The Quiet Christian Democrat

[SwampG8r]

every time i talk jesus here it goes wrong somehow
i find it hard to understand how such a good guy causes such anger but ok here goes

if you are a christian of strong political beliefs you are somehow expected to be foaming at the mouth and right of nixon politically
now maybe i was taught about a different jesus but the one i know has always seemed like a person i can understand
ok i admit i was raised by east tennessee hillbillies and if jesus SAID it it meant something
we didnt really spend a lot of our church time going over the blatherings of a bunch of sorry ass hangers on
we were preached almost exclusively out of red letter bibles and the opinions of peter or mark or paul(dont get me started on that guy)or the letters to whoever did not usually make the main event
i know now that my experience is not that of everyone
sucks to be you i guess
but if jesus were here he would be in favor of health care for all
he would be in favor of stopping wars
he would want the hungry fed
the homeless housed
he would want shoeless children to have shoes for their feet

he was a community activist when it was serious
and he paid his price for it
they beat his ass bloody and nailed him to a tree
happened all the time back then no big deal

many of us
are what we consider to be christians
its a compromise lifestyle
not jimmy swaggert christians im sure
but christians none the less
as we go into the easter season please try to be kind to those of us who are caught in this cult.

and for everyone who opened this saying hmmm...im a quiet christian
will you stand back quiet and let the likes of glen beck define your beliefs?
speak up as i have begun to
put the face of jesus on the issues
trust me jesus likes it when you help people
he wants you to help people
make sure people understand that the face of christianity they see most in america
on tv 24/7
is the face of some of the most extreme fringe elements of christianity
we must stop being ashamed of them and go to shaming them
despite all apearances they are NOT shameless
when you build community resources as part of your church you put a great big smile on jesus face
when you register voters at your church jesus is happier than a fat kid with a dozen donuts
"render unto caesar" and all that
voting is rendering in my opinion


and for everyone who will read this and have an unkindness to share
have a field day its nothing i havent heard
hell
its probably stuff i have said to select people myself

and to all
may god bring his countenance to shine upon you as we enter the easter week

[liberalhistorian]

1. Thank you for posting. I am a committed liberal Christian who

is so tired of the RW co-opting Christianity for themselves. God wants us to care for the poor, the weak, the elderly, the sick, the voiceless, the powerless, the children, etc., etc., and WITHOUT conditions, strings and judgment. This quote from Proverbs is one of my favorite: "He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God." There are also constant biblical admonitions to ensure justice for the poor and powerless.

Jesus's greatest command was to "love one another." He also would have had some very choice words for today's robber barons and banksters, the modern version of the money lenders whom he drove out of the temple.

[SwampG8r]

2. my favorite

as you do unto the least of them so do you unto me

happy easter and god bless you

[liberalhistorian]

3. And the same to you!

And remember to ask this question of any Christians you meet who may be against health care reform: Would Jesus have asked for an insurance card or wallet size before healing the sick?

[SwampG8r]

4. he would be an out of network provider

you might get reimbursed but who knows for sure?

[tango-tee]

10. Thank you.

These are the words I try to live by.

Not always successfully...

[Sheltiemama]

25. +1

I'm about 25 books into reading the Bible, alternating between Old and New Testaments. It all comes down to "love one another." Jesus tried to help the sick and poor and set an example for others to do the same, not keep them sick and poor.

[Divine Discontent]

5. K&R Whatever one believes - they are the face of that belief to others, and that is why it's so very

important that those with tender hearts of mercy to speak out about social justice. For there are surely those who do not believe, who are just as caring and virtuous and behave more "Christ-like" than many believers.

So, it befalls on those who do believe to inform those who behave cold in spirit to those in need, that they are not showing Christ's love. I wrote a very detailed letter to a hardcore GOP "Gods and Guns" friend and asked them what is so horrible about having those with so many millions pay something closer to the taxes they did under Nixon, so that the suffering would be insured? Would our country not be better served by this? Would our ER's not be so overrun? Would our souls not be better served by healing the country, literally?


We force them to face themselves when we state the truth - that Christ would not want any child, woman, or man to suffer without the care of a healer. This bill is close to budget neutral in reality, what it does cost states they should raise in taxes on the wealthy and corporations and not bat an eye, and it should help millions of people who would normally not get preventative care get something we so desperately need - medical care.



They will know us by our love...



Matthew 25:34-40
"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.
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, 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.'
"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?
When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'
"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.'

[Maraya1969]

6. I have a problem with s sentence

"i know now that my experience is not that of everyone
sucks to be you i guess"

I'll let you explain first.

