Jesus Was Not "Pro-Family" Or "Pro-Nation"

Jesus was not, "Pro-Family" or "Pro-Nation".  A number of ideologies which have little in common with Jesus' actual teaching have tried to use Jesus and Christianity to legitimize themselves .  Two of these are "Christian Family Values", and a form of patriotism that takes it's extreme in the American Civil Religion.

Both "Christian Family Values" and "Christian Patriotism" are credos that have many positive aspects.  However, neither have their basis in the instructions of Jesus.  It is not that Jesus was specifically anti-family, or anti-nation; he was just against tribalism in general where it restricts universal and unbiased love.

Jesus proclaimed social equality, inclusion, and the indiscriminate nature of God's love which he called us to imitate.  As such, Jesus warned us against any cultural, national, or religious division that encourages people to prefer, favour, or give allegiance to some individuals while discriminating against, discounting, or marginalizing others.

Jesus' most famous statements on this in terms of family are:

If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:26 NIV)

Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. (Matthew 10:37 NIV)

For these passages, let me point out that, for the Gospel writers, Jesus and, "The Way of Jesus",  were synonymous and that Jesus' Way was a vision of a God of indiscriminate unpreferential love.   Seen from this perspective, Jesus was telling his followers not to love anyone any less than with the love normally reserved in their society for family members.

Another example comes from the eighth chapter of the book of Matthew where, after a number of people pledged to follow Jesus, one disciple asked that he first bury his father.

But Jesus told him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.” (Matthew 8:22 NIV)

Jesus' statement was a startling request given the family obligation sons were expected to follow around the death of a parent. 

Those mourning a parent additionally observe a twelve-month period (Hebrew: שנים עשר חודש, shneim asar chodesh ; "twelve months"), counted from the day of death. During this period, most activity returns to normal, although the mourners continue to recite the mourner's kaddish as part of synagogue services for eleven months. In Orthodox tradition, this was an obligation of the sons (not daughters) as mourners. There remain restrictions on attending festive occasions and large gatherings, especially where live music is performed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bereavement_in_Judaism

Family was the primary social unit in first century Palestine and was the one in which the individual owed the most obligation and allegiance. 

Martin C. Albl in Saint Mary's Press', "Essential Guide to Biblical Life and Times", explains family in this way:

The family was the central social institution of biblical times. Family ties shaped economic relations: a son would typically take the trade of his father; a few wealthy families often owned the majority of land in a given society. Family ties were central to religion: priests could be drawn from Levitical families only, and high priests from certain elite families only. Families strongly influenced politics.  Sons followed their fathers as kings, and the Roman Senate was open to a few powerful, aristocratic families only.
 Loyalty to one’s family was the essential value in biblical cultures. Ideally, even marriages took place within the same family (endogamous marriages). Unions between cousins were preferred: Jacob married the daughters of his uncle Laban (see Genesis 28:2; see also Genesis 24:4, Tobit 1:9). In this way, the values and loyalties of the family would remain intact.

https://www.smp.org/dynamicmedia/files/9a98fef004e9e9211f619d1610b42a2c/TX001246_1-Background-Life_Times_First_Century_Palestine.pdf 

I would contend that Jesus' point was not that we should not love our family, but that our love should be universal and that his concern was that family devotion and obligation should not exclude those outside our family, that this same love and duty should extend beyond all social groupings whether it be family, religion, nationality, or social caste based on wealth and power.

As a sidebar, I personally love my family very much and believe in the family unit as an important part of society.  I would call myself, "pro-family", if the term had not been appropriated by conservative right-wing Christians to promote a doctrine that narrows the definition of family to exclude same sex couples and their children and who further define family in patriarchal terms that enshrine unequal power relationships.  It is interesting to note that the states in the U.S. where conservative Evangelicals who promote the ideology of "Christian Family Values" have the most sizable population also report the highest number of unplanned pregnancies and S.T.D.s as well as the highest rates of domestic abuse.

http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2016/01/27/3743383/evangelicals-trump-are-not-religious/
http://religiondispatches.org/why-family-values-defined-conservative-christianity-and-why-religious-liberty-has-replaced-it/

Jesus' most succinct explanation of his teaching is in his response to the question on the greatest commandment.

“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:37-40)

What is most relevant here is the story he then uses to illustrate who our neighbour is and what loving our neighbour means, the story of the Good Samaritan.  Notice that Jesus doesn't tell us that our duty to love should be hierarchical like some popular Christian teachings encourage.  There is no, "after God your first duty is to your spouse, then your family, then your church, employer, nation", and so on.  No, he tells a story where the one loved is one's despised enemy, someone of a different nationality and religion, where the loving act puts the person at personal risk.  And, in a brilliant twist of inclusion, he makes the person who would have been the despised outcast to the audience he was talking to the hero of the story while the man being rescued is one of them.

