Relevant quote from St. Basil:
"Who is the covetous man? One for whom plenty is not enough. Who is the defrauder? One who takes away what belongs to everyone. And are not you covetous, are you not a defrauder, when you keep for private use what you were given for distribution? When some one strips a man of his clothes we call him a thief. And one who might clothe the naked and does not—should not he be given the same name?
The bread in your hoard belongs to the hungry; the cloak in your wardrobe belongs to the naked; the shoes you let rot belong to the barefoot; the money in your vaults belongs to the destitute. All you might help and do not—to all these you are doing wrong"
"Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’
Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
I have always loved how simply Jesus spells it out.
As a kid, I always felt it was so implausible that the Jews would kill Jesus. Yes he claims to be God, which is a no-no, but how can a message of peace and love be so divisive? As an adult, I’ve come to realize that it’s divisive to people who are angry and filled with hate, to people who hate peace and love. The Pharisees of 30CE are the exact same as most Christians today. If you walked in to some Trump country Baptist church today and flipped over the collection plates and told everyone there they were going to hell because the want to deport immigrants instead of help them, you’d be shot for sure.
you’d be shot for sure
Do you think it’s a coincidence that MLK was only shot once he started speaking out against the rich and unifying the lower class (of all races)? I’m not saying there was a conspiracy (though I wouldn’t rule it out) or that MLK was the second coming or a prophet, but it’s pretty clear he started making the ruling class nervous once he started talking about class war.
There absolutely was a conspiracy! Never forget the FBI murdered Fred Hampton and Mark Clark. Never forget what the FBI did to the Black Panthers and the American Indian Movement.
Everyone needs to know about COINTELPRO
I don’t think it was the message of love that did it, more the implied message of “Jews are no longer the only people with the right to heaven and god - everyone is”
The Jewish people who saw the value/truth of this message became Christians. The ones who didn’t like the idea of not being The Chosen Folk anymore were the ones who called him a heretic
I am sending this to all my neo-lib and conservative leaning friends who go to church every day while people are being imprisoned and having their lives and rights taken away.
Where I’ve come in regards to the Pharisees is that they were willing to make violent concessions for the sake of a tenuous status quo. Passover was often a flash point of rebellious activity in Jerusalem (which is why Pilate is there in the first place; to keep Jewish people suppressed and to put down any riots or revolutions from would-be messiahs). Violence was not infrequent at the time. And every time there was violence, Rome would take away more freedoms from Jews.
So the Pharisees are put in a position to see Jesus as a potential catalyst for Roman violence. So they figure that if they help hand over another would-be messiah then they can have a quiet Passover. But this mentality winds up being a sort of Leopards-eating-faces situation because Rome destroys Jerusalem a few years later anyway (due to a would-be messiah—just one that the Pharisees thought might be the real deal this time).
Yeah but he also said to love each other, and people quickly realized that he was wrong.
Shut up!
Fuck arbitrary value. There, I said it.
Uh, question. How does one put their penis in this? A-asking for a friend…
Just gonna say for those uninitiated, if memory serves right this little comic is from Chick Tracts. Which are fucking wild basically if you can think of an Evangelical bigotry or conspiracy theory they are all fucken in. As for how a bunch of them became memes my money is on The Bible Reloaded, though I think they were already memes before then.
That one about roleplaying games alone was destined to be a meme.
Yeah I’m pretty sure that one in particular dates back to either somethingawful or YTMD.
Check out a Tijuana Bible if you want to see some wild shit
You know, I’m something of a leftist myself.
You never know when some lunatic will come along with a sadistic choice.
And then there was a fire fight! *rapturous dancing*
I don’t know where that candid jesus image is from but it has so much Dicaprio Raising Drink energy that if it hasn’t been memed already then it should
Pretty sure that is Willem Dafoe from The Last Temptation of Christ.
And yeah, it has Buddy Christ energy.
He’s something of a messiah, himself.
I know there were a lot of things about Last Temptation that were very difficult for a lot of people to cope with, but to me the most challenging thing is Willem Defoe as Jesus H. Christ.
He is risen.
wink
All those NY accents among the disciples lol
Precisely from the scene where the disciples realize that the water has been changed to wine at the wedding. John looks over at Jesus and sees that image. Jesus also gives a wink iirc. As one devoted to our Savior I feel like that shot absolutely captures what Jesus was like when He walked our earth.
Ready for that
It’s a pretty funny scene, too.
“There’s not enough wine!”
“What’s in there?”
“That’s water, I put it there myself.”
“Look again.”
