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tenderfoot

(8,425 posts)
Fri Jun 2, 2023, 03:21 PM Jun 2023

Liberty University: "Some People Deserve To Starve"

From Liberty University’s Freedom Center:

For starters, the Bible endorses the ethic of work as one visible demonstration of a virtuous Christian life. For instance, when addressing the fledging church community in Thessalonica, the Apostle Paul explicitly warns them about lazy behavior.

Of course, Christians are supposed to be at the tip of the spear in alleviating poverty, especially when it comes to other believers. That doesn’t mean, however, that we are under any obligation to help indolent bums.

Such people are not entitled to our generosity. They have chosen the path of poverty, to paraphrase Proverbs 10:4. There is another reason, though, why Christians should promote a culture of work: Work is central to man’s makeup.

Christians, then, should be vocal proponents of fostering a culture of work in civil society. Not only are we charged biblically to “earn our own living,” as Paul put it, but the ritual of work is the method by which God intended for us to cultivate His creation. It’s part of our DNA.

Today’s leftists, on other hand, are fundamentally opposed to fostering a culture of work. Instead, politicians like Elizabeth Warren and AOC are zealously engineering a culture of dependency where citizens are rewarded with government cash for sitting around on their duffs.


Of note, the Freedom Center was launched as Falkirk Center, a smashup of Jerry Falwell Jr.’s and Charlie Kirk’s names. But days later, Falwell was exposed as a literal cuckold who jerked off in the corner while watching a young pool boy fuck his wife.


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Liberty University: "Some People Deserve To Starve" (Original Post) tenderfoot Jun 2023 OP
The cruel on purpose religion. sarcasmo Jun 2023 #1
They are not Christians they are Paulians MagickMuffin Jun 2023 #2
They're even worse than Paul. Elessar Zappa Jun 2023 #5
Someone needs to tell them the apostle Paul is not Rand Paul Blue Owl Jun 2023 #10
Paul was a jerk nt leftieNanner Jun 2023 #8
Indeed and destroyed most of the humanitarian teachings of Jesus MagickMuffin Jun 2023 #13
My church when I was growing up was St. Paul's calguy Jun 2023 #27
Paul never met Jesus, except in a dream multigraincracker Jun 2023 #34
Arbeit macht frei! ZZenith Jun 2023 #3
... markie Jun 2023 #26
Who would Jesus starve? yardwork Jun 2023 #4
Exactly, loaves and fishes. roamer65 Jun 2023 #12
Yep. These are the goats among us. crickets Jun 2023 #19
Totally agree! And they wonder why their congregations are dwindling. yardwork Jun 2023 #24
To me, this is the teaching of Christ GeoWilliam750 Jun 2023 #36
Me too about the first part, although crickets Jun 2023 #52
goats indeed Celerity Jun 2023 #42
Paul was an asshole. cilla4progress Jun 2023 #6
Oooooh, another right-wing intellectual is hard at work, I see.... Blue Owl Jun 2023 #7
Much as "Some religions deserve to die!" n/t RKP5637 Jun 2023 #9
I have always wondered who died and appointed Paul the man to make the rules rurallib Jun 2023 #11
For a long time now I've figured that what many American evangelicals follow... A HERETIC I AM Jun 2023 #15
+1 crickets Jun 2023 #21
I believe it was the same people that believed Jesus Uncle Joe Jun 2023 #60
That's a very poor reading of the passage from Thessalonians gratuitous Jun 2023 #14
Never join a religion... A HERETIC I AM Jun 2023 #16
Yep, it was originally the Falkirk Center, now the "Standing for Freedom Center". keep_left Jun 2023 #17
This behavoir Flatrat Jun 2023 #18
Welcome to DU, flatrat! Lars39 Jun 2023 #50
I suspect these holy rollers use a very broad brush to paint hungry people as "indolent bums" Martin Eden Jun 2023 #20
Would someone please tell me what bible they are reading. Ray Bruns Jun 2023 #22
This is from the Bible theyve created. Johnny2X2X Jun 2023 #23
How to be a Christian while ignoring the teachings of Jesus... Chainfire Jun 2023 #25
They are liars RussBLib Jun 2023 #28
More cherry-picking biblical quotes. Paul was writing about not feeding loafing volunteers JHB Jun 2023 #29
Memory serves correct. 2nd Thessalonians Chapter 3, verse 10 GoodRaisin Jun 2023 #48
How very Christian of them. Autumn Jun 2023 #30
Political Christians rather than Christians of faith. keithbvadu2 Jun 2023 #31
Wasn't there a parable about Jesus breaking bread? forgotmylogin Jun 2023 #32
Yes, there's a story about that. ShazzieB Jun 2023 #37
+1, GQP took that part out of their bible cause it offended them uponit7771 Jun 2023 #53
sounds like it was written by a greedy CEO Takket Jun 2023 #33
"Work is central to men's makeup" jmowreader Jun 2023 #35
I'm old and so is this bullshit Joinfortmill Jun 2023 #38
Republicans have a different set of commandments than most of us remember. Lonestarblue Jun 2023 #39
+100 Celerity Jun 2023 #43
I asked my sister about this one day slightlv Jun 2023 #40
They write Mblaze Jun 2023 #41
"culture of work" Duppers Jun 2023 #44
Shit like this is why I'm not religious. Initech Jun 2023 #45
I'm not religious, but I know sin when I see it Mr. Ected Jun 2023 #46
they forget that when rich people pay shit wages DonCoquixote Jun 2023 #47
They also forget that one of the "sins that cry to Heaven for vengeance"... keep_left Jun 2023 #57
Jesus words & life is supposed to what Christianity is founded on. scarletlib Jun 2023 #49
Rethugs will say the poor were just fasting for Republican Jesus and it went a bit too far. KY_EnviroGuy Jun 2023 #51
Anyone who plants a bomb at "Liberty University", will be entitled to my contribution DemocraticPatriot Jun 2023 #54
Their tiny little cruel and capricious god can go fuck his self with a cholla cactus. hunter Jun 2023 #55
I haven't even got words for the evilness and inhumanity this represents Hekate Jun 2023 #56
"Let them eat cake" DBoon Jun 2023 #58
You know who kept Liberty University afloat? Kid Berwyn Jun 2023 #59

