:

@@@@@@
"sell all and give the money to the poor"
%%%%%%

said Jesus, in Luke 18:22 and twice again in the synoptic books.

Holy poverty seems to be Jesus's ideal for the economy.
Dems favor kindness: prosperity for all. Repubs favor cruelty : gobble-top, starve-bottom.

So Dems are closer to the kindness of jesus than Repubs are. Repubs kill 84,000/yr these days, thru homelessness.. they die at three times the normal rate, and 3 million are involved each year.
No one in the media has mentioned this total of deaths, as far as i know. Christian nation?

Bush's proposed fed Budget for merely the next year, will toss another 2 million out to live on a piece of sidewalk. Upping deaths by 66%.{by 300%, if they are all homeless at any one time, not spread out over the year with "churning"... the phenomena of some rising out of homelessness, and others falling in. The SF Chronicle article was unclear which way to interpret it.}

And, he has three additional years of cuts beyond that. Bush also plans cuts in food stamps, adding a million to the 12 million hungry in this Christian nation. National wealth is 105 Trillion.
Fed budget is 2.4 Trillion, IIRC.

http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/z1/current/accessible/l5.htm
see bottom line.

Fundies tend to have a religion based on the OT, on Moses. Mosesity would be good term for their odd RW religion , as they ignore much of Jesus's words.

Republicans are opposite to Jesus in how they treat the poor: not "give them money", but kill them off.

[checks-n-balances]

3. I partially agree, but why not point out that even the OT has a message of

intolerance for greed and corruption? If the fundies think they've got the Old Testament figured out, let them learn something new.

However, I do agree that the Bible should be interpreted through the lens of the portrait we find of Jesus in the NT. The words of the prophets are actually consistent with the teachings and actions of Jesus, unlike other parts of the OT.

[oscar111]

4. good points, i agree with all you

just said.

Keep on posting, like the message!

[bmichaelh]

5. Wilfred Owen

The fundies should read some of the poetry of Wilfred Owen.
He died during World War I.

Some of his poetry points out the hypocrisy between the "Christian Europe" and World War I.

One ever hangs where shelled roads part.
In this war He too lost a limb,
But His disciples hide apart;
And now the Soldiers bear with Him.

Near Golgotha strolls many a priest,
And in their faces there is pride
That they were flesh-marked by the Beast
By whom the gentle Christ's denied.

The scribes on all the people shove
And brawl allegiance to the state,
But they who love the greater love
Lay down their life; they do not hate.

Owen, At a Calvary near the Ancre