The Long Awaited Comprehensive Manifesto From The Christian Left

[LiberalArkie]

http://www.thechristianleftblog.org/tcl-blog/the-long-awaited-comprehensive-manifesto-from-the-christian-left

Here it is. How could we possibly improve in this? Contained herein are the words of Jesus and those who preceded him or learned from him after he was here. As he said, these words sum everything up. Everything.

All things flow from this. All things. There are no qualifiers. These commands are universal. They apply to everyone and everything. Yes, they apply to individuals, but they apply to governments and businesses too. They apply to ALL human endeavors.



Leviticus 19:18 “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.”

Matthew 5: 43-47 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others?”

snip

[Scuba]

1. ...

[catbyte]

14. Anne Lamott said it best:

"You can safely assume you have created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people
that you do."

[vlyons]

19. excellent

[CBGLuthier]

44. I only discovered her three days ago and here you are quoting her.

Spooky.

[catbyte]

48. Tee up Twilight Zone theme...

She is a great writer.

[alfredo]

52. I think that was from "Bird by Bird." There was another woman writing about writing at

that time. Her name is Natalie Goldberg. Her book "Writing Down the Bones" inspired many young writers. Anne Lamott was a messy emotional wreck, where Goldberg was the calm and serious Zen Buddhist. I think of Lamott more than Goldberg, though I think of Linda McCarriston more than both combined.

http://www.amazon.com/Talking-Soft-Dutch-Linda-McCarriston/dp/0896721167

[Odin2005]

61. Brilliant!

[AndreaCG]

40. How can I link this pic to Facebook?

I tried via Pinterest but couldn't figure out how to #oldandtechnicallychallenged

[A HERETIC I AM]

42. Save it to your computer and just upload it from there.

Right click on the picture in the OP and then "Save as" which allows you to pick the type of file you want it saved as, as well as renaiming it, etc. Otherwise you can just click "Save"

Remember where it got saved to.

Go to your Facebook and use the little photo icon to upload it to a new Status.

[JDPriestly]

47. +10000

[mtasselin]

67. The Best

Scuba, you my friend are the best and Thank You.

[alfredo]

2. Try telling that to a teapublican.

[47of74]

3. Yeah they don't worship Jesus.

They worship Jeeeeezus.

Big difference between the two.

[alfredo]

20. If they want to be Christ-like, they should convert to Judaism.

Jesus was never a Christian.

[meti57b]

33. I agree, Jesus was a Jew,..................

....and an insurrectionist against the Romans. For that, the Romans executed him in the worst way they had available.

[alfredo]

35. His brother James carried his message and unlike Paul, kept it pure.

[roguevalley]

37. agreed. that is why I love James and Paul hated him

Last edited Fri Nov 28, 2014, 10:51 PM - Edit history (1)

One of the best books I have read on him and James is James, the Brother of Jesus

also, the New Testament Code by Robert Eisenman.

[alfredo]

43. Paul was Hellenistic, a Gentile. He turned a radical reformist movement into a religion

at odds with Judaism.

Rome pitted different anti Rome insurgency groups against another. Jesus was an outsider in Jerusalem, a Nazarene. He was a northerner, a Yankee and Bleeding Heart Liberal.

[roguevalley]

45. and my hero. :D:D:D

[alfredo]

49. Even the Muslims hold him in high regard as a prophet.

[Prophet 451]

6. They're not really Christian

Republicanity is now the dominant Republican faith. Republianity is a mixture of lip service to Jesus (while jettisoning virtually everything he actually taught), Nieztchian will-to-power, Randian beliefs to justify psychotic anti-tax zealotry, Nazi-level nationalism and worship of the military and Rapture beliefs that were invented wholesale out of a few twisted-from-context Bible verses about a century ago. It has it's own high priests (Pat Robertson, Limbaugh, Beck), it's own messiah figure (Reagan), it's own devil figure (Obama although really, it's whoever the most high-profile liberal of the time is), it's own designated scapegoats (liberals) and it's own versions of history, economics, psychology, theology and jurisprudence. And a lot of your countrymen have been brainwashed to believe that fictional view of the world. They even have a museum and "university" to promote that faith.

[alfredo]

21. Robertson wants the US and the world under Mosaic law. Mosaic law is

something akin to Sharia law. Both call for the death penalty for a wide range of "offenses."

