Jesus Is a Liberal?
Okay - I've danced around this one long enough.
Would Jesus be a liberal today? Dunno. Don't care...at the moment.
Jesus was the absolute definition of a liberal in His time. He stood AGAINST everything that was wrong with society, people, religion, culture. Jesus was counter-cultural, but not in a hippie way, he was a libertarian, but not in a Timothy Leary way (am I showing my age, how about Dennis Leary? Still showing my age? How about...oh, I give up), he was kind of hermit-ish, but not in a Unibomber way, he was certainly reformer, but not in a Martin Luther way...
Jesus was liberal.
He gave of himself, liberally.
He loved liberally.
He forgave liberally.
He welcomed liberally.
He RELATED liberally...
But he wasn't content with anyone just making a show of being in relationship - with each other, or with God. Jesus' "rules" are way stricter - even though they are way less restricting. You see - it's much easier to be nice to somebody I hate than it is to stop hating them... Jesus says if I have anger in my heart, I've committed murder. Yeah, I can keep myself from shooting him with a harpoon gun - but to stop hating him...hmmm...not sure that's as easy. The not shooting him with a harpoon gun is more RESTICTING - but the not hating anymore is more strict...
So Jesus was a liberal. But not in a post-modern-political kind of way. I don't think Jesus cares at all what kind of government a country has, only what kind of citizenship we claim. (So, where in the Bible is Democratic Republic lifted up as being God-ordained? I see kingdom and I see theocracy...but we rail against both of those these days...hmmm...). We had a student preacher here on college Sunday a couple of years ago who observed that in the Church in America we usually call ourselves what we are:
American Christians
That is: we are Americans first, Christians second.
Where's your citizenship?
Jesus was a liberal. He made the civil government uneasy and the religious downright squirrel-ly. Martin Luther King was that kind of liberal. Mother Theresa was that kind of liberal.
So, would Jesus be a liberal today? Yep. But I bet not in the way you define liberals today...
NEXT POST: Standards...Poor...
Would Jesus be a liberal today? Dunno. Don't care...at the moment.
Jesus was the absolute definition of a liberal in His time. He stood AGAINST everything that was wrong with society, people, religion, culture. Jesus was counter-cultural, but not in a hippie way, he was a libertarian, but not in a Timothy Leary way (am I showing my age, how about Dennis Leary? Still showing my age? How about...oh, I give up), he was kind of hermit-ish, but not in a Unibomber way, he was certainly reformer, but not in a Martin Luther way...
Jesus was liberal.
He gave of himself, liberally.
He loved liberally.
He forgave liberally.
He welcomed liberally.
He RELATED liberally...
But he wasn't content with anyone just making a show of being in relationship - with each other, or with God. Jesus' "rules" are way stricter - even though they are way less restricting. You see - it's much easier to be nice to somebody I hate than it is to stop hating them... Jesus says if I have anger in my heart, I've committed murder. Yeah, I can keep myself from shooting him with a harpoon gun - but to stop hating him...hmmm...not sure that's as easy. The not shooting him with a harpoon gun is more RESTICTING - but the not hating anymore is more strict...
So Jesus was a liberal. But not in a post-modern-political kind of way. I don't think Jesus cares at all what kind of government a country has, only what kind of citizenship we claim. (So, where in the Bible is Democratic Republic lifted up as being God-ordained? I see kingdom and I see theocracy...but we rail against both of those these days...hmmm...). We had a student preacher here on college Sunday a couple of years ago who observed that in the Church in America we usually call ourselves what we are:
American Christians
That is: we are Americans first, Christians second.
Where's your citizenship?
Jesus was a liberal. He made the civil government uneasy and the religious downright squirrel-ly. Martin Luther King was that kind of liberal. Mother Theresa was that kind of liberal.
So, would Jesus be a liberal today? Yep. But I bet not in the way you define liberals today...
NEXT POST: Standards...Poor...
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