[FONT=arial,helvetica]Was Jesus a Liberal? Part 2
[/FONT][FONT=arial,helvetica] Now, from the general to the specific: let's investigate this further by examining a few elements of Scripture. Two Bible quotations that have found favor with liberals are "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone" and "Do not judge lest you be judged." Both of these statements are often used by liberals to discourage people from rendering value judgments they find unpalatable. Now, Jesus said the former when he happened upon an angry mob that was about to administer to a woman the prescribed punishment for adultery: stoning. But what is seldom mentioned is that after deterring the would be executioners from visiting that horrible fate on the victim, Jesus said, "Go in peace, woman, and sin no more." This tells us very clearly that judgment comes into play, because labeling something as a sin is a judgment. The latter quotation is a prohibition against judging hypocritically and unjustly. This is why elsewhere in the New Testament we are counseled to "Judge righteously."
[/FONT][FONT=arial,helvetica] Another favorite of liberals is "Turn the other cheek," which is often used to discredit the idea of just war and is misunderstood to be an endorsement of pacifism. What this dictate actually refers to is that we shouldn't act out of a spirit of vindictiveness. In other words, use proportionate force to thwart evil if and when necessary, but proceed out of a sense of justice and a desire to protect the innocent and preserve the good — don't do it to simply get even.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica]Another mistake that liberals make is that they read these stories and quotations, notice that Jesus prescribed leniency and then assume He is one of them because they do the same. What eludes them is context; they lack perspective because they only view things through the prism of our age. In the times in which Jesus walked this Earth draconian punishments were the order of the day. He prescribed leniency because man was too harsh, but in an age characterized by permissiveness He would do just the opposite. This is because since Jesus is Truth, He is the true center. So when society veers too far off the mark in any direction He beckons us to come back into the light. To use today's political terminology [which didn't exist in Biblical times], when we gravitate too far toward the right He is to the left of us and asks us to move left; when society veers too far left He is to the right of us and asks us to move right.
Of course, since most liberals don't believe that Absolute Truth exists, they don't believe that there could be such a true center. They might say that Jesus is just a "wise man." But even then, since different ages are characterized by different moral failings — different characteristic spiritual diseases, if you will — would a sage prescribe the same cures in every age?
Lastly, I don't know of any conservative who has proposed a "Stoning for Adultery Act." No, we all know that the kinds of punishments that were administered in the days of yore were to be casualties of Jesus' perfection of the law, and rightfully so. The difference is that conservatives understand that Jesus probably wouldn't support a system that bestows upon convicts the right to sue the government because they got creamy peanut butter instead of crunchy, or to have a sex-change operation at taxpayers' expense.
Then there's the issue that dovetails with this, which is that liberals sometimes consider Jesus to be one of their kindred spirits because they labor under the illusion that He always sought to move people's hearts in what we now call the liberal direction. In reality, nothing could be further from the truth.
For example, consider the issue of human sexuality. More than most anything else, liberals are characterized by their very libertine sexual mores, and they constantly endeavor to widen the parameters that govern sexuality. This lies in stark contrast to what Jesus said, for every solitary word that He uttered about sexuality served to narrow the parameters governing it. It is a fact: Jesus did absolutely nothing to inure people to sexual behaviors that were considered to be untoward. And this lies in stark contrast to the behavior of liberals, who now have even gone so far as to advocate the governmental sanction of homosexual unions.
Of course, liberals are often quick to point out that while homosexual behavior is condemned in the Old Testament, Jesus had nary a word to say about it. However, Jesus never meant for the default standard to be that Old Testament moral law would be considered to be null and void unless He said otherwise. Rather, He meant for us to assume that such law was completely valid and that we were enjoined to abide by it unless He said otherwise. This is why Jesus said, "I have not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it." And as I just said, not only did Jesus not rescind such prohibitions, He actually expanded them. For one thing, He said that a man could only have one wife and that you could not get a divorce, unless your spouse had committed adultery. He said, "A man who divorces his wife makes an adulterer out of her."
And then there is what should be the stake through the heart of the liberals' argument — the thing that Jesus said that could not be outdone even by a Puritan straight from 1650's Massachusetts. To whit: not only did Jesus tell us that we had to be chaste in deed and word, but also in thought — He told us that even entertaining lustful ideas was wrong. He said, "You have heard the Commandment, 'you shall not commit adultery.' But what I say to you is: anyone who looks lustfully at a woman has already committed adultery with her in his thoughts." Any questions?
The desire to justify one's behavior and passions is human nature, and there are many groups that try to press God into service for their cause. Some of these people are convinced that God wants them to destroy the western world, while others simply believe that God wants them to destroy the values that created that western world. Many of these people reduce God to just a vehicle through which they can promote their agenda, and religion to just a game that "enlightened" folks like themselves can compete in for control of the masses. As for the sincere among us, we would do well to ask ourselves a question: would I want to be on God's side, or, would I want Him on mine? T'is a point to ponder.