[Prophet 451]

24. Robertson is another Republianity follower

They're the kind who claim to be "Bible-believing Christians" but think socialism (which is the closest system to Jesus's teachings) is literally Satanic. They have a version of Christianity that heavily favours the OT so they can condemn people but everything else they espouse is done specifically to give a stamp of divine approval on far-right dogma.

[alfredo]

26. Cafeteria Christians.

[Prophet 451]

27. Aren't the Cafeteria Christians normally liberal though?

[alfredo]

34. What ends up on the tray tells the difference.

[Prophet 451]

36. Fair enough

[Fairgo]

51. Well said

The quote of the day!

[alfredo]

53. Thanks. My work is done here.

[Thespian2]

68. I would add one thing

Repudiation of scientific fact. You have captured the spirit of Republicanity. Well-done.

[Martin Eden]

39. love your enemies = love teapublicans

After all, they too are part of the vast majority of average Americans getting screwed by the plutocracy. They've been duped into voting against their own interests, which makes them victims. In purely economic matters most teabaggers should be our natural allies.

And while we're at each others throats, the true elites of wealth and power expand their ownership of our country. A house divided against itself cannot stand, and a people bitterly divided cannot stand together for their own mutual interests.

[dreamnightwind]

59. +1

And thanks for being willing to say it, needs to be said a lot more around here.

No need to support their views, but by supporting and respecting their humanity, and the fact that they are victims of the same forces we are all being screwed by, we could make a lot of progress.

It's what the powers that be fear the most, that we'd all figure out our real enemy isn't each other, it's the puppetmasters..

[quaker bill]

65. you can love them and not agree with them

We are not "bitterly divided" by accident. We are intended to fight each other over the crumbs the 1% leave us to split up.

[Martin Eden]

69. We are not "bitterly divided" by accident.

That's a point I've been making for years. The polarized electorate unable to work together is by intent and manipulation.

It's very easy and satisfying for us to ridicule Joe Teabagger, but that adds another brick to the wall that divides us and makes him more impervious to facts and reason.

[quaker bill]

71. I do not believe that they become pervious.

While it would be good to refuse to contribute to the fracas, any lack of opposition is more likely to be seen as victory than an attempt still the waters and communicate.

Being related to a few, I think the indoctrination of being "special", "true Americans", and "deserving", runs far too deep. Their self-actualization is to believe this and act on it. This sort of organismic orientation is not based in logic or even perception of reality, it is entirely emotional. This syndrome is permeable to neither logic nor compassion.

The only solution is to save the few who might be amenable, and then beat the rest at the polls.

[Martin Eden]

73. save the few who might be amenable

Our best hope is to reach them when they're young.

[3catwoman3]

4. It takes a special ability to...

...be hard-hearted enough to twist such a simple message so badly. Jesus would not be pleased.

[Prophet 451]

30. It's Republianity

A form of Christianity that I defined above, the GOP's dominant faith by a very long way.

[zeemike]

5. And it is long overdue.

They have ceded the moral principles of Jesus to the right wing, and let them define it in their evil ways.
And the sad thing is that the teachings of Jesus should be the natural friend of liberals and progressives whether they believe in him or not, but that is often not the case...and we have let the right own him...and pervert his teachings beyond recognition.

[narnian60]

8. Well said.

[Fred Sanders]

10. The Christian Right has been embraced by the political right, can liberals do the same with science?

[zeemike]

11. Yes they can and have.

And that is the problem, we let science be the proof that religion is wrong and so we attack it and use the right wing definition of it as proof that it is just bullshit.
And then we alienate those that actually believe what Jesus actually said, that is as liberal as it comes, and would if we let them be our natural allies.

Science does not prove there is no god and that Jesus was a myth...but some claim it and want to affix it as left wing dogma.
We divide ourselves...but you will never see the right wing do that.

[Fred Sanders]

13. Most have, far too many run away in panic in times of stress, behold the Liberals on this site as

they ran from medical science into the arms of the hysterical mass media and the right wing fear machine.

Liberals would not abandon science to cling to fear.

[zeemike]

15. It is a false dichotomy that we are ether one of the other.

There is no contradiction between science and religion, other than the one falsely used to divide us with.

It don't matter if you don't believe in god if you believe in social justice, and that is at the very heart of the Teachings of Jesus...
And why would you care if an allie of yours believed it or not?...unless your dogma was more important than your principles.

[roguevalley]

38. I can do both, fred

[Fred Sanders]

50. Can you really? Evolution not a problem for you then? Firmly held beliefs equal to scientific facts

for you then?