Now let's look at nationalism.  I find it interesting that although the Gospel writers cast Jesus in the role of Messiah, he never criticized Israel's enemies, or any nation other than his own.  Outside of the Rabbinic Literature of the time, there was a popular doctrine in Jewish eschatology that anticipated a Messiah.  This doctrine was tied to the restoration of the state of Israel and rescue from national enemies.  This was especially relevant in Jesus' time with the conquest and occupation by Roman forces. The Jews of the first century expected to be rescued from foreign dominion. Looking to texts such Deuteronomy 4:32, Isaiah 40:1-2, and Jeremiah 31:27-40,  many believed that this would only occur after they suffered a purification process for past breaches of their covenant with God. 


However, liberation from national enemies or criticism of other peoples was never part of Jesus' teaching.  In fact, he broke down barriers and was inclusive of those of other nationalities in God's love.  As mentioned earlier, he made a Samaritan the hero of his story illustrating the love God expects us to show our neighbour. He had no compunctions against seeking out conversation with the Samaritan women at the well despite it being taboo in his culture.  He healed Jews and Gentiles alike and praised a Roman Centurion as having more faith than anyone in Israel.

Like the nationalists and patriots today that tout American exceptionalism, or the exceptionalism of any nation, the common thought among Jesus' people was that they had an exclusive and entitled position with God as a nation.  Jesus, however, did not limit God's love and blessing to one nation.  In the fourth chapter of Luke, as part of his first public announcement while at the Synagogue in his home town of Nazareth, he dismissed the idea of Israel having an exclusive relationship with God.

"I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.” (Luke 4:25-27 NIV)

I personally find these teachings of Jesus difficult, but I want to be honest about what it is that Jesus actually taught.  They challenge me in the dangers of preferential love and duty.  It is a message of radical inclusion.  It inspires me to be mindful of the social boundaries I live in and challenges me to extend the love and care I have for my family and preferred social groupings to all.

 


Image Links:

https://www.google.ca/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjD-4n2w8rKAhVI9mMKHRP8CLEQjRwIBw&url=https%3A%2F%2Falannothnagle.wordpress.com%2Ftag%2Fjesus%2F&bvm=bv.112766941,d.cGc&psig=AFQjCNEKoR8vaiJXidK_-czH5-gFSXyrBg&ust=1454002537479086

http://www.google.ca/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjtls3qx8rKAhUU6WMKHXigCQEQjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.davidmcelroy.org%2F%3Fp%3D18740&bvm=bv.112766941,d.cGc&psig=AFQjCNHkp-fPgG7hEkF_8RSMqFCsAqsuKQ&ust=1454002462041346

Being Non-Literalist Doesn't Make You Athiest

In the United Church of Canada there is a range of how literally we approach images of God in the Scriptures.  We are a "Big Tent" Faith Group with people holding a variety of interpretations and views of our Scriptures and Christian Traditions.

 

http://www.collegescholarships.org/
images/atheist-scholarships.jpg

What we hold in common is that we hold these things as important, that we respect them and each other, and make them the foundation of the community we wish to share.  The United Church was founded on the idea that what we hold in common is more important than our differences.  We do not strive to all conform to an authoritarian doctrine handed down by leadership, but value our diversity and find in it the strength and resources to grow in our faith and meet the challenges of a changing world.

There are many of us who have a more literary and less literal understanding of the anthropomorphic images of God in Scripture.  We see them as more metaphorical and less  scientific in nature.  The concept of "God" is how we express what we find as legitimate, true, and worthy.  It is often a personification meant to express how we believe the, “world works”, what is valuable and laudable, what should be defended and what should be discouraged. God is a representation of what we believe is truly legitimate, noble, powerful and worthy; what we see as real and fundamental in the universe, and our place and role in it. It is the portrayal of these abstract qualities in a human like form.

The various writers of our Scriptures stretch over a long range of time, they come from different communities,  and used differing forms and genres of literature to express their understanding of God, what they found as legitimate and true.  These writers and their communities had differing views on the primary nature and qualities of God.  We who follow the Christian tradition, affirm Jesus' vision of God as primarily loving, compassionate, and generous.  No matter the degree at which you take as literal various images of God in the Bible, if you believe in this characterization of God and strive to emulate these qualities, I count you as my "sibling" in Christ.  In my mind, if you see these qualities as what is legitimate and true, then we worship the same God.

Let us now turn to atheism.  The eminent Christian scholar and writer Marcus Borg relates a story in one of his books about an encounter with a student who told him that he, "didn't believe in God".  Borg asked the student to tell him about the God he didn't believe in.  When the student was done, Borg replied, "I don't believe in that God either".

