Christians: Jesus is too woke
I recently described why I think “woke” has become a vacuous word that means little more than “libtard” in modern parlance. It seems apropos, then, that Christianity Today also recently released a piece that saw the editor-in-chief claim (in a previous NPR interview) that evangelical Christianity is moving too far to the right.
It turns out that Jesus’s teachings are increasingly considered by many Christians to be too “liberal” and “weak.”
https://onlysky.media/jpearce/christians-jesus-is-too-woke/Open linkView original on lemmy.one133
Comments26
When you go so far to the Right that you leave your own religion
They never were. They just didn't realize it.
"we were Christians, until we found out that Christians are just libtard commie socialists!"
And now they're just Trumpians, with their very own Orange Joseph Smith.
So we have finally come to where Supply Side Jesus is no longer ironic
Christians without the Christ. Just a bunch of Ians
It's telling that these people allegedly believe a person to literally be an all-wise God but they still think that they know better than him.
And what's with "that doesn't work anymore" as an excuse? Why doesn't that line of reasoning apply to genital mutilation, female subservience to husbands, homophobia and all those other pre-Jesus positions that they still continue to justify based on their alleged faith?
The hypocrisy is transparent. They might as well come out and say that they'll just believe whatever is convenient and expect other people to treat those beliefs as sacred. I might actually respect them a little if they did.
The above pretty much sums up why I despise the church nowadays.
I'm the least religious person ever. But aren't you quoting exactly what the church is trying to argue against? My point being that your statement would be more accurate if you had said "this pretty much sums up why I despise church-goers nowadays".
You're right on all accounts.
Most “Christians” are actually just Satanic hypocrites and don’t even know it. Been this way for centuries.
Ironic, because modern Satanism aligns a lot with what “woke Jesus” promoted. The Seven Fundamental Tenets, et al.
Satanic?
Anti christ? Pretty much says it in the Bible. Yes, worshiping false Jesus is satanic I do believe
I don’t mean in the good way.
“Christians: You mean I need to be nice to these (slur) (slur)”
No, they were. It's just not the version that gets hyped in the PR. It's the isolationist and racist version that's in the Gospels, but talked about quietly instead of openly.
Of course everyone does. But the scriptural support for their conservative outlook is there in Jesus' words. Let's not pretend otherwise. The fact that it contradicts other things attributed to Jesus is a feature, not a bug.
It's disappointing how often I need to bring these out for display.
Jesus fails to "turn the other cheek" and instead gets violent: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+21:12-13
He threatens eternal torture in fire to anyone who doesn't accept his teaching:
https://biblehub.com/matthew/10-28.htm
https://biblehub.com/matthew/7-19.htm
https://biblehub.com/matthew/13-41.htm and https://biblehub.com/matthew/13-42.htm
https://biblehub.com/matthew/13-49.htm and https://biblehub.com/matthew/13-50.htm
https://biblehub.com/matthew/25-46.htm
https://biblehub.com/mark/16-16.htm
https://biblehub.com/luke/12-5.htm
https://biblehub.com/john/3-18.htm, etc.
He kills a fig tree for not bearing fruit that he knew was out of season: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+11%3A12-25
He endorses racism: https://biblehub.com/matthew/15-24.htm
When a gentile woman begs for his help he calls her a dog: https://biblehub.com/matthew/15-25.htm and https://biblehub.com/matthew/15-26.htm
He plays favorites: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark+4%3A10-12
He destroys a village's livelihood: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+8
He teaches Christians to have a persecution complex: https://biblehub.com/matthew/5-11.htm
He teaches thought crime: https://biblehub.com/matthew/5-28.htm
He disputes the concept of personal responsibility: https://biblehub.com/matthew/6-25.htm
He condemns skepticism: https://biblehub.com/matthew/14-31.htm and https://biblehub.com/john/20-27.htm
He teaches self-harm in the cause of religious purity: https://biblehub.com/matthew/18-8.htm
He sends his disciples to steal a man’s donkey: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+19%3A29-34
He was not a peacemaker: https://biblehub.com/matthew/10-34.htm
He was divisive: https://biblehub.com/luke/14-26.htm and https://biblehub.com/luke/14-33.htm
He was a liar: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john+7%3A8-10
This is the Jesus they worship, not the Jesus you're taught in the preteen Sunday School.
A few of these are on point but most are really a reach.
Whether or not you want to admit it, this stuff is there and people like this use them to justify what they already wanted to do. It's hardly controversial to say the Bible is a Rorschach test that reveals more of the bias of the Christian than what the Christian is supposed to follow.
No True Scotsman. Yes, they have been taught Christianity. The problem is that Christianity often contradicts itself and most people choose to pay attention to the selfish parts instead of the hard parts that would actually help them to become better people.
Ah, life in the American Paulity.
Sheeple follow, it's just what they do, just like water flows downhill and stars burn brightly - they literally cannot do otherwise, no matter how much you might wish it so.
Both the Old and New Testaments have a LOT harsher criticism against improper leadership than about idiots doing idiotic things. e.g. let masses have their alcohol, easing the aches and pains of a farming existence, but a KING must be sober at practically all times. And better a large heavy stone be tied around your neck and be thrown into the sea (to sleep with the fishes) than to be caught leading the sheeple astray.
So it seems to me to confirm the attitudes of the Greek stoics, as the serenity prayer says (short version used by 12-step programs):
In other words, it is more true to say that Hillary lost than that Trump won, and history may repeat itself again if Biden + Kamala loses and Trump takes office again (focusing on USA politics bc I think that's where "woke" is mostly from). As Obama says, a LOT of what influences our daily lives is not what happens dramatically in DC but rather unexciting (or at least less) local governments - state, city, whatever.
Can we, WILL we, try to do better than those who are not capable of or otherwise refuse to do anything more?
I’m all for laughing at the bigots, but in the centuries that Christianity had been co-opted as a state religion and as tool of power, we have lost sight of the fact that there are some real radical bomb shells in the New Testament.
Turning the other cheek is a popular one, but what do you think about that bit about a camel passing through the eye of the needle, or the whole table flipping at the merchants in the temple business?
Biblical Jesus was a radical anticapitalist and pacifist. We have been using his teachings to justify war and greed instead.
The guy who came to bring not peace but a sword was a pacifist? That's some interesting cherry-picking.
That's what he said, true. You should pay more attention to what he did. I'm talking about Jesus the character here, because I don't really believe that such a person actually existed. But if he could multiply bread and fishes, then he could multiply swords and arrows. If he could heal the sick, and kill trees with a thought, then he could sicken the healthy. If he could turn water into wine, well, people are 80% water and alcohol is lethal in large doses. If he could take demons out of a person's body, force them into pigs and then make those pigs commit mass suicide, he could have chosen Roman soldiers instead of the pigs. But he didn't.
Yes, he flipped out once, when he saw that people were using a place he considered sacred to turn a quick buck by scamming the faithful. That's understandable. The fact is (as far as I can use the word "fact" for a fictional character) that he could have used his divine powers to make it rain blood on his enemies, both figuratively and literally, like some of the prophets before him had done (e.g. ten plagues of Egypt, siege of Jericho), but didn't. He chose to let himself be killed instead just to set an example. That's hardcore pacifism.