MagickMuffin

(15,933 posts)
2. They are not Christians they are Paulians
Fri Jun 2, 2023, 03:26 PM
Jun 2023


They do not adhere to the teachings of Jesus but they follow Paul without hesitation or questions.


MagickMuffin

(15,933 posts)
13. Indeed and destroyed most of the humanitarian teachings of Jesus
Fri Jun 2, 2023, 03:35 PM
Jun 2023


Paul brought bigotry into the equation among of a lot of other crap!


Never cared for Saul Paul.


calguy

(5,304 posts)
27. My church when I was growing up was St. Paul's
Fri Jun 2, 2023, 04:26 PM
Jun 2023

Maybe that's why I left the church as soon as I left the house.

I mean, I tried, I really tried... but I just couldn't buy what they were selling.

crickets

(25,959 posts)
19. Yep. These are the goats among us.
Fri Jun 2, 2023, 04:03 PM
Jun 2023

The Sheep and the Goats - Matthew 25:31-46
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2025%3A31-46&version=NIV

41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’


There is a certain subset of 'Christians' who really, really dislike this message from Jesus. So they just ignore it.

Screw Paul. I prefer to remember the parable of the Good Samaritan.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=luke%2010:25-37&version=NIV

36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”

Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”


All those Sunday school classes paid off in learning the Bible, which is useful in a way I guess, but I couldn't wait to get away from many of the people. They do not practice what they preach, and these days what they preach... oof.

crickets

(25,959 posts)
52. Me too about the first part, although
Fri Jun 2, 2023, 10:46 PM
Jun 2023

I didn't really include enough of the second story, though it's at the link.

People may forget (myself included) that a priest and a Levite passed him by before the victim was aided by the Samaritan, as well as the significance of those chosen as examples. The first two were of a social class generally held in high regard, while Samaritans were looked down upon as pagan and heretical. Jesus' point was that a person's actions were more important than their station in society or birth into one of the Jewish tribes.

