All around us everyday in politics, Christian and mainstream media, and in personal life examples, we see Jesus portrayed. The tragic thing is He is often not portrayed for who He really is. The image put forth of who Jesus Christ is, what He says, what He believes, and how He wants us to treat others and live in this world is often not accurate and has nothing to do with what the Bible says about Him, or even what He said about Himself! His very words are many times not quoted or represented for what they are, but with spin. Here is a synopsis of the most popular versions of “jesus” – followed by a description of the REAL Jesus, from His own words…
“The Tyrant Jesus” – This jesus preaches a hard message of condemnation and judgement to all “sinners.” You must live in fear of this jesus, who will act out in rage and anger, even to the point of causing environmental disasters to you and your communities, if you do something wrong and live in a “sinful” lifestyle. Forget unconditional love, mercy and grace – that is reserved for those he likes, who follows his strict code of conduct. He puts the most emphasis on outward holiness and is most concerned with people keeping a list of do’s and don’t’s.
“Jesus The Elite” – This jesus measures your success and your holiness on the amount of worldly goods you own and money you have in the bank. Your net worth is the main indicator of how holy you are. His main concern for your continued success and growth as a person is that you keep yourself from the company of the poor, wretched, dirty, unsuccessful and mostly all those who shop at Walmart. According to this jesus, those people are in that situation because they have done something wrong – they either don’t have enough faith, or are in sin. Your amount of blessedness, holiness and righteousness, after all, reflects in the clothes you wear, the car you drive and the house you live in…building up great treasures on earth is a high priority.
“The ‘I Don’t Care’ Jesus” – He is there for you when you need him…but could care less what you did today, or even this year, for that matter. This jesus is detached and unconcerned with your daily life and how you live it. As long as you aren’t murdering or committing crimes against others, you’re all good. He does not hold you accountable for your actions, doesn’t care if you understand his word or share your life with him, or even call him Lord. Just bring him your Christmas list once a year and he’ll be there. Other than that, he offers no security.
The REAL Jesus…
If the different jesus’ above don’t quite feel right or are unsettling, that’s GOOD! They shouldn’t, because they are false – they are man-made spins and gross distortions of the Word of God and the words of Jesus. So what did Jesus REALLY say about himself…his beliefs, how we are to treat others, what we should most value? Don’t let us tell you…read for yourself! Click on the link of each verse to go directly to that verse.
Luke 4: 16-19 – His mission
Matthew 5:3-12 – What and WHO He blesses
Mark 7: 5-23 – What he says about outward righteousness
Luke 14: 7-24 – What he says about associating with the poor and humility
John 13:1-17 – His attitude and command of what our attitude should be
Matthew 11: 28-30 – His description of himself
Luke 22: 24-27 – What he says it means to be GREAT and successful
Matthew 16: 13-16 – Who is he?
Thank you to Wings of Life Worship Center and Pastor David Forrester as well as Rob Bell ministries for the references to this blog.
It is hard for me to understand how someone could be a Christion and be a democrat at the same time knowing what the democratic party stands for. Gay rights, Gay Marriage, Pro Abortion, Removal Of The Ten Commandments from schools and public buildings and the courts, Open homosexual teachings in public schools and Open homosexuality in the military, and the general overall liberal leanings of the democratic party in the destruction of conservative christion values for not only the cpountry but the world. I myself am an independent as I don’t want to associate myself with any party simply for this reason. I might further add that Jesus loves all of humanity unconditionaly even those that will burn. Salvation however is conditional, you can only obtain it on the condition that you accept it.
Homosexuals will not get into heaven can you tell me why? If you don’t have the answer then you better do a little more study.
I agree with most of this… I worry that a lot of this is mythologized. Who really believes in Rich Jesus? I suppose it shows up in nuanced ways – “God has blessed us with wealth” – which actually could be a blessing, since “wealth” is morally neutral and dependent on whether it is directed to a good end or not. If that wealth is used to send children to good schools, to grow up to be good citizens, who have little enough debt that they can pursue a career in international aid or community organizing, then yes, that wealth was a blessing. If a significant portion of that wealth goes to philanthropy, then yes, that wealth was a blessing.
I see what you’re getting at. But the only person I’ve ever heard talking about “Rich Jesus” was one successful entrepreneur – and I know a whole lot of Christians…. close to 1,000 at least. That makes a **fraction of a percent** of the total population. I wonder if sometimes “Rich Jesus” is a caricature of a small minority.
