Republican: "The Bible says the unemployed deserve no food." Bible says exactly the opposite.

[DetlefK]

http://www.rawstory.com/2017/03/the-unemployed-shall-not-eat-texas-republican-uses-bible-to-justify-cuts-to-snap-benefits/

“He says even when we were with you we give you this rule, ‘If a man will not work he shall not eat.’ And he goes on to say ‘We heard that some of you are idle.’ I think that every American, Republican or Democrat wants to help the needy among us. And I think it’s a reasonable expectation that we have work requirements. I think that gives more credibility, frankly, to SNAP,” Arrington declared.



https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Leviticus-19-9/

9And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest. 10And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the LORD your God.

What???
The Bible says that we should not maximize our profits and instead leave some of them as free food to "the poor and the stranger"???

[ginnyinWI]

1. You can prove or disprove just about anything using the Bible. n/t

[Vinca]

2. Surely there must be a verse we can interpret as greedy Republicans getting no food.

[Girard442]

3. Matthew 19:24 (KJV)

And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.


That's pretty....uhhhh....damning.

[Vinca]

5. Anything to justify running them through a wood chipper??

[Girard442]

8. LOL, but {bleah}

[PsychoBabble]

30. My fave of the day! thx

[Johonny]

17. Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?

“Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”

“Which ones?” he inquired.

Jesus replied, “‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother,’[a] and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’”

“All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?”

Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

[demosincebirth]

11. Mathew 25:40. "What you do for the least of my brothers, you do to Me."

[Moostache]

4. The number one reason I loathe fundie freaks...they don't KNOW the Bible at all.

They blather on and spread the "prosperity gospel" bullshit, never bothering to read their supposed sacred screed for context or actual meaning (or even literally the actual words!!!), instead twisting it to support their blackened souls' darkest desires.

Jesus:
1) Swarthy, middle-eastern Jew...NOT blue-eyed Aryan!
2) Unmarried man, in his 30's, who kept the close company of 12 other unmarried men, in a time when that was....er,....not common.
3) Rich men? heaven? camels? eyes of needles? ... any of that ringing a bell?
4) Gave free healthcare to all...
5) ...except for fig trees not producing fruit when he wanted some. (That was death penalty worthy offense.)
6)"He among you that is without sin may cast the first stone."
7) Money-changers? Temples? Hissy-fits? ... any of THAT ringing a bell?

I could go on for days....the point being, I cannot stomach fundamentalists of any persuasion, but the ones that pervert the Christian faith to say and do things 180-degrees the opposite of what is the literal meaning of the words...well, that level of hypocrisy is too much to abide.

[Initech]

10. They don't know the Bible or the Constitution.

Or how the rest of the world works outside of their small town bubble.

[demosincebirth]

13. +100

[hollowdweller]

23. Amen

[ogsball]

21. No Way in Hell

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/godisnotarepublican/2016/10/theres-no-way-in-hell-jesus-would-vote-for-donald-trump/

Trump has shown us he is depraved, prideful, unremorseful, and has the temperament of a petulant child. His enduring support from the Religious Right has laid bare the emptiness of their commitment to vote for Republicans out of a sense of morality.

[Xolodno]

38. I could debate #2. He probably was married.

But yeah, the fundie's don't have a clue what's in the Bible as their attention span to read is next to nothing. They think going to their rabid right wing pastor on Sunday who probably quotes one verse and then bitch's and moans about lazy people sucking our tax dollars, Planned Parenthood and the latest rant on whatever is popular in culture right now (i.e. Harry Potter, Star Wars, etc.). The literal Pharisees of our time.

[Initech]

6. God these people suck!!!!

[ExciteBike66]

7. This just amazes me

that in this instance the Old Testament is actually a lot softer-hearted than the New Testament!

On the other hand, the NT quote is from Paul, and not from Jesus. I highly doubt Jesus would have agreed.

Edit: I just had to add this thought: Why is this creep even bothering to quote Paul? I thought being a Christian meant you follow Jesus, not that you follow everything Paul said...

[Bettie]

12. These days, the "Christian" Church

is pretty much the Church of Paul.

At least among Wisconsin and Missouri Synod Lutherans. They are all about Paul to the exclusion of literally everything else.

[demosincebirth]

15. Did Paul ever, physically, meet Jesus?

[hedda_foil]

19. Nope.

And given the way he warped Jesus's message, I don't believe he met him while having that seizure either.

Worst of all to my mind is that he pulled power from the actual disciples who knew Jesus to his own authoritarian way of thinking. The guy was a Roman tax collector, ffs.

[Bettie]

36. And the first televangelist

except there was no TV so he wrote letters for money....and power over people.

Way easier than doing a job, just tell people what "god" wants them to do and you get rich.

[Xolodno]

41. Well to be fair.

Only about half of Paul's letters were considered genuine.

And technically, the debate on what books constitute the Bible still goes on. The Catholic and various Orthodox Churches don't line up.

And then of course you got Protestant versions. They may line up by book, but the early reformation which was intended to reform the corruption got a bit hijacked by nut cases who pretty much wanted to reverse the Renaissance.

[demosincebirth]

45. Quoting one from the book of James; " faith without works is dead."

[phylny]

37. I am saving this article to read in depth.

I can't wait to talk to my pastor about it. It's fascinating to learn about the history of the Bible, and all the perversions and changes.