Science and religion are as incompatible as oil and water.

[roguevalley]

56. I don't find it hard to balance a spiritual life with scientific

Last edited Fri Nov 28, 2014, 11:37 PM - Edit history (1)

facts. If you do, fine. I wish you well either way.

[Android3.14]

7. It's still a radical idea 2000 years later

The hypocrisy is why I stopped attending church.

[Fred Sanders]

9. Selective reading skills are enormous among the tea people.

[og1]

12. Calvinists are not true followers of Christ

Most fundamentalist follow the teachings of Paul as direct by Calvin both who were more in love with them selfs then the teachings of Jesus

[Cryptoad]

16. Salvation is easy

Believe that Jesus meant what He said and try to live your life by His words.

[DhhD]

17. Number 12 of the B Attitudes says that the Prophets were persecuted by their own extremist.

Extremists even used the Roman government to put Jesus to death. The Roman Governor could not find fault in Christ. The insistence of Extremist, not the Prophets, lead to the death of Christ. Paul persecuted Jesus too but then realized what had actually taken place, in the real downfall of man, lay with the lying, greedy extremists, just like the ones we have today.

Paul was prophet the risen Christ. He taught the teachings of Jesus, Moses and the prophets. Today many followers are still with the extremist who have taken the place of Paul. Prime example is the move from the separation of Church and State, or Faith and Law, to the One World Order spoken about by the Bush Family Empire and spoken about by publicly following the shouldering of faith and state by Reagan/Wall Street instead of waiting for the return of Christ to shoulder both faith and law under the One's Cloak (Old Testament). Paul taught that faith and state would be reunited by Christ, at his return and that faith and law were to be kept separate until then. Paul was recounting the teachings of Moses.

The Cruz's of the New World Order tell us that Teddy is the Anointed One that will set on a throne in the middle of the Seven Hills. These speeches can easily be retrieved from search sites on the internet so you can listen to the teachings of Extremist Man, claiming to be Christ.

Please read the New Testament. Both Christ and His personal Apostle Paul have been deserted by the so called Christian Fundamentalist Movement that has been around for hundreds of years, in all major historical events of the World.

[DhhD]

54. Having trouble with DU command buttons. Above writing was the draft and spell check does not

always work on DU. This times I got a posting of the original and the draft. My apologies. Spell Check not working this evening for me again. I am getting a redirect address after clicking on Post my reply!

[Prophet 451]

28. Republianity

As I defined it above.

[Odin2005]

60. Calvinists completely missed the point.

Protestant "Grace alone" theology was a reaction to the pathetic absurdity of the Catholic Church telling people that people could buy salvation with indulgences, implying that god could be bribed and violated principles that went all the back to St. Augustine. The baseline Protestant belief I was raised on growing up in a Lutheran community was that faith and being a good person were signs of Salvation, not ways of bribing God to save you.

Where the Calvinists went off the rails is when they started thinking that conventional success in life, like wealth and power, were a sign of salvation and that being poor or oppressed meant that you were damned to Hell. Seriously, guys?

[vlyons]

22. Jesus wasn't the only one who said this

The Buddhist Mahayana point of view, working for the benefit of others, had already made it's way into the Levant and Judea before the time of Jesus. It got there thanks to Alexander the Greek for opening the silk road trade in goods and IDEAS, which were already up in Bactria. The Chinese had there own version of teachings on compassion and serenity through taoist teachings. Indeed taking care of others and working for the well-being of everyone in the community is part and parcel of our humanity, inherited long ago from our primate ancestors, where the well-being of everyone in the troop is a primary endeavor. We all do better, when we all do better.

This is not a difficult concept to grasp. But our selfish ego that believes it really is a solid thing, and that it exists in the very center of the universe, no less.

[Odin2005]

63. Hello, fellow Mahayana Buddhist!

[vlyons]

74. I love you back!

I've become quite interested in Greco-Buddhism that existed in Bactria around 100BCE, and how Buddhist ideas, especially mahayana Buddhism. influenced the Greek stoics and of course Jesus, assuming there was a historical Jesus. Some think Jesus is a composite figure. Most Christians don't have a clue about the history of their religion. Cheers

[Odin2005]

76. Well, I defenitly think there was a dissident preacher named Yeshua going around.

If Jesus was made up out of whole cloth the primary symbol of him would not be of him being executed like a common criminal!