[Checks. It’s wine.]
[Jesus delivers face above]
WWJD?
Get apprehended and sent to a gulag in El Salvador.
It’s funny you mention that because as I was reading the story of Garcia yesterday I couldn’t help but see parallels to the whole back-and-forth that happens to Jesus after His arrest. An innocent man yanked around by an unjust system.
Jesus was a socialist
This is a reminder there is no such thing as a “Christian” just people who pretend to be so they have an excuse to act unchristian like towards anyone they envy.
I was raised conservative Christian and I lost my faith in university. You’re 100% right but I sometimes feel a strong urge to “convert” back but only practice the cool parts. Like I’d one-up christians and quote Jesus’ most socialist verses at them. Maybe start a Facebook page about how the NT has been corrupted in this modern day, conspiracy-theorist style, but the hidden message is just Marxism.
I feel like somebody out there has embodied that, and I’d like to give them space to reclaim the word Christian for themself at least.
That is how most new branches of religion start. Instead maybe Christianity in its core is not what modern people think it is. The Bible itself is a collection and not a single written source. Think of it as a foss project that got forked early on, then a few people took parts of these forks and sample it into the versions we know today, which then also got forked with every translation.
So if you decide to do what said you should consider checking other religions such as Islam and see what you like there as well.
Oh I hate all religions you don’t wanna get me derailed
They’re all horrible.
I won’t split hairs and decide if one is worse than another.
They’re all anti human, and intolerant of logic.
“But what about my religion?”
Yeah yours too.
Science or magic.
One gives us vaccines cell phones and space ships
The other gives us anti vaccines, and a place for rapists to hide
I agree completely. I’m honestly a little annoyed by some of the antitheists in this thread. They should know that historically societies become less religious after quality of life and progressive outlooks develop, not before. So the way you “defeat religion”, if that’s even possible, is by raising living standards and fighting for equality. There are Christians who do more to end Christianity than most atheists.
Also using FOSS as an analogy for religion is hilarious to me for some reason. It works though.
My father in law is a member of the communist party and was a theology professor at a prestigious university, he’s also a catholic and went to seminary (didn’t become a priest though). Point is that there are absolutely leftist Christians out there. You can lead by example.
But also keep in mind that there have been people out there spreading these words, the problem is that when they get too influential, they get disappeared or murdered
Christianity is pretty much not about Christ at all, it’s about leveraging him to confer authority over the words of certain people.
Please do this.
I like imagining Jesus as a transgender man. Like, why would god have a Y chromosome?
I do get a little spiritual enjoyment out of it - the idea of a Christ like me, that I can aspire to be like - when I’m really stoned I can almost believe it.
Christ, the supernatural human born from a all knowning deity does not exist.
Christ as philosophical medium to carry a message of love, mutual aid and societal progress is very real.
I denounced Jaweh the demiurge in second grade, but his supposed “son” continues to be a rolemodel to me to this very day.
Jesus was a socialist
Not all Christians follow American Christianity. But too many do.
There are no moral billionaires. Rich men do not enter the Kingdom of Heaven. There are no billionaires in Paradise. In the end, every last one of them burns.
Unfortunately they’re doing their best to burn the rest of us in this life.
They instinctively know where they belong, so they spend their entire lives trying to bring Hell to Earth.
In the end, every last one of them burns.
If there was a just god, they would all burn. But if there was a just god, they wouldn’t get to be billionaires in the first place. Billionaires aren’t worried about hell or the afterlife because most of them know deep down that there will be no repercussions for their unethical behavior.
This line of logic never made sense to me. You could just as easily argue that, as god, the only way to prevent billionaires or people hoarding wealth/resources would be to get rid of free will, and that in a way is also immoral.
He has ended folks free will several times, because folks be sinnin’. The bible contends that was just, so there’s plenty of options to stop people from hording wealth.
But my contention is that he doesn’t exist, and if he does, he is the most immoral being.
I didn’t mean in the biblical god sense, just a higher being.
And this line of logic never made sense to me. If God can’t prevent billionaires from hoarding wealth without getting rid of free will, then that means that God is not all powerful. Furthermore, if God can’t prevent billionaires from hoarding wealth, then that insinuates that there will be billionaires hoarding wealth in heaven, or there will be no free will in heaven.
Truth.
Also, the predominant image of fire in the Bible is that of purification (not punishment). So the idea is that billionaires (or other such sinners) will not be simply burned away, but will be confronted with what their wealth hoarding has caused. They will have to endure the pain of being rid of their sinfulness in order come out on the other side. So there are no billionaires in Paradise in the sense that every person who is a billionaire in this life will one day be ridden of their wealth in order to enter said Paradise.