I would contend that most people who call themselves atheists are not rejecting God, but a literalist, conservative, "Fundamentalist" interpretation of God, like the one popularised by television Evangelists, that characterizes God as primarily a legalist, who is mainly concerned with rules and punishment, and has an unnatural obsession with human being's, sex lives, whether they drink alcohol, and if they use curse words.  The narrative around this image of God claims that he finds all of mankind sinful, unworthy and deserving of eternal punishment from birth.  I put "Fundamentalist" in quotations because this non-metaphorical interpretation of Christianity is historically recent and evolved as a reaction to the importance placed on literal facts with the Enlightenment Era and the Scientific Revolution.  I also take great issue with this narrative being portrayed as having anything in common with the fundamentals of Jesus' teaching.  The sad thing is that many who say they, "don't believe in God", have let the purveyors of this interpretation define for them who God is, unaware that it does not reflect mainstream Christian thought.

The word "Atheist" comes from the Greek, a- "without" + theos "a god".  If we define "God" as being what we consider as legitimate, true, and meaningful, this word almost becomes meaningless.  Everyone holds some notion of what they find to be legitimate and true, whether that corresponds with Jesus' image of what that is or not.

Of late, there has been some discussion about atheism in the United Church and whether an ordained minister can proclaim themselves as atheist and remain part of the church.  Personally I feel that this has been presented in a way that was meant to be confrontational and sensationalist, promoting divisiveness and disharmony in order to gain personal attention through notoriety, and is based on a fundamental misunderstanding of what it means to believe in God and of atheism.  As I said earlier, having a non-literal understanding of Biblical images of God does not mean that you do not believe in God, or that you are an atheist.

Depression And Faith

As someone who suffers from cyclical depression, I want to give my perspective on depression and faith.  For others who suffer with depression, I wish to let them know that it is not a failing of faith, or in moral character, and that they are not alone.  To do this, I will discuss the views of two notable personages of the Christian Faith, Martin Luther and John Wesley.  I will also share some of my own experiences and views.

Martin Luther, famous for initiating the Protestant Reformation by nailing his Ninety-Five Theses on the door of the Wittenberg Cathedral in 1517, suffered from depression. 

Herbert David Rix in his book, Martin Luther: The Man and the Image, notes:

"He suffered from depression much of his life. Apparently he did not believe depression was something shameful, to be hidden from others. In his work he often revealed his own problems with depression...In a large portion of the letters Luther wrote during the latter half of 1527 he alludes to the symptoms of his depression."

________________________

"For about three months I have been ill not so much in body as in mind so that I have written next to nothing."

(Martin Luther October 8th, letter to Michael Stiefel in Tolleth)

___________________

Luther in his writings offered some rather "earthy" treatments for depression:

Having been taught by experience I can say how you ought to restore your spirit when you suffer from spiritual depression. When you are assailed by gloom, despair, or a troubled conscience, you should eat, drink, and talk with others. If you can find help from yourself by thinking of a girl, do so.” And even, “Copious drinking benefits me when I am in this condition” (Martin Luther)

Now, while I don't endorse his remedy of, "copious drinking", as alcohol is a depressant, I do recommend the principle of taking as much pleasure as you can with what your depressed state will allow you.  Other therapies he suggested included, "music and good exercise". 

“The first . . . pertains to the spirit and serves to drive away care, while the second pertains to the body and practices the limbs by jumping and wrestling.”  (Martin Luther)
https://gratefultothedead.wordpress.com/2011/08/24/martin-luthers-anfechtungen-his-own-dark-nights-of-the-soul-and-how-they-affected-his-teaching-and-ministry/

I'll return to these proposed treatments when discussing my own experience later after we have explored the views of John Wesley.

John Wesley, although he did not report experiencing depression himself, wrote an entire sermon on, "Nervous Disorders", where he gave his thoughts on causes and treatment.  It is important to note that he did not consider, "the sinking of the spirits", as due to a lack of faith.


This is eminently the case with regard to those which are termed nervous disorders. And faith does not overturn the course of nature: Natural causes still produce natural effects. Faith no more hinders the sinking of the spirits (as it is called) in an hysteric illness than the rising of the pulse in a fever.”

We sometimes say, “A man is in high spirits;” and the proper opposite to this is, “He is low spirited.” Does not this imply, that a kind of faintness, weariness, and listlessness affects the whole body, so that he is disinclined to any motion, and hardly cares to move hand or foot? But the mind seems chiefly to be affected, having lost its relish of everything, and being no longer capable of enjoying the things it once delighted in most. Nay, everything round about is not only flat and insipid, but dreary and uncomfortable. It is not strange if, to one in this state, life itself is become a burden; yea, so insupportable a burden, that many who have all this world can give, desperately rush into an unknown world, rather than bear it any longer.”

John Wesley, The Complete Works of John Wesley,

Vol. 11: Thoughts on Nervous Disorders;

Particularly that which is usually termed

lowness of spirits (Albany, NY: Sage Digital

Library, 1996), p. 606.

