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Title: What has happened to America's Jesus?
Source:
USA Today via Yahoo News
URL Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20 ... u=X3oDMTA3ODdxdHBhBHNlYwM5NjQ-
Published: Feb 13, 2006
Author: By Rob Borsellino
Post Date: 2006-02-13 22:27:06 by Zipporah
Keywords: Americas, happened, Jesus?
Views: 132
Comments: 10
Mon Feb 13, 7:12 AM ET I remember when Jesus Christ was about religion. That goes back to when he was caring and compassionate all the time, not just during the political campaign season. He used to bring people together and give them hope. He wouldn't have his people get in your face and tell you to fight gay rights or you'll burn in hell. That's not what he was about. That's not the Jesus who made folks such as Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson rich and famous. He was a different guy from the 21st-century American Jesus Christ. When I recently visited Sicily, Italy, the old Jesus was all over the place. His statue was on the counter at the restaurant and the coffee house. His image was on the wall at the clothing store and in the hotel lobby. And there was a huge painting of him on the side of an apartment building. Sometimes he was with his mom and dad, and sometimes he was sitting with his pals - the apostles. Mostly he was hanging from the cross. Whatever he was up to, it was all about religion. It was interesting because I didn't go to Sicily looking for a religious experience. I went looking for what's left of my family. My grandfather and his brother came to the United States in 1904 and left behind their parents and two sisters. The sisters had kids, grandkids, great grandkids. I never met any of those people, and I knew nothing about Sicily except the obvious - pizza and the Mafia. My wife thought it was time to connect. She made some calls and let the family know we were coming. We landed in Palermo, got our bags and were met by my cousin Peppino Rizzuti, who was holding a handwritten sign with my name on it. He was there with three other cousins. They hooked us up with more family and spent the next seven days driving us all over the island and stuffing us with mozzarella, prosciutto, olives and about 50 kinds of pasta. My cousin Maria made the sign of the cross before she ate. My cousin Antonio's car had a figurine of a saint on the dashboard. My cousin Gian Marco had a beautiful cross hanging from his neck. But nobody was going on about God, Jesus and religion. It didn't come up. I saw all that and was reminded that you can be a decent person - a good son, husband and father - and still oppose the war in Iraq. You can be a caring, thoughtful member of your community and still question whether Justice Samuel Alito should have been confirmed. Jesus won't get mad at you. Several times during the week, I thought about telling my family what's happened to Jesus in the United States - how he's been kidnapped by politicians and preachers who decide what he does and doesn't think. They speak for him, and it doesn't always make sense. They say Jesus is "pro life," but he doesn't seem to have a problem with the death penalty. And he thinks stem cell research - something that would save lives - is no different from murdering babies. They say he's the embodiment of kindness, love, decency and compassion. But he hates gays, lesbians and Muslims. And he's not too crazy about Buddhists, Hindus and the rest. Jews? He can put up with them if he has to. The Rev. Fred Phelps of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka claims to speak for Jesus and goes around the country talking about how " AIDS cures fags." Pat Robertson says it would be a good idea if the United States killed the president of Venezuela. It would be a lot cheaper than starting another war. All week I went over that stuff in my head and decided not to mention any of it to the family. It would make America look ridiculous. Rob Borsellino is a columnist for The Des Moines Register and author of So I'm talkin' to this guy ...
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#1. To: Zipporah (#0)
Nice read, I'll bet he wanted to stay in Sicily.
Mr Rumsfeld said the emergence of populist leaders through elections in Latin America was "worrisome".