This is precisely the image Jesus uses when He speaks of the “eye of the needle.” Tradition holds that this phrase is in reference to a small gate that required a camel (or other pack animal) laden with goods to be unencumbered in order to pass through. The rich must let go of their wealth in order to enter God’s kingdom in the same way because that wealth is like dross to them.
Tradition holds that this phrase is in reference to a small gate
It’s a fake tradition.
We were taught no one ever escapes hell. It’s eternal. No one is purified and comes out the other side ready for heaven.
Good way to keep the ignorant peasants quiet, calm, and obedient.
Who says that the bible is morally right?
Christians
I don’t know who Colin Bodayle is, but from the responses he got from his students I think he is located in the US. There is rot in the US culture that’s too deep, Trump is just it surfacing. Greed, individualism and selfishness are considered virtues, I noticed it when talking to coworkers there through the years. If Jesus ever went to the US he’d be crucified that is if he wasn’t arrested at the border by ICE for being a Palestinian. The US claims to be a Christian nation, yet it is the furthest from it. What good is your religion if it doesn’t make you do good? What good is your religion if it doesn’t make you overcome your selfishness and greed?
Yeah, it’s the fruit of almost a century of anti-communist propaganda.
To be fair over many many centuries, Christians aren’t exactly very following of the ways of Christ.
Yeah, it’s what led me to leave the faith. What I read in the NT wasn’t what was practiced in the church.
According to the internets, “Liberation Theology” is a Christian movement that started in Latin America in the 1960s, that preaches against oppression. They sound like the opposite of right-wing “Christians”.
Yeah the right wing Christians were training death squads to murder Liberation theology priests in Latin America.
As far as I’ve understood, that is precisely one of the reasons the current pope has such a strong base in Latin America and so many in that part of the world wanted to see him as pope.
The Jesuit University System (SUJ) actively promotes liberation theology through curriculum in Mexico, and I would expect the Jesuits have similar structures and programs in other countries and parts of the world.
Interesting, I never knew that, even though my parents sent me to a Jesuit high school in Portland OR. All boys sadly, but academically fantastic.
If Jesus came to the US he would smack the shit out of all of us
Was Jesus a political man?
deleted by creator
There’s a “block user” feature that I recommend you make use of. This is a post about Christianity, bringing up Jesus and the fact that he was Palestinian is on topic, it is additionally relevant as Palestinians are being targeted by the US government domestically and abroad.
Jesus is looking friendly, but also like he could totally go crazy and flip a money lenders table. It’s hard to tell if he is dafriend or dafoe.
Remember that the louder the Christian the less Christian they actually are.
Broken clock moment.
Leviticus 24:16
Whoever blasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall stone him.Plenty of other nice punishments for whatever. burning at the stake, hanging, and crucifixion.
Or maybe some non-lethal whipping or wife beating.
No thanksYou assume I’m extolling the virtues of Christianity when I’m just pointing out that their own religious text agrees with the comment I’m replying to.
I get the feeling you’re beating a dead horse.
Your reply might very well be that, since there is nothing in your verse contradicting his faulty statement that there are good ‘true’ christians.
Jesus Christ, there’s nothing stating there are good true Christians either. Are you this combative with everyone, or is religion just a tender spot for you?
Projection much?
I simply made a statement.
No noeed to jebus me or give me your amateur psycho-analysis.
Why do you get so triggered by it?
Religion is nothing to me, hapily atheist youth in western Europe without annoying bible thumpers.
It’s nothing more to me than a subject of ridicule.
But I’ll leave it at that since it clearly hits a nerve. Bye nowI simply made a statement.
…yeah, and I just provided a quote. Didn’t stop you from projecting your assumptions onto me below.
Your reply might very well be that, since there is nothing in your verse contradicting his faulty statement that there are good ‘true’ christians.
What is this “YOU DIDN’T DISAVOW, YOU MIGHT AS WELL SUPPORT IT” juvenile reasoning.
you can just say “my bad, I didn’t know where you were coming from and thought you were a bible thumper”
But I’ll leave it at that since it clearly hits a nerve.
Ah, the classic “I’m rubber, you’re glue” line.
Well, have a good day as well.
Do you imagine that the same people wrote the stuff in Leviticus and Matthew? They were composed like 400-600 years apart
Why would I care about that?
Not a fan of the fantasy genreOooo so edgy lmao, maybe because you’re pretending to care about facts
yawn.