The Good Samaritan, then, was not a real person. He was a symbol. A religious man wanted to limit who a neighbor was, and thus justify himself. Instead, Jesus flipped the question. He used the backdrop of the Jews’ hatred for Samaritans to show that everyone was his neighbor, even those considered an enemy.


Jesus' parables were sometimes more subtle in condemning the hypocrites of his day than people give him credit for. It's amazing how his teachings remain timely because so many who claim to follow him still don't. get. his point.

Try to love everybody, and treat them the way you'd want to be treated. He went out of his way to explain that there are no exceptions. Why the heck do so many people find that so hard to understand?

rurallib

(62,403 posts)
11. I have always wondered who died and appointed Paul the man to make the rules
Fri Jun 2, 2023, 03:33 PM
Jun 2023

I admit I do not know a lot about the bible but my observation as a self chosen outsider is that most of the rules that so-called "christians" follow come from Paul.

As I say I am not much into religion, but where was the handoff from JC to Paul. As I understand it the two never met and Paul became a follower after JC was dead.

Seems to me that some of the problems with christianity is because they are following the wrong dude. From what little I know about Paul he seems to be a jerk who made a lot of stuff up - much as is still happening.

Sorry if this is inappropriate. Been eating at me for a while.

A HERETIC I AM

(24,365 posts)
15. For a long time now I've figured that what many American evangelicals follow...
Fri Jun 2, 2023, 03:45 PM
Jun 2023

Isn’t Christianity, but rather Paulianity and/or Peterianity.

Gotta love those women hating holier than thou types.

Uncle Joe

(58,337 posts)
60. I believe it was the same people that believed Jesus
Sat Jun 3, 2023, 12:45 PM
Jun 2023

was a nightshift office worker and never got out in the sun?

Paul was born further up North as well closer to Santa Claus.

gratuitous

(82,849 posts)
14. That's a very poor reading of the passage from Thessalonians
Fri Jun 2, 2023, 03:40 PM
Jun 2023

But what can one expect? It's just Liberty University. I'll just quote Sarah Bessey: "People should never be the collateral damage of your theology."

A HERETIC I AM

(24,365 posts)
16. Never join a religion...
Fri Jun 2, 2023, 03:48 PM
Jun 2023

That requires you to wear stupid clothing, stupid hair cuts, participate in stupid rituals or arbitrarily hate your fellow humans.

keep_left

(1,783 posts)
17. Yep, it was originally the Falkirk Center, now the "Standing for Freedom Center".
Fri Jun 2, 2023, 03:53 PM
Jun 2023

Apparently, Charlie Kirk is so unimpressive that they terminated his contract after less than two years of having his name on the building! Since then, the "Freedom Center" has been associated with neo-Nazi Seb Gorka, Republican election fraudster Jenna Ellis, and theocracy advocates Eric Metaxas and Mike Huckabee. So much for "freedom". And speaking of the "culture of work", all of these clowns are notorious for their cushy sinecure jobs with "think" tanks. You would think that they would have more sense than to lecture the poor brown people about the "dignity of work" while doing so little of it themselves.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_University#Standing_for_Freedom_Center

Flatrat

(47 posts)
18. This behavoir
Fri Jun 2, 2023, 03:56 PM
Jun 2023

and cult institutions like Liberty University only serve to accelerate the decline of religion and its influence in the US.

Martin Eden

(12,862 posts)
20. I suspect these holy rollers use a very broad brush to paint hungry people as "indolent bums"
Fri Jun 2, 2023, 04:07 PM
Jun 2023

It's a rationalization to justify greed and indifference to suffering.

WWJE -- Who Would Jesus Emaciate?

Ray Bruns

(4,092 posts)
22. Would someone please tell me what bible they are reading.
Fri Jun 2, 2023, 04:10 PM
Jun 2023

I can’t find the verse where Jesus said, “Feed my flock, unless to worthlessness bums.”

JHB

(37,158 posts)
29. More cherry-picking biblical quotes. Paul was writing about not feeding loafing volunteers
Fri Jun 2, 2023, 04:32 PM
Jun 2023

If memory serves, Paul was admonishing those in Thessalonica who were supposed to be earning their room and board by going out into the streets and spreading the Word, but instead sat around debating theology among themselves.