I think a much more relevant title would be “Partisan Jesus” – actually (I’m laughing right now) I just realized why you didn’t say that. I was thinking about right-wing religious leaders and blogs who use religion towards their political end (often, libertarianism)… that seems to be what you’re getting at with “Rich Jesus”.
[Side note – I think your paradigm is all wrong. Tax cuts to the rich don’t really fall under true conservative ideology… tax cuts to businesses are intended to create more jobs to employ the poor. I’m not saying I agree with conservatives, but if “Conservatives” are who you’re going after with “Rich Jesus” I think that’s too simplistic.]
But you couldn’t use “Partisan Jesus”, of course, “Christian Democrats” do the same thing, politicizing Jesus, and it would be too self-revealing to post on a blog. Sigh. It seems that there are issues on both sides of the aisle that are in line with Christ’s teaching. Doesn’t it seem limiting to affiliate with a political party?
Summer – The reference to “Jesus the Elite” could be interpreted that way, but more so it is in reference to a MAJOR movement for the past few decades in Christian circles. Thousands and even millions in evangelical circles across the country preach a doctrine of “prosperity” – it has been referred to as “the prosperity movement.” It does, many times, result in a political philosophy of “the poor are where they are because of their own mistakes” and a mindset of punishing the poor – but more often this distortion of the Gospel has started in the pulpit. There are even infomercials on Christian television networks advocating studies that are nothing more than “get rich quick through prayer” schemes. Some churches even put the top tithers on a special plaque to showcase to the church who has given the most.
Being rich in itself is not an evil…as Jesus clearly said, the LOVE of money is what is evil. And associating how righteous a person is with their social standing is definitely that and very contrary to Jesus’ words. He also said you cannot serve two masters.
Bob – We encourage you to read the Issues on our site that explain the gay rights and abortion issues in detail. As for the removal of the Ten Commandments, we do not agree with that either – however, that is not a general Democratic philosophy, but the works of specific far-left groups. The ACLU and others may do this, but the official Democratic party does not.
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Bob: I can’t follow your logic – and therefore do not arrive at the same conclusions. Something that really stuck out to me, though: I don’t/won’t claim to be an expert or scholar, but I am fairly confident that there is a HUGE difference between someone being “pro-abortion,” as you say, verses pro-choice. Nobody WANTS an abortion, least of all the women who must grapple with that life-altering decision. Though we’ve done a lot of things well in this country, educating young people about sexuality and their reproductive responsibilities is NOT one of those areas of success. If people were more educated about their bodies – AND if safe family planning/contraceptive care was both accessible and affordable the demand for abortions would decrease dramatically. Wouldn’t Christ work with patience, love, and teaching to change our ways, instead of restricting the rights of people to govern themselves? As for homosexuality, gay marriage, and gays in the military… where’s the proverbial fire? The divorce rate for this country is just over 50 percent – so the “sanctity” of marriage argument has more than a few holes in it. If two men, or two women, love each other enough to spend their lives together in the same way as a man and a woman might, why would Jesus have a problem? Some of the most Christlike people I have ever met are gay – and a few are even married. And what is the problem with a gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender person wanting to serve our country?
Christ’s final commandment was that we “love one another” as Christ loves us. That doesn’t leave much room for interpretation – because Christ loves everyone unconditionally. If we were to actually love each other this way, people would have the education and care they need to (almost always) avoid even needing to consider an abortion. And if we loved each other as Christ loves, it wouldn’t matter if gays were in the military – because we wouldn’t even need a military – and the LGBT community would be accepted all the same.
Christ is bigger than any political party or social problem.
Well said Iian – Christ is bigger. There are no Democratic leaders who WANT to see more abortions happen, no Christian or moral person would…but because of sin in this world (“sin” referring to not just sexual, but violence as in rape, incest, and the sins of greed that cause the economic hardships that make up the majority of reasons women have abortions) abortions will always be with us, until we reach heaven. We can ONLY do our very best to reduce their number as much as possible. We know how to do this – it involves support (economic and emotional/spiritual), availability of low cost health services and birth control for women, and as you stated, education.
For decades, the GOP has pushed the “abortion” button and used abortion as a political tool – it is sad and immoral. Instead of trying to solve problems for women, they choose to cause more strife and argument.
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