John Wesley, The Complete Works of John Wesley,

Vol. 6: Sermon XLV11 - Heaviness through

Manifold Temptations, (Albany, NY: Sage

Digital Library, 1996).

http://bachdevelopment.com/bach17h.html
https://sites.google.com/site/outofthetomb/john-wesley-and-depression

At this point, I would like to give some of my own experience and thoughts on depression. Although I suffered from homesickness and minor depression during part of my first year at University, it wasn't until my third year that I had my first major episode of clinical depression.  Since then, I have endured periods of depression that have lasted only months and periods that have lasted years, but fortunately I can say the same for times I have lived depression free.  I've had times when I could do little other than read, watch television, and sleep, where eating the last of the bug infested oatmeal was preferable to leaving the apartment to buy food.  I've also had long periods of "functional" depression, where I have been able to work and have only had a couple of days where going to my job was beyond what I was capable of, times where I could take care of the necessities of life, but not had the energy for much else.  I am sure that others have had much worse experiences of depression than my own, this illness comes with varying severity and symptoms.

In my experience, depression and anxiety are like two sides of the same coin.  Part of what I experience when I'm depressed is a pervasive non-specific anxiety, a feeling of dread and insecurity which saps my confidence and will.  In response, I seem to freeze up and all my energy is channeled into battling these feelings.  Social contact becomes difficult and a burden.  My insecurity makes me feel like others will find my company boring and irksome.  My feelings of being overwhelmed and low on energy and mental resources makes me feel even more insecure when interacting with others.  I fear that they will make demands I don't have the resources to respond to, that I will need to assert or defend myself and will not have the energy.  I know that I have emerged out of depression when I suddenly notice the people around me, when I enjoy spending time with them, when I find them interesting and want to ask them questions and feel worthy to share about myself and believe that they will find it interesting and of value.

Depression is a sapping of will, spirit, and motive energy.  Things that usually give you pleasure are flat and listless and just require too much effort to enjoy even if you could.  Initiative and changes in direction seem to take an overwhelming amount of energy.  It is a state of inertia where the body is stuck in a molasses pit that defies motion.

It is a black hole of negative feelings and thoughts that require constant effort to resist and which saps your strength and will.  Since we are cognitive beings, we are compelled to unconsciously rationalize these overwhelming negative feelings and begin to view the world through the lens of despair.  We start thinking that the reason we feel the way we do is that the world, our circumstances, even ourselves, really are terrible.  This may lead to persistent and obsessive negative thoughts which become a negative feedback loop that digs us ever deeper.  It may also descend into self destructive or self injurious thoughts with an unconscious rational that if our feelings tell us that we are bad then punishment may offer relief. 

For many of us, depression is just our physical and genetic weak link. Those who suffer from this illness usually have a family history of the disease. Like those who are physically predisposed for heart disease or diabetes, this condition is the point at which we are prone to break first when our bodies are under physical and emotional stress.  I know for myself that stress, emotional conflict, and cognitive dissonance (distress caused when your actions do not match your belief system in regard to the world or yourself), have sometimes been contributing factors pushing me into a depressed state or lowering my resistance to its appearance.  Like other predisposed illness, one needs to manage the factors that can exacerbate it; stress, diet and exercise. 

There is a tendency when depressed to search for the cause.  I have know times when depressed where I was obsessed with finding the psychological and emotional cause for my feelings, where I was convinced that there must be something wrong with my life, my life decisions, and the path that I was taking, and that this must be the "reason" for my depression.  A number of these times, after emerging from depression and having the energy and will to take action,  I made major life changes, breaking a wedding engagement, changing career or faith direction.  I started University studying the humanities and as an intended candidate for ministry in the United Church of Canada, having not taken a course in mathematics past grade eleven, and now work a technical job and have a Limited License in Electrical Engineering.  These changes have all been serendipitous, but were never addressing the, "cause", of my depression. I would certainly suggest that those experiencing depression seek counseling, along with other medical treatment, to deal with those stresses and life problems that may be contributing to thier illness, but caution them against viewing them as, "the cause", and making dramatic life changes in response.

Faith and hope are important factors in enduring depression.  By faith I don't mean surrendering your understanding to a greater authority or an authoritarian interpretation of Scripture beyond the evidence of experience and reason.  I mean trusting in the larger principles that you have come to be convinced of due to reason and a wider range of experience and not letting oneself be dissuaded by immediate dissenting events.  Just like a successful gambler when placing his bet has to trust in the actual odds and not make decisions based on a streak of occurrences, you need to keep faith in your broader understanding.  The fact that he has lost the last seven hands does not make it any more likely that he will win or lose the next one.  The chances of a coin coming up heads is 50% each toss no matter the results beforehand.  As a Christian, I trust that life is good, generous, and loving, as Jesus testified and as wider experience has taught me, and not as my feelings during depression would otherwise try to convince me.  During my first bout with major depression, some of the hope that sustained me was based on my spiritual interpretation of the situation.  I believed that there was directed purpose in my circumstances, that God was directing my depression in order to halt my current path and reveal his desired direction.  Later, that faith and hope came from the knowledge from my earlier experiences that my depression would not last forever, I would emerge at some point and be able to live and enjoy life again, and that what I was feeling during depression did not bear up to what my feelings tell me when I am not depressed.

