How would you (a Christian) respond if someone insulted Jesus?

brinny

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I would like to know 'How would you (a Christian) respond if someone insulted Jesus?'

To share - if someone insulted Jesus - I would pray ':crossrc:' for the person.

My actions, I will treat the person just as I would treat any of my friends.

And, hope that God will shower him or her with love and wisdom.

Do please share :)

Thank you.

If you are not Christian and want to pitch in, you are most welcome.

It would not shock or floor me and i would not have a knee-jerk reaction....i've insulted Him BIG-TIME in my own life.

I'd be praying, brother and asking God to speak through me rather than me speaking with even a "tinge" of "how DARE they".

It could be an opportunity to speak about Who Jesus is.
 
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AionPhanes

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It would not shock or floor me and i would not have a knee-jerk reaction....i've insulted Him BIG-TIME in my own life.

Wow, that is an important and poignant insight.

"This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief." 1 TIMOTHY 1:15​
 
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gord44

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Off topic but I can't help asking. Did you come up with your CF name based on the Gord the Rogue character in the Gary Gygax novels?

No sir.

It was once just gord when I was a Christian. Then I got really into sethian and valentinian gnostic thought and eventually neo paganism. A year or so later I 'repented' of my 'heresy' and renamed myself 'gordRedeemed' to symbolize being redeemed from my 'falling away' and returning to the Christian fold.

That last about a month or two before I went seeking outside of Christianity again....i just never bothered changing the name again. ;)
 
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awitch

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That last about a month or two before I went seeking outside of Christianity again....i just never bothered changing the name again. ;)

We can change our names? (Or did you create a different account?)
 
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smaneck

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Never heard of the *The Last Temptation*. Thanks for sharing.:

How quickly we forget how Christians have reacted under similar circumstances. Here is some stuff from wiki on reaction to the film:

"Attack on Saint Michel theater, Paris[edit]
On October 22, 1988, a French Christian fundamentalist group launched Molotov cocktails inside the Parisian Saint Michel theater while it was showing the film. This attack injured thirteen people, four of whom were severely burned.[9][10] The Saint Michel theater was heavily damaged, and reopened three years later after restoration. Following the attack, a representative of the film's distributor, United International Pictures, said, "The opponents of the film have largely won. They have massacred the film's success, and they have scared the public." Jack Lang, France's Minister of Culture, went to the St.-Michel theater after the fire, and said, "Freedom of speech is threatened, and we must not be intimidated by such acts." The Archbishop of Paris, Jean-Marie Cardinal Lustiger, said "One doesn't have the right to shock the sensibilities of millions of people for whom Jesus is more important than their father or mother."After the fire he condemned the attack, saying, "You don't behave as Christians but as enemies of Christ. From the Christian point of view, one doesn't defend Christ with arms. Christ himself forbade it."The leader of Christian Solidarity Worldwide, a self-described Christian group that had promised to stop the film from being shown, said, "We will not hesitate to go to prison if it is necessary."

The attack was subsequently blamed on a Christian fundamentalist group linked to Bernard Antony, a representative of the far-right Front National to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, and the excommunicated followers of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. Lefebvre had been excommunicated from the Catholic Church on July 2, 1988. Similar attacks against theatres included graffiti, setting off tear-gas canisters and stink bombs, and assaulting filmgoers.[9] At least nine people believed to be members of the Christian fundamentalist group were arrested. Rene Remond, a historian, said of the Christian far-right, "It is the toughest component of the National Front and it is motivated more by religion than by politics. It has a coherent political philosophy that has not changed for 200 years: it is the rejection of the revolution, of the republic and of modernism."

Controversy
The Last Temptation of Christ '​s eponymous final sequence depicts the crucified Jesus—tempted by what turns out to be Satan in the form of a beautiful, androgynous child—experiencing a dream or alternative reality where he comes down from the cross, marries Mary Magdalene (and later Mary and Martha), and lives out his life as a full mortal man. He learns on his deathbed that he was deceived by Satan and begs God to let him "be [God's] son," at which point he finds himself once again on the cross. At other points in the film, Jesus is depicted as building crosses for the Romans, being tormented by the voice of God, and lamenting the many sins he believes he has committed.

Because of these departures from the gospel narratives—and especially a brief scene wherein Jesus and Mary Magdalene consummate their marriage—several Christian fundamentalist groups organized vocal protests and boycotts of the film prior to and upon its release. One protest, organized by a religious Californian radio station, gathered 600 protesters to picket the headquarters of Universal Studios' parent company MCA; one of the protestors dressed as MCA's Chairman Lew Wasserman and pretended to drive nails through Jesus' hands into a wooden cross. Evangelist Bill Bright offered to buy the film's negative from Universal in order to destroy it. The protests were effective in convincing several theater chains not to screen the film; one of those chains, General Cinemas, later apologized to Scorsese for doing so.

