How did Jesus's "blessed are the peacemakers" and "turn the other cheek"

[pnwmom]

turn into "support the NRA"?

I just don't get these "Christians." I never will.

[Hubert Flottz]

1. One Word...

Hypocrites.

[SpiralHawk]

18. Today's republicons = yesterday's Pharisees

'nuf said.

[Vickers]

2. After JC bought an Escalade

the whole "meek" thing went out the window.

Pity.

:(

[jobycom]

3. Some of them stopped reading before they got to the New Testament.

They liked all that stuff in Leviticus about stoning women who had been raped and all that, but they sort of lost the narrative thread before "Turn the other cheek."

It's like people who stop reading "Life of Pi" before the end, and think it's a story about a tiger on a boat.

[pnwmom]

4. Jewish people never read the New Testament (as part of their faith) and

yet they're not pushing the NRA.

[jobycom]

7. Yeah, good point. Guess Republicans have no excuse, then.

[LeftishBrit]

5. Or even before they got to the Book of Proverbs

'6:16 These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: 6:17 A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, 6:18 An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, 6:19 A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.'

Sounds like a good description of Bush and Cheney.

[Az]

6. NeoCons, dogmatic authority, and fear

It doesn't matter what wonderful ideas you follow. If you come to insist that they are the truth which cannot be questioned then you are going to see conflict and exclusion arise. Religion or politics, it doesn't matter. Dogma sets people apart from one another and creates dissent.

The NeoCons in their fear of social change and progressive shifts sought a system which they could put before the people as a fixed and static moral code. Despite many of them not sharing the beliefs they saw the then nonpolitical fundamentalists as the perfect pawns to revitalize the GOP. Thus they used their fear of social change and roused them to the world of politics.

The Democrats were the primary supporters of this change. The GOP was mostly concerned with money at the time (the core still is). Thus the GOP and their opposition to anything that cost money (like education and health care) were the obvious party for this group of fundamentalists. And the NeoCons delivered them to Ronald Reagan. It was in this way that they found themselves in the halls of power sliding in with Reagan.

They are pawns of the right. They have been whipped up into a mindless frenzy based on their tightly focused social issues. And over time they have bought into the rhetoric of other factions of the GOP.

[Robbien]

8. It all has to do with the Fellowship of the Family

and how it has changed the focus of Christianity from serving mankind to individualism.

[melody]

9. For Jesus it was make peace, turn cheek, then it was nunchucks all the way

Coming soon from the GOP -- Action Jesus with kung fu grip (I'm still waiting for it)

[Benhurst]

10. You are confusing the old Jesus, the Prince of Peace, with

the new Jesus, the American God of War.

[SidDithers]

19. Jesus is back, and he's pissed...

Sid

[OneGrassRoot]

11. Is there one, short Jesus quote/message that would be a slap in the face...

to the thumpers?

They've lost sight of the whole turn the other cheek thing.

If so, I'd get a bumpersticker. Their hypocrisy is astounding, as is their willful ignorance.

It's one thing to be ultra conservative in your views, but the Moral Majority crowd...saying this is a Christian nation and them believing in a literal interpretation of the bible (though this interpretation is subjective)...have taken this over the edge and they aren't rational. At all. And they're proud of it.

Don't think for yourself, let the Bible and Rush do it!

Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[noel711]

16. One passage? Try Matthew 25:31-46

(YOu don't hafta quote the whole dang thing..)

"When I was hungry, you gave me food, I was thirsty, you gave me drink.."

Etc... it's about social justice; I believe there's a website based on this
that is Pro-Obama...


The fundies wanna make it all about revenge and law-based authority.

REAL Christians know without a doubt its about love, peace, and forgiveness.

There's a whole lot more, but most of them don't listen,
and don't wanna.

[Frank Cannon]

21. Matthew 22:21

Separation of church and state:

“Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s”.

It doesn't get any plainer than that, and it's from the lips of Jesus himself.

[OneGrassRoot]

22. Thank you both -- I shall keep these on hand. As for a bumpersticker...

I'm pondering something like:

Please don't say you follow Jesus if you follow ___________.

Now we could put a whole list of names there, but I need one word, one name or one phrase.

Someone or something that symbolizes complete hypocrisy, and who have pandered to the bible thumpers.

Sure we know it's Rush Limbaugh, Hannity, BushCo, and now McCain and oh so many others.

Hmmmmmm..............

Maybe "Please don't say you follow Jesus if you follow the word of hypocrites: BushCo, McCain-Palin, Rush Limbaugh, televangelists, neocons, Bill O'Reilly.