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[FONT=arial,helvetica]By Selwyn Duke
Posted with Express Permission
by author for my blog here at CF
on December 16, 2007 via email
request. [/FONT]© Copyright 2004 by Selwyn Duke
http://selwynduke.typepad.com/selwyn...-lib.html#more
[FONT=arial,helvetica]
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[/FONT][FONT=arial,helvetica] Now, from the general to the specific: let's investigate this further by examining a few elements of Scripture. Two Bible quotations that have found favor with liberals are "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone" and "Do not judge lest you be judged." Both of these statements are often used by liberals to discourage people from rendering value judgments they find unpalatable. Now, Jesus said the former when he happened upon an angry mob that was about to administer to a woman the prescribed punishment for adultery: stoning. But what is seldom mentioned is that after deterring the would be executioners from visiting that horrible fate on the victim, Jesus said, "Go in peace, woman, and sin no more." This tells us very clearly that judgment comes into play, because labeling something as a sin is a judgment. The latter quotation is a prohibition against judging hypocritically and unjustly. This is why elsewhere in the New Testament we are counseled to "Judge righteously."
[/FONT][FONT=arial,helvetica] Another favorite of liberals is "Turn the other cheek," which is often used to discredit the idea of just war and is misunderstood to be an endorsement of pacifism. What this dictate actually refers to is that we shouldn't act out of a spirit of vindictiveness. In other words, use proportionate force to thwart evil if and when necessary, but proceed out of a sense of justice and a desire to protect the innocent and preserve the good — don't do it to simply get even.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica]Another mistake that liberals make is that they read these stories and quotations, notice that Jesus prescribed leniency and then assume He is one of them because they do the same. What eludes them is context; they lack perspective because they only view things through the prism of our age. In the times in which Jesus walked this Earth draconian punishments were the order of the day. He prescribed leniency because man was too harsh, but in an age characterized by permissiveness He would do just the opposite. This is because since Jesus is Truth, He is the true center. So when society veers too far off the mark in any direction He beckons us to come back into the light. To use today's political terminology [which didn't exist in Biblical times], when we gravitate too far toward the right He is to the left of us and asks us to move left; when society veers too far left He is to the right of us and asks us to move right.
Of course, since most liberals don't believe that Absolute Truth exists, they don't believe that there could be such a true center. They might say that Jesus is just a "wise man." But even then, since different ages are characterized by different moral failings — different characteristic spiritual diseases, if you will — would a sage prescribe the same cures in every age?
Lastly, I don't know of any conservative who has proposed a "Stoning for Adultery Act." No, we all know that the kinds of punishments that were administered in the days of yore were to be casualties of Jesus' perfection of the law, and rightfully so. The difference is that conservatives understand that Jesus probably wouldn't support a system that bestows upon convicts the right to sue the government because they got creamy peanut butter instead of crunchy, or to have a sex-change operation at taxpayers' expense.
Then there's the issue that dovetails with this, which is that liberals sometimes consider Jesus to be one of their kindred spirits because they labor under the illusion that He always sought to move people's hearts in what we now call the liberal direction. In reality, nothing could be further from the truth.
For example, consider the issue of human sexuality. More than most anything else, liberals are characterized by their very libertine sexual mores, and they constantly endeavor to widen the parameters that govern sexuality. This lies in stark contrast to what Jesus said, for every solitary word that He uttered about sexuality served to narrow the parameters governing it. It is a fact: Jesus did absolutely nothing to inure people to sexual behaviors that were considered to be untoward. And this lies in stark contrast to the behavior of liberals, who now have even gone so far as to advocate the governmental sanction of homosexual unions.
Of course, liberals are often quick to point out that while homosexual behavior is condemned in the Old Testament, Jesus had nary a word to say about it. However, Jesus never meant for the default standard to be that Old Testament moral law would be considered to be null and void unless He said otherwise. Rather, He meant for us to assume that such law was completely valid and that we were enjoined to abide by it unless He said otherwise. This is why Jesus said, "I have not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it." And as I just said, not only did Jesus not rescind such prohibitions, He actually expanded them. For one thing, He said that a man could only have one wife and that you could not get a divorce, unless your spouse had committed adultery. He said, "A man who divorces his wife makes an adulterer out of her."
And then there is what should be the stake through the heart of the liberals' argument — the thing that Jesus said that could not be outdone even by a Puritan straight from 1650's Massachusetts. To whit: not only did Jesus tell us that we had to be chaste in deed and word, but also in thought — He told us that even entertaining lustful ideas was wrong. He said, "You have heard the Commandment, 'you shall not commit adultery.' But what I say to you is: anyone who looks lustfully at a woman has already committed adultery with her in his thoughts." Any questions?
The desire to justify one's behavior and passions is human nature, and there are many groups that try to press God into service for their cause. Some of these people are convinced that God wants them to destroy the western world, while others simply believe that God wants them to destroy the values that created that western world. Many of these people reduce God to just a vehicle through which they can promote their agenda, and religion to just a game that "enlightened" folks like themselves can compete in for control of the masses. As for the sincere among us, we would do well to ask ourselves a question: would I want to be on God's side, or, would I want Him on mine? T'is a point to ponder.
[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica]By Selwyn Duke
Posted with Express Permission
by author for my blog here at CF
on December 16, 2007 via email
request. [/FONT]© Copyright 2004 by Selwyn Duke
http://selwynduke.typepad.com/selwyn...-lib.html#more
[FONT=arial,helvetica]
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