In some countries, including Turkey, Mexico, Chile, and Argentina, the film was banned or censored for several years. As of July 2010, the film continues to be banned in the Philippines and Singapore."

I did go see the movie. Didn't like it much. I loved Jesus Christ Superstar, however.
When I was a graduate student I wrote a review of the Satanic Verses for the student newspaper. I was tired of people who had never read the book going back and fort about it.
 
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Soul2Soul

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I would like to know 'How would you (a Christian) respond if someone insulted Jesus?'

To share - if someone insulted Jesus - I would pray ':crossrc:' for the person.

My actions, I will treat the person just as I would treat any of my friends.

And, hope that God will shower him or her with love and wisdom.

Do please share :)

Thank you.

If you are not Christian and want to pitch in, you are most welcome.


It's happened to me a few times whilst I was out on the streets sharing my faith. I took it personally as a young Christian and didn't honestly have good feelings towards some of those people. As I matured and learnt a bit more to deal with my self righteousness (courtesy of scriptures and prayer + advice) I accepted more that it was how some people would act/react. The scriptures don't call for retaliation of any sort. Yes, I do believe we should forgive as Jesus forgave and pray for them, but there are also times when I believe we need to shake the dust off our feet ...
 
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Zoness

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I get insulted for lots of stuff so someone insulting my deities would be par for the course. I let it roll of and try to clear up misconceptions and just move on if people don't want to listen.

I can't force them to agree with or believe me, after all. At least not in this society.
 
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AionPhanes

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Jesus in front of my kids, I might ask that person to stop.
__________________

Good point. That is something that I should have said too but wasn't thinking of it. Sometimes you do have to set an example for other people. Especially your own children. Let them know how wrong you think it is. Just don't be rude about it or appear angry though obviously.
 
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Zstar

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I would like to know 'How would you (a Christian) respond if someone insulted Jesus?'

To share - if someone insulted Jesus - I would pray ':crossrc:' for the person.

My actions, I will treat the person just as I would treat any of my friends.

And, hope that God will shower him or her with love and wisdom.

Do please share :)

Thank you.

If you are not Christian and want to pitch in, you are most welcome.

I would not veiw them as a 'friend' instead evaluate what they said if it was a rant or research. Not that they are wrong instinctivly but no need to argue points repeatedly. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, if i seen some flaws to their research i would point it out kindly - maybe twice but no way back n forth about this or that. God will give knowledge to them at the right time, albeit in dreams or processes so no need for me to get further involved for me so i let it go and brush it off realizing many like myself have been there at some point in time. "Do unto others as you would want them to do unto you" comes to mind.
 
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Arthra

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I think as a Baha'i my reaction to someone who insulted Jesus would be the same as when I was a Christian... My devotion to Jesus hasn't changed a great deal over the years. Just as my devotion to Baha'u'llah and the other Manifestations of God hasn't changed. There's a feeling of sorrow in my heart but I bear no hostile feelings toward someone who insults a Messenger of God.

I read "The Last Temptation of Christ" by Nikos Kazantzakis many years ago in the early sixties before I was a Baha'i and to me anyone who has read the book would be aware that it was not meant by him as an "insult"...rather it's an exploration of what he considered to be the human qualities of Jesus.. I was impressed by it when I read it.. Later it became a film it was I thought fairly close to what Kazantzakis wrote..

Wikipedia tells the story of how the Church responded to his writing..

The Church of Greece condemned Kazantzakis' work. His reply was: "You gave me a curse, Holy fathers, I give you a blessing: may your conscience be as clear as mine and may you be as moral and religious as I" before the Greek Orthodox Church anathematized him in 1955.[1]

The reaction to the film I felt was misplaced and irrational...

I think what happens is that fanaticism and exploitation can occur in religions because they are often fragmented and divided.. The people lack proper guidance.

I do oppose satirizing Jesus or Muhammad .... It's not respectful...but my reaction is not to draw more attention to them than they deserve...

As a Baha'i of course we would not use a caricature of Muhammad, Jesus or Moses or any Manifestation of God.
 
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ContraMundum

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I would like to know 'How would you (a Christian) respond if someone insulted Jesus?'

To share - if someone insulted Jesus - I would pray ':crossrc:' for the person.

My actions, I will treat the person just as I would treat any of my friends.

And, hope that God will shower him or her with love and wisdom.

Do please share :)

Thank you.

If you are not Christian and want to pitch in, you are most welcome.

I wouldn't react at all unless it was meant to get my attention. And then...I wouldn't say much about it.

God is more than capable of handling such things Himself. He doesn't command us to react but we are commanded not to lose control of ourselves and get all emotive and precious like the Muslims do when their prophet gets questioned, maligned or even imagined in art.
 
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simplegifts

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I have a knee-jerk reaction when anyone insults someone I consider a Manifestation of God. I don't much care what they say about their religion. I don't want to kill over it, like some Muslims and Christians, though.