Jesus As Political Dissident by Jeffrey J. Peshut In addition to being a mystic, healer and teacher, Jesus Christ was a social prophet and movement initiator in the tradition of the social prophets of ancient Israel.1 These social prophets were noteworthy for their sacred or mystical experiences as well as their radical criticism of the existing social- political order. As Marcus Borg explains, they were spirit-fueled advocates of social justice. To understand this facet of Jesus’ mission, it is important to understand this and the historical context in which Jesus lived. As far back as Moses in the 13th century BCE, Jewish social prophets had protested what was at the time the most common form of economic and political order – the ancient domination system. These domination systems were marked by political oppression (they were hierarchal and patriarchal), economic exploitation (they owned the land and taxed their subjects) and religious legitimacy (the social order reflected the will of God). This was the system in Egypt when Moses led two million Hebrew slaves to their freedom. It was the same system that was later recreated in Israel, with the king effectively becoming the new pharaoh. According to the theology of the ancient Jews, the king of Israel was the son of God, to whom God had promised an everlasting kingdom. The ancient Jews believed that God dwelled in the temple in Jerusalem, next to the king's palace. There was no separation of church and state – the temple and the king stood together at the top of the domination system. The social prophets spared neither – they criticized both the temple and the king and advocated social justice for the oppressed and exploited. Of course, the situation of the oppressed and exploited only became worse when the Romans invaded Judea in 63 BCE, making it a client-kingdom not unlike the client-state of Vichy France during World War II or the client-state that the U.S. is attempting to create in Iraq today. The rule of the Romans was marked by dissent and revolt by the Judeans. The most noteworthy of the rulers appointed by the Romans was Herod the Great. Herod was originally appointed governor of only Galilee. When the Parthinians invaded Judea in 40 BCE, Herod fled to Rome. It was there that Mark Antony appointed him King of Judea. In 31 BCE, Octavian defeated Mark Antony at the Battle of Actium. Herod quickly switched allegiances to Octavian, who confirmed him as King of Judea in 30 BCE. Herod had successfully retained his position as client-king. In an effort to ingratiate himself to the people of Judea, Herod began the expansion of the Second Temple in 20 BCE, which was then inaugurated in 10 BCE. Still, because of his attempts to displace the Jewish ruling elite, his strict loyalty to Rome and his policy of heavy taxation, he was not popular in Judea. After Herod the Great’s death in 4 BCE, Caesar Augustus divided Herod’s kingdom among his three sons. Augustus allotted Herod Archelaus the greater part of the kingdom – including Samaria, Judea and Idumea. Herod Antipas was allotted Galilee and Peraea. Herod Philip received the remainder. It is generally agreed that Jesus of Nazareth was born in Bethlehem shortly before Herod the Great’s death, probably around 5 BCE. Therefore, Jesus lived most of his life – and all of his adult life – under the rule of Herod Antipas. During Jesus’ life, the tension between the Jews and the Roman/Judean domination system remained high. Because of their belief that they were God’s chosen people, and were not meant to be captives or subjects of another authority, the Jews resented Roman rule. The most vocal of the critics were usually dealt with harshly. For example, because Herod Antipas viewed John the Baptist as a threat to the existing order, he executed him. John the Baptist was Jesus’ close friend and mentor. It was John who had baptized Jesus around 27 CE. This then was the political and personal climate for Jesus as he was heading from Galilee to Jerusalem for Passover Week in 30 CE. At the beginning of Passover Week, Jesus entered Jerusalem in a provocative manner. He rode into Jerusalem from the east on a donkey as his followers chanted words that linked him to the kingdom of David, the greatest of ancient Israel's kings. At about the same time, the Roman governor Pilate entered the city from the west at the head of a squadron of Roman cavalry. At a minimum, Jesus’ actions would have been interpreted by the Romans as an act of political protest and civil disobedience. Moreover, later that week, as he taught in the temple court, he had engaged in verbal conflict with the Pharisees, the Sadducees and the temple authorities. It was at this time that the Pharisees tried to trap him by asking whether it was lawful to pay taxes to Caesar. The Sadducees sought to trip him up by telling the tale of a woman married to seven brothers and asking him whose wife she would be in the afterlife. Finally, the scribes asked him to identify the greatest commandment. It was his act of overturning the tables of the moneychangers in the temple court in Jerusalem, however, that ultimately triggered his arrest in the gardens at Gethsemane. Jesus was tried and convicted of blasphemy and sedition and executed by crucifixion, a Roman form of execution commonly used for two categories of people – political rebels and chronically defiant slaves. These two groups shared something in common. They both systematically defied the established authority. Because Jesus was not a slave, it makes sense that he was crucified as a political threat to the Roman order. It is doubtful, however, that the Romans acted alone. Instead, it is widely believed that they acted with a small circle of Jewish temple authorities. After all, Jesus was tried and convicted of both blasphemy and sedition. The Roman and Jewish ruling elite arrested and executed him to avoid criticism and popular unrest much like they had done earlier with Jesus' mentor, John the Baptist. Thus, Jesus was killed because he stood against the Roman and Jewish authorities in favor of an alternate political and social order. He was indeed a political rebel with a cause – the liberation of his people from the Roman and Judean domination system of his day. The mind once expanded by a new idea never returns to its' original size
Absolutely.. he dared to challenge the religious leadership which were also
political of the day..