[SwampG8r]

32. howdy

i came back and read the comments and yours is the only one that wasn't intended as a shot
you seem to want an actual explanation to aide your decision as to whether i am a big hypocrite or not
i will save you time of course i am a hypocrite we all are its an essential part of human makeup
anyone who claims the lack is full of it

all i meant by the comment was that as a child in this environment i assumed that everyone was having the same positive learning experience
relating to religious matters
later when i became more knowledgeable i learned that many have had and have relations with religion that are not positive
i find that to be a very sad thing but not one that i can change as i cannot rewind time

as to a fat kid with donuts...i was a fat kid i am a fat man and i like donuts so maybe i was projecting my joy from fried bakery products onto jesus
i bet he will forgive me for that
maybe you can too

[Aristus]

7. Thank you, SwampG8r.

It was good to read this. :thumbsup:

[raouldukelives]

8. Thank you!

It's especially tough being such a Maher fan. But I digress. I have found myself being much more outspoken lately. I found it funny that the last Michael Moore film had such a strong Christian element to it and at the same time I was feeling the need to be more vocal. Maybe were all on the same wavelength. Or coco-puffs.
"That which you do to the least of my brethren, you do to me.".

[Betty Karlson]

9. Now that Beck and his ilk are going after

churches that advocate social justice, I think you will see more and more Christians in the Democratic Party. Some of them quite rigid in matters of orthodoxy (like myself) while striving for charity in social matters. And they will be more and more vocal. After all, their Lord's name has just been taken in vain by people advocating discrimination, segregation, elitism, hate, and selfishness. (And, in the case of some RC clergy: rape)

[CBR]

11. K & R I am agnostic but I know fabulous

religious people who do great work in the community, higher ed. etc... My mentor is a Muslim, friends are Christian etc...

Thanks for the post. Happy Easter!

[Dappleganger]

12. Thank you

but IMO Beck isn't a christian so he never spoke for me in the first place. He used the mormon church like AA to get sober.

I do my part to speak out against hypocrisy on FB, among christian friends, etc. My style can be a bit brass for them but it does get the message out. For the most part they are shocked at the very outrageous, but as soon as Beck/Hannity/O'Reilly say something not dialed up as high they swallow it down.

HOWEVER, over the past two years there are more and more who are questioning this garbage of mixing politics and religions (good!). Some are beginning to see that separation of church and state protects our religion more than mixing it up. One very cool thing about this is a friend of mine has a daughter who is a liberal christian and now has written several articles to Relevant magazine online which are challenging current thinking. I also regularly post Sojourner's articles for them to read (like Jim Wallis).

[AlecBGreen]

13. Thanks SwampG8R!

Happy Easter to you as well :hi: The Lord is risen!

To all of you who are believers, I want to encourage you to mosey on over the the Religion/Theology forum and say hi. Id say we're pretty outnumbered over there. Preaching tolerance starts at home :7

[iris27]

48. As the religious moderates, you should be preaching tolerance to the

extremist branches of your faith -- not to those who have been barred from marriage, attended funerals protested by Phelps and crew, or had their bodily autonomy denied, and are thus may not be as kindly disposed toward Christianity as you might wish.

[holiday]

14. PROUD LIBERAL CHRISTIAN

sick of right wingers sabotaging Jesus's message

[Sheltiemama]

26. Today I'm wearing my peace sign pendant.

Tomorrow I'll be wearing my cross. I think they go together.

[JTFrog]

15. "Sucks to be you I guess". Or a fat kid....

I can't imagine why religious folks are always being accused of being hypocritical. :shrug:

[Fire1]

16. We didn't say we were 'perfect.' n/t

[JTFrog]

20. No but you sure like to tell people what "Jesus" would say or do.

I'm sure this would be amongst his more common phrases:

"Sucks to be you I guess."

That's almost as good as making fun of fat kids and then asking others to be kind to you over Easter.

:shrug:

[Fire1]

21. With the kind of animosity regularly displayed toward us, it's

no wonder you get such phrases. The 'fat kid' reference is purely hyperbole.

[SwampG8r]

30. just let it go

i addressed these types of comments in my OP
happy easter to you

[Toasterlad]

38. I Feel So Bad For You Poor, Beleaguered Christians.

Just as soon as I get the right to marry, I'll invite you to my wedding. That might cheer you up.

[omega minimo]

47. Because it is a right because it says so in the

[polichick]

17. Yes, just as we need Muslims to speak out about their crazies...

...we need Christians to speak out about theirs.

[stray cat]

18. DU and perhaps progressives generally are pretty hostile to anyone of faith

I guess every group has subgroups that are demonized - the right and left just demonize different groups

[darkstar3]

39. Not just anyone of faith.

Most faiths have a similar tenet to them that states "When you pray, go into your closet..." Those who fail to live up to that tenet are generally unliked by those who disagree with them.

And if you think for one moment that demonization stops at just "anyone of faith," I think you need to start reading closer. We're all a bunch of Satan's children on this board, no matter what side we're on...

[Bluenorthwest]

19. Sucks to be you? What is your Scriptural basis for that one?

That right there, that is the root of why your community is not more beloved by others. Sucks to be you. Is that from Galatians?

