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Read Tony’s response to this article here.
You, as a self-proclaimed Christian conservative, believe Jesus is the son of God, the paragon of love and decency.
Ironically, this belief has failed to reflect your political ideology or instill in you the principles of his teaching.
What you are either unwilling to understand or unwilling to concede, is that the phrase “Conservative Christian” is an oxymoron. Being a Christian Conservative is like being a “compassionate narcissist” or a “black redneck.”
Your most treasured social construct””free-market capitalism””is at complete odds with the very fabric of who Jesus was. If present today, Jesus would be the welfare state’s biggest cheerleader. Jesus would be a socialist or a communist, but never a conservative or capitalist. Jesus would advise you to do away with all your wealth.
Also revealing is your militant objection to the health care bill while claiming to be on the right side of Jesus. It is as if the Democrats are playing Robin Hood in order to provide stabilizing services to the poor. You care little that this is exactly what Jesus would advocate.
Also disturbing is your nostalgia for patriarchal traditions that have nothing to do with morality. Individuals like yourself and the church’s untaxed dollars came out in spades in support Proposition 8. Yet, you are not willing to consider the fact that Jesus may have been a homosexual. He did not desire women or marriage or children, and ended many of his sayings with “Ah, men.”
You may not find this funny, but rather offensive. This can only be the case if your anxiety about sex exceeds any rational intensity. This is why you may consider gay marriage to be one of the most tremendous moral issues of our time, when it is quite clear that gay marriage is not of any moral concern.
You are more preoccupied with homosexuality, abstinence and abortions rather than alleviating suffering and increasing happiness.
A few years ago an immunization to America’s most common STD, human papillomavirus (HPV), was rejected by many prominent religious conservatives on the grounds that it acts as a valuable impediment to premarital sex.
Also, George W. Bush used his first veto as president to kill a stem-cell research bill, saying “it crosses a moral boundary society needs to respect.” A three-day-old embryo is a collection of 150 cells with no brain or neurons, thus it cannot feel pain. There are over 100,000 cells in the brain of a fly, which has a brain and neurons. An overwhelming majority of the scientific and morally rational community conclude that stem cell research is the most promising development in eradicating cancer and other sufferable diseases.
You are telling a cancer, diabetes or heart disease patient that your belief in religious metaphysics justifies giving equal consideration to 150 cells in a Petri dish that can prolong their misery.
You spend more energy protecting the unborn rather than curing disease or upholding social traditions rather than justice while refusing to act Christ-like. Your adulterated priorities and moral compass is what, in reality, is offensive.
This does not at all surprise me. As a Christian, who at the very minimum many scholars have said must adhere to the notion of Jesus’ divinity and resurrection, you have explicitly expressed your willingness to believe in absolutely ANYTHING. Why this is admirable, I admit, is lost upon me. Why it is prudent or even ethical to grant respect to these customs, particularly those which provide you shelter from scrutiny and accountability for your beliefs, is beyond me.
There is much to be learned from Jesus the philosopher, but conservative Christians find it most difficult to emulate him despite their boisterous claims to the contrary.
Anonymous • Apr 11, 2010 at 6:58 pm
A public debate is the way to go. I agree with Kevin Harper. I would like to see a formal debate, without the mask of this virtual interface.
bradg12 • Apr 11, 2010 at 10:58 am
A public debate is the way to go. I agree with Kevin Harper. I would like to see a formal debate, without the mask of this virtual interface.
joshua4234 • Apr 9, 2010 at 4:12 pm
The only evidence for the resurrection is heresay written down in a book. That's not enough for me to believe that the laws of nature were suspended. What more would there to discuss?
joshua4234 • Apr 9, 2010 at 3:53 pm
Research about giving and charity has many variables that can skew results, especially if it's just casually done by one group and it's not a scientific study where it's a blinded with controls.
Conservatives were against medicare and medicaid during the Democratic congress of the Johnson administration, do you know how much programs like that help people? Do liberals get credit for all that? I guess we only count the charity and good will done the way conservatives say counts, through organizations that claim to be religious and also have overhead costs so a certain percent of each dollar actually goes to help people.
svang • Apr 9, 2010 at 12:20 am
“Don't eat the food of a stingy man; don't be greedy for his delicacies. For he is like someone who keeps accounts -'Eat! Drink!' he says to you, but he doesn't really mean it. The little you eat you will vomit up, and your compliments will have been wasted.”
Proverbs 23:6-8
svang • Apr 9, 2010 at 12:16 am
Why do liberals have to wait for a bill to past AND THEN HAVE their money allocated?
Why not just do it? What if the bill didn't pass? Would they not give then?
Again, research shows that conservatives give more. You can challenge that in case was something I missed or the research was poor.
svang • Apr 9, 2010 at 12:01 am
“'Forced' health care should be funded by the rich, Jesus would definitely support this.”
Yes, Jesus encourages people to give but then again he doesn't force them. Forced giving is meaningless, and it does not equal to love.
Jesus did tell the young man to sell all that he has and give to the poor before he follows him. Did Jesus once make the young man sell his things and give to the poor? No. That's why the young man was allowed to walk away in the end, and Jesus did not bother to chase after the greedy, unwilling young man. He made his choice and Jesus accepted it.