Along with cultivating faith and hope, I have some other suggestions to help manage depression.  The first is to get professional medical help and work on long term strategies with your health professional.  This is an illness and it requires medical assistance which sometimes includes medication to control or manage.  The second is to cultivate physical and mental health both as a preventative and as a part of treatment.  This means taking care of yourself, eating right, good sleep practices, exercise and other forms of stress management.  It may also mean taking care of your emotional health, being proactive in solving relationship problems or issues of resentment or forgiveness.

http://www.strongmindbraveheart.com/wp-content/uploads/eeyore-1024x537.jpg

I can not stress enough the importance of relationships and a supportive social network of family and/or friends.  I attribute much of my endurance and recovery from periods of depression to the support and care of my wife, daughters, and friends.  I know from experience that maintaining social contact while depressed is difficult, but having friends that will accept you and just allow you to be present with them is incredibly helpful.  There are times where you just may not be up to social interaction, but please don't close the door.  If you can't manage an invitation today, let the person know that you still want to get together with them and try to reschedule for the next day or week.  One of the social interactions that I was able to maintain during my last period of depression was playing saxophone with the community band.  Some weeks I couldn't manage to go to rehearsal, some weeks I could only manage the first half of rehearsal and left during the break, but it was always important to try and maintain that routine and habit.

Two things that Martin Luther suggested were exercise and music, and I readily endorse both.  It doesn't need to be strenuous exercise, just getting out for a walk in the open air is helpful.  If it involves a team or social activity, all the better.  I've read studies where exercise can improve mood almost as effectively as medication, but please do not think of it as an alternative, follow your Doctor's direction.

I personally find music to be very helpful, particularly making music oneself.  As I mentioned, I play saxophone, but also play the piano and sing in choirs.  I've read a number of articles about the positive effects of both producing and just listening to music on the brain.  Singing and playing wind instruments also have the added benefit of deep breathing which also has a positive effect on mood.

The last thing I will mention today is storing up positive experiences and meaning during those times when you are not suffering from depression.  Live life when you are able and build up a storehouse of experiences and memories in your heart to draw on during the lean times of depression and to look forward to again when you recover.  Do things that you will find meaningful; volunteer, help others, spend time with friends and family.

A little over a year ago, I finally emerged from a three year period of "functioning" depression.  Over the last year and a bit, I have been doing my best to, "make hay while the sun shines".  I have been in a number of community theatre productions, have been singing with a church and community choir, and continue to play my saxophone . I also have been able to create a whole new art portfolio.

http://hughgardiner.daportfolio.com

To close, I would like to leave you with a link to an article that gives world-renowned scientist Stephen Hawking's words on depression in a recent talk. Mr Hawking is known for providing us with complex yet invaluable insights into space, time, and the nitty-gritty of theoretical physics. He has also lived with motor neuron disease for almost 53 years – despite being told he had just two years to live when diagnosed in 1963. I would encourage you to read his inspirational words in the link below.

http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/stephen-hawking-gives-some-beautiful-advice-depression

   

Is Following Jesus About Turning Off Your Brain?

Faith means not wanting to know what is true.

--Friedrich Nietzsche



http://www.zenzoneforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=19300&d=1349348615

There has been a lot of discussion, some of it recent, about Religion causing people to stop thinking.  The famed UK scientist, Richard Dawkins, talks about the, "process of non-thinking called faith."  The celebrity atheist, Bill Maher, claims that Religion encourages people to switch of their brains and accept the worst sort of nonsense without thought or reflection. 

https://paulitics.wordpress.com/2007/04/05/proof-that-organized-religion-stops-critical-thinking/
 http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=214x89646

http://www.rdmag.com/sites/rdmag.com/files/newsletter-ads/shutterstock_285596714.jpg

Robert Ingersoll, author of the book, "The Gods", posits the following:

For ages, a deadly conflict has been waged between a few brave men and women of thought and genius upon the one side, and the great ignorant religious mass on the other. This is the war between Science and Faith. The few have appealed to reason, to honor, to law, to freedom, to the known, and to happiness here in this world. The many have appealed to prejudice, to fear, to miracle, to slavery, to the unknown, and to misery hereafter. The few have said "Think" The many have said "Believe!"

--Robert Ingersoll, (Gods)

I have to agree that Religions, Christianity in particular, have often discouraged critical thinking, free thought, and science, in favor of authoritarian and "unquestionable" doctrine.  However, I don't think that this is the teaching of Jesus, or the message of the Gospels.  If anything, looking at the Gospels, Jesus was the poster boy for free thinking and critical reasoning.