[link:http://www.newsweek.com/2015/01/02/thats-not-what-bible-says-294018.html|

[Xolodno]

44. Skimmed a little of it...

..from what I can tell, someone did their homework.

Its interesting, prior to Christianity becoming a state sanctioned religion, the churches were independent of each other. Afterwards, then there is hierarchy of power and plenty of bloodshed and corruption. Go figure...

Here's a pretty good book on the history of Jerusalem. It will definitely give you a new perspective:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004LROX8S/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

[JHB]

18. Is it really? If I recall the context of this quote...

...they had a communal house for people doing missionary work, and Paul was berating people who were just sitting around debating each other and eating the free food instead of going out and proselytizing.

A modern equivalent would be "Hey! That pizza is for people helping decorate the fellowship hall! Stop lollygagging! No paint, no pepperoni!"

Got nothing to do with aid to the poor.

[ExciteBike66]

29. Perhaps...

"11 We hear that some among you are idle and disruptive. They are not busy; they are busybodies. 12 Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the food they eat. " From the NIV

Busybodies. That would describe many MANY practicing Christians, IMO.

Anyway, Paul seems pretty concerned with money, another difference between him and Jesus.

[ProudLib72]

9. He's quoting from the new new testament

The King tRump version.

[gratuitous]

14. Bad exegesis leads to bad theology

The situation in Thessalonica, to which Rep. Arrington refers, was unique. Remember, this is the early on in the game, when the believers and followers of The Way numbered in the hundreds, maybe thousands, but probably less than 10,000 all told throughout the Roman Empire. Those early believers often lived communally, holding all assets in common. Acts 4:32-25. Goods were distributed to any member as that member had need. (Sound anything like "from each according to his ability to each according to his need"?)

Paul was partly to blame for the situation at Thessalonica, when his first letter there mentioned his belief at the time (ca. 51 CE) that Jesus was coming back soon. This led some people to take the attitude, "What's the big deal? Jesus is coming back soon, and will set everything to right. Why should I break my head over making sure the body of believers is as strong as possible?" At the time of the second letter to the Thessalonians (as early as 80 CE), the writer (probably not Paul, but one of his successors) had to admonish the community because this attitude had so infected the small community that a lot of able-bodied persons were not working for the good of the community, leading to Rep. Arrington's favorite verse about fucking over the poor and disabled. In order to give that verse primacy, however, he has to ignore a whole lot of the rest of the Christian Testament, leading to his poor theology.

Rep. Arrington is using an isolated verse to cover for his own personal cruelty. The Bible has something to say about that, too, but I don't think Rep. Arrington would like the implication.

[RedSpartan]

27. This.

[milestogo]

40. If Jesus is coming back soon, we don't need to give a shit about climate change.

That's really what's behind a lot of the denial. The bible thumpers think they're going to be rescued by the messiah, leaving the rest of us behind on a trashed planet.

[Xolodno]

43. "Soon" is relative.

2 Peter 8

But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

------------

Again, if these fundie's would actually read their Bible, they might learn something.

As for trashing the world, they interpret Genesis incorrectly as well. It charges us as caretakers not exploiters. But tell them that and they just turn red in the face and get all furious. Followed by calling you a heretic, anti-Christ, etc.

[leftyladyfrommo]

16. That's a quote from the Alternative Bible. nt

[dembotoz]

20. who would jesus starve

[WinkyDink]

22. IT DOESN'T MATTER! We are a secular nation! We should just do what is RIGHT!

[Oneironaut]

24. Except that's not what the quote means.

It is referring to useless people who were perfectly able to work, but chose instead to mooch off others and scam others. Expanding it to include people who are unemployed and looking for work, or people who can't work is dishonest.

The quote discouraged laziness, but doesn't mean that those who are worse off should starve. That's a massive stretch, if not near opposite interpretation of the point of that passage.

[Iggo]

25. Bible thumper doesn't know what's in bible.

Shocked.

[RedSpartan]

26. If you have to quote a holy book to support your argument

you've lost the argument.

[jberryhill]

32. But what if my holy book says that?

My holy book says, "If you have to quote a holy book, you lose the argument."

If I use that argument, then wouldn't I lose?

Or would I then win the argument, since my holy book says I would lose, but since I have quoted my holy book, then...

[RedSpartan]

33. Holy Book Inception

[WoonTars]

28. Contradicted by the very book he claims to know...

...how 'christian' of him..

[jberryhill]

31. The Bible also considers slavery "employment"

So, there's that.

[AJT]

34. We are a secular nation, not a theocracy. Leave the

bible and God out of it.

[jmowreader]

35. Anyone who uses that quote doesn't respect history

The people in biblical times were largely subsistence farmers and "real estate" as a product hadn't been invented yet. You found a piece of ground no one else was using, dug a trench from the river for water, and planted the seeds your dad gave you.

You can't do that any longer.

[milestogo]

39. You cannot serve God and material wealth.

No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

The Republicans worship material wealth. Their gospel is the inversion of the christian gospel.

[beam me up scottie]

42. Schrodinger's bible.

A holy book which can be simultaneously interpreted as both liberal and conservative.

Of course the fact that it's both makes it completely useless as a moral guide. I wish politicians on both sides would stop using it to support their positions.