There are examples on the left, but doesn't compare to the examples of moral hypocrisy on the right, IMHO.

[mrcheerful]

12. Take it from the old guy and research the aftermath of the Scopes monkey trial

and Calvanists. Calvan was a whack job that started out in england in the 1800's with a belief the bible was coded and he proceeded to cherry pick the bible apart, throwing out things he didn't like, then keeping what he liked. After the war between the states Calven then found willing sheep in the southren baptists, thus starting a revolution in the baptist church which then evolved into todays baptist religion.

Jump forwards to the Scopes monkey trial win/loss the baptists experinced and its aftermath. The baptist started isolating themselves from the rest of america and started a breeding program in the hopes that some time in the future they would have enough members in their church to be able to take over the country with votes, ( no shit ). Then in the 1970's they started the membership drive, remember Jesus freak hippies, so by 1979 they had a force to be reckoned with.

In 79 the republican party saw a block of voters they thought they could manipulate and control, the religious right, in 79 most of america shrugged them off as nut job jesus freaks. By 2000 they had pretty much taken over the republican party and we are seeing what evil these "good" christians had been working towards.

Foot note, wasn't sure how Calvan was spelled so I used both Calvan and Calven.

[Ilsa]

29. Actually, it's "Calvin" and "Calvinists". Great analysis. nt

[eridani]

13. I've met at least one "thumper" who doesn't believe that JC--

--is the author or the Beatitudes.

[Sanctified]

14. Why could a Christian not support the NRA? n/t

[pnwmom]

24. The difference is

that a Christian could support the NRA, but it would have nothing to do with his Christianity. As opposed to the fundies who appear almost to see it as a kind of Christian duty.

The big problem with the NRA from my personal perspective is its fight against laws that regulate guns that are specifically designed to kill people (as opposed to go hunting with). They don't distinguish between Uzis and shotguns, and they have a knee-jerk attitude against regulation at all.

[benEzra]

28. Actual Uzi's are as tightly controlled in the USA as bombs, grenades, and rocket launchers...

The big problem with the NRA from my personal perspective is its fight against laws that regulate guns that are specifically designed to kill people (as opposed to go hunting with). They don't distinguish between Uzis and shotguns, and they have a knee-jerk attitude against regulation at all.

Actual Uzi's are as tightly controlled in the USA as bombs, rocket launchers, and 105mm howitzers, by the Title 2/Class III provisions of the National Firearms Act of 1934.

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/usr/wbardwel/public/nfalist/nfa_faq.txt

Years ago, IMI used to import non-automatic civilian 9mm's (functionally ordinary pistols) dressed up to look, but not function, like Uzi's, but real ones are restricted to police/military only unless you obtain Federal authorization (BATFE Form 4) and always have been, and import of the civilian lookalikes ceased years ago. Ditto for automatic AK-47's and M16's, which are as tightly controlled in this country as 105mm howitzers, 500-lb bombs, and shoulder-fired rocket launchers.

More on the issue here, if you're interested:

Dems and the Gun Issue - Now What? (written in '04, largely vindicated in '06, IMO)

[Golden Raisin]

15. It happened about the same time

Jesus turned blond, blue-eyed and spoke American English.

[sofa king]

17. 'Cause Jebus was talking about the 1873 Colt Army Revolver?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colt_Single_Action_Army_handgun

[Odin2005]

20. Popular religion follows a society's culture, the actual tenets of the faith doesn't affect much.

The religious beliefs of the average person have more to do with the socio-cultural environment than with the tenets of the religion actually are. For example, Bosnians and Saudis are both Muslims, but Bosnians are not that different culturally from other Europeans, on the other hand we all know the sexism and intolerance of Saudi Arabia. The same religion, 2 different cultures.

[Fumesucker]

23. Good point, I agree. n/t

[LynnTheDem]

25. They aren't Christians. They're "biblians" or "Godlians".

They sure as fuck are NOT Christians.

[Orsino]

26. The Prince of Peace died on the Cross.

And has been going to war ever since.

[stubtoe]

27. Michael Moore had it right: the rabid right evangelicals

are into the angry, jealous, punitive Jehovah of the old testament. They don't have much use for that hippie Jesus, all peace - love - dove and with the long hair.

[frogmarch]

30. Jesus actually said "blessed are the cheesemakers," but neither

that nor "turn the other cheek" jibes with "support the NRA."

Stupid republicanz.

[Junkdrawer]

31. The perversion of Christ's teaching started with St. Paul....

it's been downhill since then....

And don't get me started on Constantine and the birth of the Catholic church...