For almost as long as there has been human civilization, Religion has been used by those in power to legitimize their position and to paint a picture of the world where their exploitation is seen as the natural course and where resistance to their authority is to defy the Order of the Universe.  Christianity began as a subversive non-authoritarian movement that encouraged a perception of reality that was the antithesis of those in power.  It wasn't  "civilized" into the capacity of legitimizing the ideologies of authority until after Constantine issued the Edit of Milan in 313 and the later conversion of the Roman Empire into the Holy Roman Empire.

In the Dark Ages, Christianity became further linked to a tenet recognizing knowledge through authority and tradition above that gained through observation, experimentation and reason.  During this lull in civilization, much in the way of knowledge was lost and there was little resource to regain it except through what had been preserved in writing.  The rediscovery of the knowledge left by the Greek philosophers, mathematicians, scientists, architects, and physicians was a treasure trove far beyond the science of the time.  Why try to re-invent the wheel when the ancients offered blueprints if you only looked to find them.  Why would you practice science yourself when the masters had already done it to a degree you couldn't imagine yourself capable of.

This validation of the knowledge of past authorities and what had been written and preserved over new investigation and thought extended to Christianity.  The Scriptures of Christianity and writings by the Church Fathers all became, "Gospel Truth", not to be questioned, doubted or tainted with rational inquiry.

At the same time the Christian Monarchs of Europe and Britain continued to follow the precedent of the Holy Roman Empire and reinterpreted Christianity as an ideology to reinforce their legitimacy and political control.  This is best seen in the doctrine of, "the divine right of kings".  This creed held that those in power have Divine sanction and to question or oppose them is to question or oppose God Himself.  The reasoning was that if God controls and directs the activity of man, then anyone who comes to power must have been put there at the will of God and have His authority.  So, anyone who applied reason, doubt and scientific inquiry in a manner that might seem to contradict their interpretation of the Scriptures and Christianity was dangerous and a threat to that authority.

As I mentioned earlier, this was not the original intention or point of Christianity.  The teaching and "Way" of Jesus as presented by the Gospel writers was a subversive and alternate vision to that of the authority of the time.  In response to Julius Caesar's title, "the son of a god", the Gospel writers named a backwoods teacher of small standing in a minor religion, "The Son of God".  In the same way the title, "Prince of Peace", was also expropriated and subverted.  Even the title of their books, the "Gospel", "εὐαγγέλιον, euangelion"  is a subversion of a word used in local Roman propaganda monuments extolling the "good news of military victory" attributed to Caesar.  

Jesus' vision of the world was the opposite of that of Empire.  The philosophy of Empire is one where might equals right and where wealth and power are the reward and legitimisation God gives those he considers superior with the corollary being that those who are poor and marginalised are seen as being punished because they are inferior, impure, and evil.

In contrast, the vision of the world in Jesus' teachings is one where love, compassion, and generosity are what is legitimate.  A world where God's blessing is on the meek and the poor, and where leadership is the outcome of being the servant of all.

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"Being religious means asking passionately the question of the meaning of our existence and being willing to receive answers, even if the answers hurt."

-Paul Tillich

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Jesus was no fan of accepting the authority of past knowledge as truth over reason and inquiry.  In the seventh chapter of Matthew the crowds were, "amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law." (Matthew 7:28-29).

He offered an alternative to the common understanding of his time based on past knowledge, often beginning his teaching with the words, "You have heard that it was said...But I tell you". (Matthew 5)

He was also against the idea of people allowing laws and rules do their thinking for them and chastised them for not understanding the broader principles.  He soundly criticized the Pharisees and other teachers of the law for an emphasis on dictating ever more specific practices in the compliance of laws and rules instead of a focus on the spirit of the matter.

"They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them." (Matthew 23:23)

 

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness." (Matthew 5:23)

 

"And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.  All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”(Matthew 22:39-40)

 

Dictating to people what their actions are to be through laws and rules was not Jesus' style of teaching.  He only gave one, "commandment", "Love one another. As I have loved you" (John 13-34).  His method was mainly to share his vision of a universe ruled by love and compassion through crazy stories and parables where, instead of telling them what to think or believe, he encouraged his listeners to view the world from a different perspective. Crazy world turned upside down stories like a father who shows favor to a son who insults him by asking for his share of the inheritance before the father dies, a farmer sowing his seed in rocky places, a landowner who pays the workers he hired at the end of the day the same as ones who worked all day, parables about mustard seeds and yeast.  These stories and parables were designed to encourage people to think for themselves, to view their values, culture, and customs critically in light of a new perspective.

 

http://40.media.tumblr.com/b97a1a679de7d90b47ab643381cd7d87/tumblr_nnb8ey3p8d1so6kxao1_1280.jpg

I would argue that the Way of Jesus intrinsically involves critical thought and reason, and that you can not follow Jesus by merely pursuing religious rules and practices and their interpretation by religious authorities.  You can't be a Christian by letting someone else do your thinking for you and you can't do it by turning off your brain.
 