A modern equivalent would be a case where a church had volunteers in to decorate their fellowship hall for some occasion, and offered pizza or something for those who helped. And cut off those who merely showed up to chow down: "No streamers, no slices!"

It had nothing to do with feeding the poor, it was about feeding people who'd committed to something and were goldbricking.

GoodRaisin

(8,920 posts)
48. Memory serves correct. 2nd Thessalonians Chapter 3, verse 10
Fri Jun 2, 2023, 07:52 PM
Jun 2023
For when we were with you, this we commanded you, those who would not work, neither should he eat.

Clearly addressing loafing workers, by Paul.

Not a mandate by Christ to stereotype all poor people as loafers and take away their food stamps.

forgotmylogin

(7,522 posts)
32. Wasn't there a parable about Jesus breaking bread?
Fri Jun 2, 2023, 05:17 PM
Jun 2023

Not enough to feed a huge crowd, but still managed to break it into enough pieces to make sure everyone got some?

ShazzieB

(16,352 posts)
37. Yes, there's a story about that.
Fri Jun 2, 2023, 05:49 PM
Jun 2023

Usually called the miracle of the loaves and fishes. Jesus fed a crowd of 5,000 with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fishes. (John 6:1-14)

jmowreader

(50,546 posts)
35. "Work is central to men's makeup"
Fri Jun 2, 2023, 05:27 PM
Jun 2023

Ten million drag queens will agree with him on that.

The whole essay is...well, a bit strange. Extremist rabble-rousing doesn't exactly qualify as work, but that's how Falwell Jr, Kirk and the rest of that bunch put food on the table.

Lonestarblue

(9,959 posts)
39. Republicans have a different set of commandments than most of us remember.
Fri Jun 2, 2023, 05:56 PM
Jun 2023

1. You shall have no other gods before Me except for Trump.
2. You shall make no idols (worship of money and white supremacy do not count).
3. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain (but you can call everyone else any revolting name you choose).
4. Keep the Sabbath day holy (no way, too out of touch because of lost profits).
5. Honor your father and your mother (just father, mothers are chattel for procreating).
6. You shall not murder (except for the evil Democrats, the schoolchildren, the shoppers at malls, the Jews in synagogue, the concert attendees, the LGBTQ at a nightclub, anyone but us).
7. You shall not commit adultery (hmm, that’s so old school—next, pedophilia not mentioned so okay).
8. You shall not steal (well, elections don’t count).
9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor (unless the neighbor is a liberal, an immigrant, a Muslim, a Jew, a black or brown person, a woman who might have had an abortion, a family that might or might not have an LGBTQ child, and what’s wrong with lying anyway!).
10. You shall not covet (rich people deserve all their millions and billions earned on the backs of workers whose lives we never covet).

slightlv

(2,785 posts)
40. I asked my sister about this one day
Fri Jun 2, 2023, 06:04 PM
Jun 2023

after we had visited my mom. It had been bothering me. I'm not a Christian, but we'd both been brought up "in the Church", and she'd converted to Catholicism to marry her husband. Figuring she knew more than me because of that, I said, "Jesus said to Peter, upon you shall I build my Church"... but the church seems to be built completely around Paul and all his beliefs and faults. In effect, it seems Christ wanted the church, in modern terms, to be built on empathetic democratic terms and instead it's built on competing hard nosed republican terms. Am I wrong?"

She admitted that's the way she saw it, too... and couldn't tell me what went wrong, except that it was an early power struggle and Paul won. Politics from the early ages.

Mblaze

(257 posts)
41. They write
Fri Jun 2, 2023, 06:07 PM
Jun 2023

“That doesn't mean, however, that we are under any obligation to help indolent bums. Such people are not entitled to our generosity. They have chosen the path of poverty."

That came directly from their pinched minds, not Jesus. Nowhere that I know in the New Testament does it say that those in need must pass an employment test before they are rendered aid. It does, however, teach Christians not to judge others and even says that if a man asks for your coat you should give them your cloak as well. We are hearing them quote a lot from Paul and Psalms but we’re not hearing much from Jesus. Jesus seems to have been abandoned by Liberty University.