Imagine yourself in Jesus' shoes (or sandals). Would you want a willing heart or a forced heart to be following you? I'm sure you would want a happy, willing heart than a heart that's not happy and will complain all the time.
“If a person truly follows Jesus wouldn't they have to do this?”
I agree with you on this one. A true follower shouldn't be rich. He should always be giving willingly that he can't save up to be rich. Sadly, some can't seem to give up more.
And, I'm not so sure what you mean by America's dark past.
Josh • Apr 8, 2010 at 6:21 pm
Svang, I agree with Mike's comment and I spent the first 19 years of my life as a bible scholar. You're right when you say that god loves a cheerful giver, but there are many who are very greedy and as we see when Jesus throws the moneychangers out of the temple, well Jesus thought greed was immoral and a bad thing. You are right, there are some generous conservatives and some generous liberals, the problem is the people with the most money in this country have billions of dollars because they're greedy. “Forced” health care should be funded by the rich, Jesus would definitely support this. Remember what he told the rich young ruler, “if you wish to follow me, you must sell all your belongings and give the money to the poor”. If a person truly follows Jesus wouldn't they have to do this? How can you be anything but poor and supporting your neighbors if you call yourself a christian? Jesus came to challenge traditions and peoples ways of thinking, by definition a conservative is someone who wants to uphold tradition. Jesus was a radical, radical is defined as “getting to the root of”. He challenged people to truly love each other and to “treat others as you would like to be treated”. Look at america's dark past, we do not have a tradition of love. Jesus was not a conservative.
Holly • Apr 8, 2010 at 6:02 pm
People are just scared of death and admitting their just another living thing on the planet.
Holly • Apr 8, 2010 at 5:50 pm
But Liberals are the one that vote to have their money allocated- if they are feeling forced that their money was being taken they wouldn't have voted for the bill to pass, and would therefore be a selfish conservative.
kevinharper • Apr 8, 2010 at 12:37 pm
Mike, if you really are confident with your position on the resurrection, I would imagine that you would be willing to debate it in public. I hope we can talk about this issue, unless you are afraid that you might learn something. Hopefully we can arrange a discussion and present our ideas in an organized, intelligent, and respectful format.( I left my contact info in the office.)
Also, fellow students: if you are unhappy with Mike's misrepresentation of Jesus, request that he engage in an open debate with an informed Christian like Tony Petersen.(Tony thank you for your intelligent resoonse). Or if you believe that Mike is absolutely right, request that he engage in a debate with a Christian so that he can prove them wrong.
jescat • Apr 8, 2010 at 11:08 am
All this article proves, or offers up factual information before, it that there is not such thing as a Christian Democrat, or a Christian Liberal. The opposite, I believe, of the purpose.
svang • Apr 8, 2010 at 1:39 am
Mike, you may know some things about Christianity but I doubt you have studied or understand Christianity. So, this puts your arguement at a very weak spot, and you probably did not know that. You're not alone. I have ran into many non-Christians who think they know too much that they can tear Christians down with their own scriptures. Before you make such arguments like this one, I would highly advise you to do more research in the Bible. Don't just know what the Bible says, anyone can recite or recall something, but understand what it means.
So, about the socialism and health care issue. Does Jesus support socialism and universal health care? Jesus teaches and supports loving your neighbor, giving to the poor, taking care of the sick, etc… But read this “Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” (2 Corinthians 9:7).
So, Mike, tell me if God's happy with a forced offer?
The answer is no. He doesn't want forced love. It says he loves a cheerful giver, someone who's willing to give. By FORCING people to support this health care reform (and if you don't you get fined) IS THAT TRUE LOVE? The answer is obvious, so I'm not going to even answer it.
If you think conservatives and Christians don't care about the poor, think twice.
– Most people don't believe it but conservatives give more than liberals.
http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=2682730&page=1 (read the first page and look up Arthur C. Brooks)
– When a tsunami hits a country, what kind of people willingly rush out there first?
– All these well known organizations YMCA, TWCA, Salvation Army, World Vision, Samaritan's Purse, and the list goes on, what is their foundation?
I'm not bragging about a certain group, but I feel like people have to be reminded again, so they can't make false accusations about conservatives and Christians.
So, you think liberals who give when they are forced to love the poor more than conservatives who don't need to be forced and still give to the poor?
WHOSE LOVE IS TRUE?
Marina • Apr 7, 2010 at 8:59 pm
This is the most ignorant thing i have read in my life.. are you aware of the fact that the health care bill is unconstitutional? Yes, congress has called themselves exempt from it which they cannot do according to the constitution. Second of all, Jesus is a homosexual? Sorry did I read that right? This is a paper written by someone who was bored and ill informed and i would appreciate it if the collegian ran more fact than radical opinion papers.
CaitlinSawatsky • Apr 7, 2010 at 6:59 pm
Damn! Knocked that right on the head – I have been thinking much of what you said for years. I'm glad someone smarter than me put it to words. Good job Mike!