 

Which Son Of God Do They Follow?

Looking at the statements and actions of many Right-Wing Conservative Politicians and Religious Leaders, which First Century, "Son of God", does it appear they more closely emulate?

 

 The following is a list of statements by Right-Wing Conservative Christian Politicians and Leaders.  Which "Son of God" do they more closely imitate:

 

Sen. Ted Cruz, GOP Presidential Nomination Candidate

 

A Southern Baptist, Cruz, a leading Republican candidate for president, routinely expounds the virtues of his Christian background in sold-out rallies and stump speeches

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2015/12/10/ted-cruz-religion-2016-evangelicals/76945128/

 

“If we awaken and energize the body of Christ– if Christians and people of faith come out and vote our values– we will win and we will turn the country around,”

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/12/31/sen-cruz-tells-volunteers-we-can-win-if-we-awaken-and-energize-the-body-of-christ/

 

On ISIS and Syrian Civilians

 

 "We won’t weaken them. We won’t degrade them. We will utterly destroy them. We will carpet bomb them into oblivion. We will  arm the Kurds. We will do everything necessary so that every militant on the face of the earth will know if you go and join ISIS, if you wage jihad and declare war on America, you are signing your death warrant.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2015/12/05/ted-cruz-vows-to-utterly-destroy-isis-and-carpet-bomb-terrorists/

 

BLITZER: Thank you. To be clear, Senator Cruz, would you carpet bomb Raqqa, the ISIS capital, where there are a lot of civilians, yes or no?
CRUZ: You would carpet bomb where ISIS is, not a city, but the location of the troops. You use air power directed — and you have embedded special forces to direction the air power. But the object isn’t to level a city. The object is to kill the ISIS terrorists.

http://thinkprogress.org/world/2015/12/17/3733350/isis-is-using-civilians-as-human-shields-meaning-cruz-cant-simply-target-troops/

 

On Refugees

 

“What Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are proposing is that we bring to this country tens of thousands of Syrian Muslim refugees,”

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“I have to say particularly in light of what happened in Paris, that's nothing short of lunacy.”

http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/260317-cruz-to-offer-bill-banning-syrian-refugees

 

On Immigrants

 

"I have never supported legalization, and I do not intend to support legalization," Cruz said during Tuesday's GOP debate on CNN, after being challenged on the point by Rubio.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ted-cruz-marco-rubio-immigration_56733cf2e4b0b958f6560230

 

On Capital Punishment

 

GOP presidential candidate Ted Cruz said he disagrees with Pope Francis’ call Thursday to abolish the death penalty, calling the use of capital punishment a “recognition of the preciousness of human life.”

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/09/ted-cruz-pope-francis-death-penalty-214023#ixzz3wUcsy7m4

 

On Gun Control

 

"It is saddening to see the president today, once again, try to take advantage of this tragic murder to promote an agenda that will do nothing to stop violent crime, but will undermine the constitutional rights of all law-abiding Americans," Cruz said in a statement. "I am committed to working with Sens. Rand Paul, Mike Lee, Marco Rubio, and Jim Inhofe -- and I hope many other colleagues -- to use any procedural means necessary to protect those fundamental rights."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/28/ted-cruz-obama-sandy-hook_n_2974471.html

 

On Muslims

 

He equated Obama’s defense of Islam with a defense of terrorism:

"He spent a significant portion of his Sunday address as an apologist for radical Islamic terrorism. And his attorney general, Loretta Lynch, told a gathering the day after the San Bernardino attack that her department would move to prosecute anyone whose “anti-Muslim rhetoric” “edged towards violence.” The day after a terror attack, 14 innocent lives snuffed away, we want a president and an attorney general who is standing up to defend this nation, not an attorney general who decrees herself the speech police for any who dare speak out against this threat"

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2015/12/ted_cruz_s_latest_anti_muslim_rhetoric_is_beyond_shameful.2.html

 

 

Reverend Franklin Graham, head of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and the international Christian aid group Samaritan’s Purse, and sometime GOP Presidential Nomination Candidate

 

On ISIS and Syrian Civilians

 

“The president has been doing virtually nothing,” he remarked. “I appreciate the airstrikes, but it’s almost too little too late. I’m afraid the United States is going to have to put troops back into Iraq, which I would hate to see. But that may be the only way to defeat ISIS.”

http://www.infowars.com/franklin-graham-president-obama-is-responsible-for-isis/

 

Van Susteren, host of On the Record, then asked, “Well, how come they are persecuting Muslims as well, if the Muslims -- they all follow the Koran -- how come some Muslims are getting persecuted as well?”

Rev. Graham said, “Well, they're not being persecuted but they're just running.