Interestingly, at the time Christianity emerged there was a substantial and growing number of semi-converts to Judaism called "God-Fearers". They subscribed to Jewish theology and went to synagogue meetings, but were reluctant to go all the way and get circumcised and follow Jewish dietary customs. They were part of a deep monotheistic yearning among people in the Graeco-Roman world.

This is why St. Paul was such an important figure. He essentially took the mysticism Judaism of Jesus' teachings (which probably had their roots in the Essene sect via John The Baptist), and dropped the circumcision and dietary restrictions. Basically, Christianity is a mystical form of Judaism made palatable for Romans who were not of a Jewish background.

The figure of Jesus himself was also important because of the whole "Word made Flesh" idea, the notion that God made himself into a human being and suffered and died as any human being would was a huge appeal to people who were put off by the abstract, austere, deistic "prime mover" God of the Platonists.

[vlyons]

77. I just finished reading Reza Aslan's book, "Zealot"

Jesus was one of many preachers/leaders, who wanted to overthrow the Roman domination, going back for 2 Centuries. The were a lot of them. And they were sick & tired of the high priests and upper elite Levites and rabbis, who levied unfair taxes on the poor, and kissed Roman ass to stay in power. Not dissimilar to our own times. Paul was basically thrown out of Jerusalem by Peter and James, who were more traditional about requiring circumcision and dietary laws.
Very interesting discussion. Cheers

[rhett o rick]

23. Gandhi liked Christ but Christians? Not so much. They are so unlike Christ. nm

[msongs]

25. fundies of the left vs fundies of the right. lord spare us from your followers nt

[Prophet 451]

29. I wouldn't imagine there are many fundies on the left

I would have thought that liberalism's embrace of modernity would prevent fundamentalism. Christianity and liberalism are not incompatible as numerous figures have shown. Hell, Christian Socialism was once a major political force (Michael Moore seems to be trying to resurrect it).

[nikto]

57. Please indicate who you mean by, and perhaps even list a few, "fundies of the left"

This should be interesting.


Or not----Perhaps just another sad cipher doing a non-sequitur drive-by?

[LiberalElite]

72. false equivilance nt

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

31. I know many rightwingers who are generous to the poor and needy...

What makes their charity different from "true liberals" is they put conditions on who gets what.

The government does not do this, thus their hatred of any government program which helps people without discriminating against them first.

Drug testing welfare recipients is simply their way of saying they dont want certain people to have help, that these people do not deserve help.

The problem with this childish attitude is a drug addict has a disease, yes he or she can make the decision to use or not, but once they decide to use the decision is out of their hands, so to say to them we wont feed or clothe or house you because you continue to use drugs, would be similar to saying to a diabetic that since they screwed up and ate candy one day, now they are shit out of luck and will die.

You simply CANT be an anti government charity person and a Christian, the two dont jive.

[quaker bill]

66. A reason Jesus hung out with lepers and prostitutes

was because they needed help. Another was to show that the question "who deserves our help?" has no place. There is no "undeserving" person.

[niyad]

32. so simple, yes?

[True Blue Door]

41. I wish the Christian left well

even though all religion strikes me as a ludicrous farce, and Christianity as the act of delegating morality to illiterate Neolithic sheep herders and Hellenistic cult leaders.

But I understand that not everyone operates in the Logic Layer of human perception, and a Christian Left is useful to communicating with more ethereal types.

[mr blur]

78. ^^This!^^ (nt)

[TNNurse]

46. The Tea Party (and that is all Republicans until they throw them out of the party)

Really do make it hard to "love your neighbor". I was raised with Christian values but these people are pretty unlovable.

[ErikJ]

55. History proves GOP's "volunteerism" only ideology doesnt work.

Last edited Sat Nov 29, 2014, 03:32 AM - Edit history (1)

[blkmusclmachine]

58. The Christian Right has been steeple jacked by a malignant force espousing violence, bigotry, and

unthinking fealty to authoritarianism.

Guess which side wins?

Just ask the NRA...

[DeSwiss]

62. Wall Street Jesus Strenuously Objects!

- He contends he was misquoted and/or taken out of context!

K&R

[nikto]

75. Another great Jesus quote for rightwingers...

"Someday, the gun will be invented, and when that happens, I feel every man
deserveth the right to own at least one, or more".

Jesus Christ,
from
Nugentis 45:38

[Odin2005]

64. Jesus was a dirty hippie!

[Doctor_J]

70. Now all e need are thousands of radio stations and dozens of TV stations

a manifesto is pretty useless these days without media access