Duppers

(28,117 posts)
44. "culture of work"
Fri Jun 2, 2023, 06:19 PM
Jun 2023

"Show me a preacher or a minister who has ever hit a lick at a snake."

- Mr. Duppers

Mr. Ected

(9,670 posts)
46. I'm not religious, but I know sin when I see it
Fri Jun 2, 2023, 06:22 PM
Jun 2023

I see sin in this. I see evil. I choose the other way.

It's so much easier when you don't have another set of rules to abide by other than your own moral compass.

keep_left

(1,783 posts)
57. They also forget that one of the "sins that cry to Heaven for vengeance"...
Sat Jun 3, 2023, 12:22 AM
Jun 2023

...is the exploitation and defrauding of wage earners (James 5:4) and the oppression of the poor, widows, and orphans (Deuteronomy 24:14-22). Years ago, anyone with even a modicum of a religious background recognized such actions as serious sins. Woody Guthrie even wrote lyrics to the unfinished song "The Unwelcome Guest" (later set to music by Billy Bragg) in which the words obliquely but clearly reference Scripture.

https://www.woodyguthrie.org/Lyrics/The_Unwelcome_Guest.htm

scarletlib

(3,410 posts)
49. Jesus words & life is supposed to what Christianity is founded on.
Fri Jun 2, 2023, 07:57 PM
Jun 2023

Jesus never said anything like that. He never condemned the poor, criminals, prostitutes, etc.

His message was one of love and acceptance of others. He said we had an obligation to take care of our fellow humans.

These wack job evangelicals prefer the Old Testament and a vengeful, wrathful god to Jesus.
They pervert the very meaning of what it means to be a follower of Christ.

I say this as someone who has read both testaments & the New Testament many times.

While I am no longer a practicing/churched Christian, I value the words of Jesus. Anyone who tries to live his words will live a decent, humane life and respect and love everyone regardless of wealth etc.

KY_EnviroGuy

(14,489 posts)
51. Rethugs will say the poor were just fasting for Republican Jesus and it went a bit too far.
Fri Jun 2, 2023, 08:18 PM
Jun 2023

At least where I came from, if people are hungry, just feed them with no prejudice.

Selfishness, self-centeredness, pride and arrogance were looked down upon back in the day, while humility and charity was admired.

Plus, that helps all people to come together as a community (which is what Rethugs don't want).

DemocraticPatriot

(4,336 posts)
54. Anyone who plants a bomb at "Liberty University", will be entitled to my contribution
Fri Jun 2, 2023, 11:31 PM
Jun 2023

to their legal defense fund.... and my "thoughts and prayers"...


/snark


hunter

(38,309 posts)
55. Their tiny little cruel and capricious god can go fuck his self with a cholla cactus.
Sat Jun 3, 2023, 12:02 AM
Jun 2023
w

His believers will try to convince you this is blasphemy of the worst sort, but their hateful god is not the sort of god any rational person would choose to worship.

A loving and omnipotent god doesn't give a damn about their fearful and irrational "beliefs."

These believers have created their own hells to live in.

I will not have these hells imposed upon me or anyone else.

I do not think religious tolerance is a good thing when the religions we are supposed to tolerate are cruel.

Hekate

(90,620 posts)
56. I haven't even got words for the evilness and inhumanity this represents
Sat Jun 3, 2023, 12:19 AM
Jun 2023

It's fair to say that Jesus, and followers of his like Jimmy and Roslyn Carter, and Fred Rogers, would not recognize Libert University or Freedom Center as anything but the work of Satan.


DBoon

(22,353 posts)
58. "Let them eat cake"
Sat Jun 3, 2023, 10:56 AM
Jun 2023

See how THAT turned out?



When you treat people with barbaric contempt, they will treat you in kind

Kid Berwyn

(14,857 posts)
59. You know who kept Liberty University afloat?
Sat Jun 3, 2023, 12:32 PM
Jun 2023

Rev. Sun Myung Moon hugs Jerry Falwell Sr.



Explains the most very conservative interpretation.

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