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/michael-w-chapman/rev-graham-isis-christians-crucified-beheaded-buried-alive

 

On Refugees

 

“We are under attack by Muslims at home and abroad,” Franklin Graham, head of Samaritans Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, wrote on his public Facebook page on July 17. “We should stop all immigration of Muslims to the US until this threat with Islam has been settled.” At press time, more than 167,000 people had “liked” the post.

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2015/july-web-only/franklin-grahams-call-to-end-muslim-immigration-could-backf.html

 

“Every Muslim that comes into this country has the potential to be radicalized — and they do their killing to honor their religion and Muhammad,” Graham wrote at the time. “During World War 2, we didn’t allow Japanese to immigrate to America, nor did we allow Germans. Why are we allowing Muslims now?”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2015/12/10/why-franklin-graham-says-donald-trump-is-right-about-stopping-muslim-immigration/

 

On Immigration

 

“I don’t believe in banning Muslims from coming. I think we should put a halt on immigration because our borders are broken,” said Graham. “All people, but especially those coming from the Middle East right now.”

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/i-dont-think-so-franklin-graham-doesnt-think-islam-is-compatible-with-american-values/

 

On Gun Control

 

“President Obama’s answer to the tragic shooting of nine people in Charleston, SC, is to have more gun laws. With all due respect Mr. President, all of the laws in the world can’t change the human heart—only God can do that,” he wrote on his Facebook page. “Our nation needs a spiritual healing—we have turned our back on God and His laws.”

http://www.thefederalistpapers.org/us/rev-franklin-graham-america-needs-more-prayer-not-more-gun-laws

 

 

Governor Chris Christie, GOP Presidential Nomination Candidate

 

On Refugees

 

"I do not trust this administration to effectively vet the people who are proposed to be coming in," the New Jersey governor and presidential hopeful said in an interview Monday with radio host Hugh Hewitt.

When asked if he would make an exception for "orphans under the age of five," Christie said no.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/17/politics/chris-christie-paris-attacks-refugee-orphans/

 

On Torture

 

Christie also refused to rule out the use of torture in the fight against Islamist extremism—though he objected to my use of the word to describe one of the techniques President Obama has banned:

Goldberg: Think back to around 2005, 2006. You remember what it felt like when Americans started feeling some regrets about certain steps we were taking in the War on Terror, including Iraq, Guantanamo Bay, torture—
Christie: I don’t agree with that last part.
Goldberg: Torture?
Christie: Guantanamo Bay, and that you are characterizing something as torture. But that’s fine.
Goldberg: When you hold someone down and make them feel that they’re drowning, that’s not torture?
Christie: I think there are enhanced interrogation techniques that are appropriate at times, yes.

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/12/christie-interview/418302/

 

 

Dr. Ben Carson, GOP Presidential Nomination Candidate

 

“I can tell you that my faith is very important to me, and I believe that one of the reasons this country excelled beyond anything anybody else has done, and so quickly, is because of our value system,” Carson said. “Our values were based upon our Judeo-Christian faith, and as we throw that away, we see that we are no longer excelling, and we’re actually moving in the opposite direction.” 

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2015/10/01/the_heart_of_ben_carsons_faith.html

 

On ISIS and Syrian Civilians

 

"We have to eradicate them now," he said. "We have to use every means possible to do that."

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/234261-ben-carson-on-isis-eradicate-them-now

 

“So you are OK with the death of thousands of innocent children and civilians?” Hewitt pressed. Amid loud boos from the audience Carson said, “You got it.”

http://time.com/4150910/republican-debate-ben-carson-isis/

 

On Muslims

 

“I would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation. I absolutely would not agree with that.” 

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2015/10/01/the_heart_of_ben_carsons_faith.html

 

On Immigration

 

Q: In a speech to the Values Voters Summit, you said many of the immigrants trying to cross the border into the U.S. are hardened criminals from Iraq, Somalia and Russia. Do you have evidence that many are hardened criminals from those countries?

CARSON: Well, I talked to a number of the sheriffs on the borders and they've told me what kind of people are coming over. So I'm not sure that I would trust, quite frankly, any figures coming from the government, given the fact that they are the ones who are problematic. You know, a lot of these people who are captured, it's ICE who comes along and says, "you must release these people."

 ABC This Week 2015 interview by Martha Raddatz , Sep 27, 2015

 

On Capital Punishment

 

BEN CARSON: I think the death penalty is something that should be decided in a civil matter with the people in the area.

TAPPER: So a state by state decision?

CARSON: Absolutely.
http://2016.presidential-candidates.org/Carson/?on=capital-punishment


On Gun Control

Q: So you're not saying there should be a limitation on what type of weapon a sane person should be able to buy?
CARSON: Of course not. You know, when we put this amendment in place, you know, state-of-the-art weapon was what? A musket? But the principle was that the citizenry should have access to whatever they needed in order to protect themselves from an overly aggressive government.

http://www.ontheissues.org/2016/Ben_Carson_Gun_Control.htm

 

 

 

 

 

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