I say some Christians because I remember when the move *The Last Temptation* came out some Christians did things like smash their truck into the movie theater.

Today in dumb left-wing equivalencies
Left-wing blog finds single example of Christian violence over film almost 25 years ago in France

We have had an epidemic problem of violence directed at people perceived as insulting Islam stretching back over 30 years. That violence is part of a greater Islamist and Jihadist struggle against the West, and encompasses attacks on Christians, Jews and other religious minorities throughout the Middle East.

Sometimes the violence does not even require an insult, as in the case of Daniel Pearl.

That truth is an uncomfortable narrative for the left wing in America, which generally is allied with Islamists against Israel and the West, notwithstanding the obvious ironies.

So how should a left-wing blog react to the wave of violence across the Middle East on the flimsy pretext of a YouTube video few people ever saw produced by some guy no one ever heard of?

Find examples of similar Christian violence driven by a film.

Susie Madrak at Crooks and Liars blog found one example, some group which threw a molotov cocktail at a movie theater in France in 1988:

While listening to all the outraged right wing rantings about free speech and how Muslims were a separate, primitive class of religion for their outraged and violent response in Libya to the deliberately provocative work of a California inappropriate content director, I kept thinking to myself, “Why does this all seem so familiar?”

And then, last night I watched Martin Scorcese’s 1988 film, “The Last Temptation of Christ”, and it all came flooding back. From Wikipedia:

On October 22, 1988, a French Christian fundamentalist group launched Molotov cocktails inside the Parisian Saint Michel movie theater while it was showing the film. This attack injured thirteen people, four of whom were severely burned ….

Lesson of the day: No religion has a monopoly on irrational violence.

Well, it is a truism that no religion has a “monopoly on irrational violence.” That hardly makes the two situations equivalent.

Presumably if one searched hard enough there might be other examples of Christian violence over a movie or book in the last 30 years, but you will have to do some searching. To find Islamist violence, one only need pick up the newspaper.

Here’s an easy test.

Where would you feel more safe in 2012, at a screening of The Last Temptation of Christ, or a public reading of the Satanic Verses or a showing of that video no one had heard about until a few days ago?
 
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simplegifts

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I would like to know 'How would you (a Christian) respond if someone insulted Jesus?'

To share - if someone insulted Jesus - I would pray ':crossrc:' for the person.

My actions, I will treat the person just as I would treat any of my friends.

And, hope that God will shower him or her with love and wisdom.

Do please share :)

Thank you.

If you are not Christian and want to pitch in, you are most welcome.

It would depend on the person's beliefs. If religious I would try and find out why the comment was made - misinformation, mistreatment by a Christian, etc. If not religious I am not sure I would try to understand their lack of faith.

As a Christian we are told to pray for our enemies.
44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
 
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ContraMundum

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Today in dumb left-wing equivalencies
Left-wing blog finds single example of Christian violence over film almost 25 years ago in France

We have had an epidemic problem of violence directed at people perceived as insulting Islam stretching back over 30 years. That violence is part of a greater Islamist and Jihadist struggle against the West, and encompasses attacks on Christians, Jews and other religious minorities throughout the Middle East.

Sometimes the violence does not even require an insult, as in the case of Daniel Pearl.

That truth is an uncomfortable narrative for the left wing in America, which generally is allied with Islamists against Israel and the West, notwithstanding the obvious ironies.

So how should a left-wing blog react to the wave of violence across the Middle East on the flimsy pretext of a YouTube video few people ever saw produced by some guy no one ever heard of?

Find examples of similar Christian violence driven by a film.

Susie Madrak at Crooks and Liars blog found one example, some group which threw a molotov cocktail at a movie theater in France in 1988:

While listening to all the outraged right wing rantings about free speech and how Muslims were a separate, primitive class of religion for their outraged and violent response in Libya to the deliberately provocative work of a California inappropriate content director, I kept thinking to myself, “Why does this all seem so familiar?”

And then, last night I watched Martin Scorcese’s 1988 film, “The Last Temptation of Christ”, and it all came flooding back. From Wikipedia:

On October 22, 1988, a French Christian fundamentalist group launched Molotov cocktails inside the Parisian Saint Michel movie theater while it was showing the film. This attack injured thirteen people, four of whom were severely burned ….

Lesson of the day: No religion has a monopoly on irrational violence.

Well, it is a truism that no religion has a “monopoly on irrational violence.” That hardly makes the two situations equivalent.

Presumably if one searched hard enough there might be other examples of Christian violence over a movie or book in the last 30 years, but you will have to do some searching. To find Islamist violence, one only need pick up the newspaper.

Here’s an easy test.

Where would you feel more safe in 2012, at a screening of The Last Temptation of Christ, or a public reading of the Satanic Verses or a showing of that video no one had heard about until a few days ago?

Well spotted.
 
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