[proud patriot]

22. I work with a devout Christain who is a staunch Liberal politically

She's a fine example of Jesus' faithful . I wish there were more
Liberal Christains like her .

[Sheltiemama]

27. Two of the finest Christians I know are liberal Democrats.

And I'm blessed to count them as my friends.

[Ysabel]

23. the sucks to be you statement that you made bothers me too...

and all that other stuff about "jesus" supposedly being a nice liberal guy and all that stuff which nobody has ever proven nobody knows if the guy even existed so there is no way to know what he was like...

what we do know is that many of the people who have claimed to follow this unproven fellow have killed all sorts of people and have asked (often insisted) that other people to join in their killing sprees...

of course i know there are some christians who do many good things i grew up surrounded by very liberal christians of the dorothy day style who fought against war and for labor rights / the thing is tho a belief in a god figure is NOT necessary to do any of that stuff...

in any case those peaceful christians are imo missing a huge point or else ignoring it -- by claiming to believe in that same god" as those christians of the killing sort -- it is REALLY HARD for me to take any of them really very seriously...

i'm sorry...

imo if you really believe in peace you should denounce this awful religion with it's many flakey excuses and unproven / impossible to prove fantasy bullshit and it's crazy killers and instead dedicate your life more fully to <[b>real provable accountable truth / justice and peace...

- and btw what is this thread doing in this forum ??? (rhetorical)...

edit: (typo) ah well fuck it bb code seems to have gone haywire with the bold i've tried to fix it thrice - oh well as i said fuck it...

[rufus dog]

24. You did make me think a bit

Never thought how tough it currently is to be a Liberal and a Christian. The Fundies have hijacked the meaning and some lefties slam the crap out of religion.

I agree with your assessment along with very religious friends of mine who rightfully believe that Jesus would be labeled a liberal. If you really follow his teachings and want to be consistent then you are on the right path - IMO.

I always kid my wife that if there really is a Heaven and I am questioned about my faith then I will state "You really are a helluva a guy and I agree with you, but too many of your followers are just batshit crazy!"

Happy Easter to you.

[SwampG8r]

31. some of the responses here show

why a quiet christian would remain quiet

[southernyankeebelle]

28. Thanks for sharing many of us feel the same way. I think republicans forget why

they lost the election to Obama. We wanted change to make our families lifes better. God didn't pick McCain/Palin for good reasons. Everyone knows that she is unqualified. She may go to church but she really doesn't understands that Jesus was a community organizer. You remember how they all laughed at that in the republican party. They think they have Jesus on their side. All I know I may not go to church allot but I think I am just as good a christain as Palin claims to be. I believe in social justice. I don't think she does.

[stranger81]

29. My dad would have loved you -- your words could have come (and often did) straight out of his mouth.

He thought most of what passes for contemporary Christian thought is Pauline, not Christian. And there's a lot of daylight between Jesus and Paul. We should be shaming most maintstream Christians (Jim Wallis-types excepted) exactly the way Jesus shamed the Pharisees and Sadducees.

[SwampG8r]

33. if i could do one thing

i would remove paulist poison from the well of christianity
i cannot stand that pushy sadistic johnny come lately

[gkhouston]

34. +1. Having known one too many modern-day sociopaths, I find myself

wondering if anything he ever said was genuine.

[Jennicut]

35. I am a liberal Christian as well. My husband is a chuch organist, we are very involved in our church

The pastor there is very open minded and not conservative at all.
I totally agree with everything you said in your post.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

36. Last week our clergy spoke out against the racist and homophobic and violent streaks

in the Republican party and said that it was especially appalling that some of the Tea Party types claim to be operating on "Christian" principles.

[Toasterlad]

37. "trust me jesus likes it when you help people"

How do you know what Jesus likes?

[SwampG8r]

40. cause jesus said this

35For 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, 36I 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? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When 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.'

i think im covered as to what would make him feel all warm inside
the operative partof the statement though is "the least of these brothers of mine"
that covers everyone

really,if you destroyed the faith of someone would you be better for it?

[beam me up scottie]

41. "if you destroyed the faith of someone would you be better for it? "

Does proselytizing make you better for it? What right do christians have to destroy the faiths of indigenous peoples all around the world?

[omega minimo]

44. what right

do you have to hold slaves in the New World?

[SwampG8r]

49. no proselytizing here

i asked no one to join me just to show some of that tolerance everyone seems to like so much

for the record i am 64/128ths cherokee enough to satisfy them of my indigenousness and i would wish you not to put words in my mouth

[Toasterlad]

43. How Do You Know Jesus Said That?

And no, I would not be better for destroying your faith. But YOU would be.

[Name removed]

45. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[omega minimo]

46. That's how The Golden Rule aka Karma, works.

:think:

[Ysabel]

42. glad to see this tread (er thread - sorry typo but a funny one - stet) moved to proper place...

i'm for separation of church and state...

i want religion kept entirely out of all public forums...

imo religion should be kept private...

thanks...