It appears we are in the same circumstsance today.
The mind once expanded by a new idea never returns to its' original size
Sure does.. and why dont the RW Christians see this? I just dont get it ..it's as if they're bewitched.
Questioning the will of God is a sin and will cause you to wind up in Hell. Therefore, they don't question.
Therefore, they don't question. Well they do seem to look to Christian leaders for the answers.. rather than use common sense.. They are stuck on stupid it seems.
They are very much stuck on stupid - they want to be handed answers instead of looking for answers themselves. Here's my current favorite "WTF?" article: Is depression a sin? Quote: You'd have to read the whole thing - it gets pretty wild - lots of them think that *all* of life's answers are in a book and don't realize that the book is only the beginning and does not exclude other things.
The great folly of all of the monotheistic religions is in calling God an "I Am", which then becomes "I want" which then mutates into "You'd better", and then everyone starts running around yelling and screaming and burning things and killing people. God is far too big to fit into an ego, he can't be put into a box that small. Ego is the challenge we have to overcome in this life. It's really so blindingly obvious that I simply cannot believe nobody else has figured it out yet. Satanism is the ultimate in ego worship, God is the exact opposite. Then the other great folly is those who say "We're all God". That's nonsense as well, and those who try to embrace that belief system watch it crumble into pieces upon their first encounter with a high- wattage jerk. The reality is much more simple, and much more profound. We are all like beams of light all emanating from the same source, but split into fragments by the crystal prism of this reality. We're all perfect in a way, but terribly incomplete. This is why the common thread of truth that permeates all religion is when the idea is expressed that doing for others is doing for yourself, and doing for yourself seperates you from others. It's all so blindingly obvious and simple to understand, and that's why churches work so very hard to keep people away from actually realizing that truth, mouthing it with numb lips reciting dead words and diverting them with ritual and ceremony and laws and rules and words words words words all dancing miles away from the message while endlessly orbiting the truth at the core of it. It's time for monotheism to come to a long overdue end. It's time for ritual and prostration and handing over authority to those who wear symbols of power while reciting dead words to come to a long overdue end. It's time for people to wake up from their slumber and grasp the beautiful simplicity of the real truth. It's a message anyone can understand, and anyone can live up to. Simple kindness is the core of it all. Just being kind, all the time, to everyone and everything. That's it. So very simple to grasp, so very hard to actually do. That's all anyone will ever need to know or live up to. The rest is layer upon layer upon layer of rancid baloney, manipulations, word games, ego trips and power grabs and lies.
#2. To: Zipporah (#0)
#3. To: Itisa1mosttoolate (#2)
Thus, Jesus was killed because he stood against the Roman and
Jewish authorities in favor of an alternate political and social order. He was
indeed a political rebel with a cause – the liberation of his people from the
Roman and Judean domination system of his day.
#4. To: Zipporah (#3)
#5. To: Itisa1mosttoolate (#4)
It appears we are in the same circumstsance today.
#6. To: Zipporah (#5)
I just dont get it ..it's as if they're bewitched.
#7. To: mirage (#6)
Questioning the will of God is a sin and will cause you to wind up in Hell.
#8. To: Zipporah (#7)
They are stuck on stupid it seems.
Could anxiety be sinful? Yes – if we accept the testimony of Jesus, and we respect the apostolic command of Paul.
#9. To: mirage (#8)
 | Gold and silver are real money, paper is but a promise. |
#10. To: Elliott Jackalope (#9)
Such is the true weakness of all "revealed" religion. Of course, you are 100% correct. In fact, I wrote a paper on this once and was hauled up to "explain" myself some years ago when I was at a Jesuit University :)
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