Saw this garbage on Facebook today and will debunk this point by lame point. First of all, I did not comment, as to do so would cause an argument, hard feelings or both.
One can easily win this battle but lose the war. That is not what I want to do, I only want people to know this a HIGHLY INACCURATE but catchy bit of “bumper sticker wisdom” designed to forward a political agenda.
1. “Jesus, a homeless Palestinian” - Nothing could be
further from the truth. Without starting the Palestinian debate – it’s a
historical fact that modern scholars agree on, Jesus was from Israel. To say this is to deny Israel's existence.
There was no Palestine, there was Israel and there were other nations. Jesus was definitely from Israel.
2. “Jesus was homeless” - The
notion is conjured that Jesus was poverty stricken. Although it is true that
Jesus did not have a house that he lived in, He clearly had a support system. It was by choice that He did not stay in one place.
His means of support is not exactly clear from Gospel accounts, but
scholars agree that He was not poor.
It has also been suggested that
the gold brought as gifts by the Magi when He was an infant supported Him in His adult ministry years.
3. “Jesus was an anarchist” – Not once did Jesus advocate
military overthrow of any government – even the brutal Romans.
His
Kingdom was (is) spiritual – not military, that’s why the people turned against
Him and He was ultimately put to death (the insistence of the people vs. Pilot).
He even told the Pharisees to render unto Caesar the things that belong to
Caesar as in this exchange between Jesus and the Pharisees:
Matt. 22:15-21 (NIV) 15 Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap
him in his words. 16 They sent their disciples to him along with the
Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are a man of integrity and
that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed
by others, because you pay no attention to who they are. 17 Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right
to pay the imperial tax[a] to Caesar or
not?”18 But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you
trying to trap me? 19 Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, 20 and
he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose
inscription?”21 “Caesar’s,” they
replied. Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar
what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”
4. “Jesus held protests in oppressive temples” – Jesus
never ever “held a protest”. There are
many accounts of Jesus teaching in the
temple.
He did overturn tables and run off
people selling animals to sacrifice and taking advantage of worshipers
5. “Oppressive temples” -
The people running them
were indeed corrupt. There is nothing new about that. Jesus had a big problem with the religious
leaders. The only group of people He ever criticized was the Pharisees and
Sadducees. He was spoiling their gig – He was on to them, that’s why they
arrested Him, and with the people’s support, had Him put to death.
6. “Advocated for Redistribution of wealth and universal health care” – Not one time did Jesus advocate the redistribution of wealth. He did, however make the point several times that if your wealth is to the exclusion of God, it is bad as in:
Mark 4:18-20 (NIV) 18 Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; 19 but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. 20 Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.”
Contrast that verse with this that
tells people to use wealth for a Godly purpose.
Luke 16:9
(NIV)
I tell you, use worldly wealth
to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed
into eternal dwellings
7.
“Jesus Advocated for universal
health care” – The
only type of healthcare Jesus advocated was the healing that could and would be
given by God though compassion. There are many instances in The Gospels of
Jesus’
compassion.
His compassion for people was and is well known as in healing and in general
compassion for their well being.
Since
Jesus is God as we see in John 1 and 14
- 1 In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning, -
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling
among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came
from the Father, full of grace and truth
And God is love (literally) as seen in 1 John 4:7-9 : 7 Dear
friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves
has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know
God, because God is love. 9 This is how
God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that
we might live through him.
We are witness to many acts of
compassion both in the Gospels and in our lives – whether we acknowledge them
or not. Here is just one more from the Gospel of Mark
Mark
8:2 (NIV) “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three
days and have nothing to eat.
8. Executed for crimes against the state – Jesus was arrested by the religious
leaders because He was a threat to their lifestyle of taking advantage of the
people they were supposed to be helping by providing spiritual and physical
help when needed. Jesus was the turned over to the Romans to execute because
they (the religious leaders) had no authority to execute anyone.
The only “crime” Jesus committed, was
an alleged “threat” to Caesar’s authority when it was told to Pilate that He
was a King, but by Jesus’ own word His Kingdom was not of this world.
Pilate, himself did not want to kill
Jesus but was pressures into doing so by the religious leaders and the
people they had won over by this time –
as we see here:
Matt. 27:23 “Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate. But they shouted all the
louder, “Crucify him!”
Much more can be read about Jesus’
trial in Matt 27 and all the Gospels.
I want everyone to know
that Jesus does not care if you are a liberal, conservative, Marxist, or
whatever. He just wants us to love God and treat your fellow man with the same
love and compassion He has shown others as well as you and me.
How has He shown us
love and compassion? By dying on the cross Himself for us. In that act, He made
it possible for us to have eternal life with God by simply believing and
acknowledging that He (Jesus) is our Lord and Savior.
John 3:16, Romans
1:16, and Romans 10:9 says: If
you declare with your mouth,
“Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God
raised him from the dead, you will be saved
You see God has made it very clear to us
(EVERYONE) that He wants us to live with Him not use the Gospel to forward any
agenda accept Christ and Christ crucified
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