From the pen of Jonathan Falwell (Jerry’s son) in his “Fallwell Confidential” email newsletter this week:
We also hear people insinuating that Jesus would be driving a hybrid car if He were on the earth today. Or we hear that Jesus would be working to help the oppressed people of our world.
Moreover, I believe that even within the church today we often see depictions of Jesus that are simply unfounded.
The fact is that opinions of Jesus don’t really matter.
Apparently Matthew 23 and 25 don’t matter either. (Stupid Jesus with all his stupid opinions!)
(Hat tip to one of my fundy spies.)
Nice catch!!!
Well of course, anyone who believes differently from me does so because they have unfounded Biblical beliefs.
I doubt Falwell Jr has the upper hand on Biblical exegesis here. It is his worldview that is sadly lacking Biblical support.
Wondering about the context of what he’s saying (what does he say after that?)
And, I’m assuming he means people’s opinions about Jesus, and not Jesus’s opinions.
The fact is that opinions of Jesus don’t really matter.
For Christians, it’s Jesus’s opinions of them that matter.
It is his worldview that is sadly lacking Biblical support.
Seems to me most if not all Christians have read the bible that way.
The next bit of it reads:
So it is all about “getting saved”? Was that the principle message? Get saved cuz you are gonna die. Or was the message, the Kingdom of God is at hand? If that is/was the message then there is much more to it that personal, individual salvation. The gospel is holistic, for the whole man, not just his soul.
Falwell Jr’s father seemed to spend a lot of time in the arena of applying the Scripture (good bad or indifferent) to the grander spectrum of life.
So it is all about “getting saved� Was that the principle message?
I’ve always thought that the case in Christianity.
For many UU’s too really, when you consider the Universalits side of our tradition felt Universal Salvation important enought to call themselves Universalists
On the surface, I tend to agree with him. I hate the “Jesus would be green,” “Jesus is a liberal,” “Jesus was a politician” crap.
Standing up for something you believe in and inciting others to do the same, does not make you a politician. It makes you a leader. Caring about the poor does not make you a liberal. It makes you a compassionate person. And, being spiritually in tune with nature/God does not make you an environmentalist. It makes you… spiritually in tune with nature/God.
Jesus was, we hope/think, a unbelievably compassionate, spiritual leader who, more than anything else, taught about love.
And, for the record, I don’t think Jesus would drive a car at all, but that has nothing to do with being green and everything to do with being poor and humble. I think his preferences about owning things are pretty clear in the Bible. Now, that’s not to say he wouldn’t call shotty every now and again.
The nice thing about not being Christian is not having to answer questions like “what was Jesus’s principle message.” I mean, I can have an opinion about it, but it doesn’t need to have biblical support.
Contrary to what CP wrote, my impression of Jesus is that he was very much political. I got that impression when I read “The Five Gospels”, the Jesus Seminar’s book on what Jesus said. When I went thru it and just read the red and pink entries (stuff Jesus is likely to have said), in their new translation, it sounded very much like Jesus was, first and foremost, a radical political person; more than religious.
Somehow, I doubt that the bible is a very accurate record.