Stopped discussing bible thumpers and flat earthers when I was 12. So bye
Yet here you are
used to believe that. and that there was an elusive demographic of “Schroedenger’s Christians” who were true believers and didn’t want to hurt anyone. but at its core, that’s just not the point. the tolerant christians are the outliers and as of ten years ago they may as well not exist
ACAB
Can’t be a true believer in eternal damnation and suffering and “not want to hurt anyone”
Our flawed brains simply can’t truly comprehend eternity and the creator of said brains also wants to use eternity as punishment. Supporting a system that is so cruel and final is in itself an act of cruelty.
Any Christian now who remains silent in the face of their peers white nationalist hatred partakes in that hatred.
exactly. it’s a “if there are good cops then where the fuck are they when the bad ones kill somebody” situation.
I’m not Christian but I doubt this, most people like to keep to themselves despite their religion.
I grew up deep in their community. No they dont. They hate everyone who isn’t them and are pretty stoked they don’t have to passively tell people “I’ll pray for you” anymore. Getting back to white hoods as fast as possible was always the goal.
The first commandment being “I am thy God and though shalt have no other gods before me” (which implies the existence of other gods quite directly) before “thou shalt not kill” is pretty indicative or the actual attitude of the religion.
“The intolerance of narrow monotheism is written in letters of blood across the history of man from the time when first the tribes of Israel burst into the land of Canaan. The worshippers of the one jealous God are egged on to aggressive wars against people of alien [beliefs and cultures]. They invoke divine sanction for the cruelties inflicted on the conquered. The spirit of old Israel is inherited by Christianity and Islam, and it might not be unreasonable to suggest that it would have been better for Western civilization if Greece had moulded it on this question rather than Palestine.”
— Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
10 years is super generous.
Christ’s teachings were an inspiration to Marx
Yes, in the same way that Marx’s teachings were an inspiration to Hitler — as a convenient source for plagiarism and fertile grounds for the delusion that each of them had found the one piece of the puzzle that everyone before them missed: that if only you went and killed all the Pharisees, the Kingdom of God would materialize on earth without all that annoying and painful self-sacrifice.
Not at all, Marx thought Jesus’ idea of feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and tending to the sick was a good goal and envisioned a pathway to achieve that IRL.
But Jesus already showed the path and there were many saints who came after him who can attest to its efficacy.
Meanwhile, everyone who attempted to put Marx’s ideas into action has ended up killing millions of people and driving their entire country into misery and poverty.
I’m going to say this as a priest ordained in Christ’s One, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church (Episcopal branch): that choice of Jesus image is chef’s kiss
This is one of those shadow boxing christians threads. Yeah, maybe you all look cool in the mirror but they’re going to wake up tomorrow with no idea you insulted their entire belief structure.
Don’t get me wrong. I loved it when my dad asked, “when did you stop being christian” because I vehemently am against his every belief. I loved turning the tables on him and asking the same with regards to everything trump has said and done. End of the day though he’ll just go back to his hidey hole, and myself too.
If you have religious friend you should try it. Call them on trumps shit and the when they invoke god, which they always do, ask, “who’s god” because Jesus doesn’t want this shit.
Does anyone have that slide deck? Asking for a friend
Real Marxists know Marx didn’t morally condemn the rich. He wanted the workers to take hold of the productive forces created under capitalism and organize it under a rational basis.
Yup. The great issue with capitalism, is that it wasn’t formally designed to enrich society as a whole. It merely is an upgraded iteration of feudalism. You can give a pig a top hat and monocle, but it is still a pig.
We will need a new Constitution, one built to acknowledge that Economics is power. The framers addressed politics and violence, but overlooked the fundamental impact that money has on society. Floors and ceilings on wealth should be implemented, so that the likes of Musk or Trump cannot exist.
deleted by creator
The American revolution was historically progressive. It led to the French and Haitian revolutions as well. I don’t think we have to single out specific figures, although Thomas Paine was on the radical edge. Jefferson was also a radical who supported the French revolution and yet he owned slaves. By now, capitalism has outlived it’s historical usefulness.
that’s why it’s ML, Marxist Leninism, and not just Marxism
What are you trying to say? I think Lenin had useful insights and strategies, but Marxism is a bit broader.
I’m not saying anything lmao they call themselves ML and not just Marxists for this reason
You mean Stalinists call themselves ML? For what reason?
Stalinists are ML
Rationalism sprinkled with authoritarianism, brutality and famine?
whatever you say
Lenin was a murderous brutal dictator.
