icanthearyou 4,462 Posted October 5, 2015 Share Posted October 5, 2015 IMO, Christians should follow Christ. Christians should never attempt to qualify, amend, or append any ideology to Christ's teaching, or Christ in their hearts. I believe that Christ made His message very simple for a reason. I believe that any time that message is made complicated or divisive, there is ultimately an ulterior, worldly motive at work. If your practice of Christianity becomes ideological, profitable, denominational, political, are you following Christ or, are you furthering some other cause? I think we should be very careful answering that question. If there is an ultimate sin, a sin greater than other sin, it would be to carelessly, or intentionally, distort the message of Christ. :starorange: :starorange: In the immortal words of Rocky Balboa, "other than my kid being born, this is the greatest day in the history of my life". To achieve the highly coveted EMT fifth star is,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,well, I just do not have the words. I will do everything in my power to remain the humble, lovable person you all know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AURaptor 1,122 Posted October 5, 2015 Share Posted October 5, 2015 IMO, Christians should follow Christ. Christians should never attempt to qualify, amend, or append any ideology to Christ's teaching, or Christ in their hearts. Gee, not too different than something I said before, is it ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quietfan 233 Posted October 5, 2015 Share Posted October 5, 2015 I won't speak for others' beliefs. My belief is that Jesus said help the poor. I think that includes electing leaders who will help the poor and fostering a government that will help the poor. I don't think he meant "Help the poor, but only in these limited, restricted ways." And as voting, taxpaying citizen in a democracy, I'm a share holder and part owner of every dollar the government has, regardless of source, so giving government money to the poor IS giving them MY money. I don't know how anyone can defend greed as being a Christian value, or claim to be a Christian while endorsing greed, but that is their prerogative and their soul in the balance and I don't presume to answer for them. I agree with you that Jesus said to help the poor. I agree that Christians should try to elect people with Christian values such as helping the poor. I believe that Jesus told Christians to feed the poor for the Christians' sakes, not for the sake of the poor. Jesus can eliminate poverty anytime He/She/It chooses. I think that electing a government that will force citizens to pay more to feed the poor has NOTHING to do with Christianity. I further believe that the attitude that "because I am paying taxes which go to feed the poor, then I am relieved of my Christian obligation of feeding the poor" would be distorting Jesus' command and would likely be because I am worshipping my money more than my Savior. We aren't too far apart in our beliefs.I think Jesus asked us to help the poor for BOTH our own sake and for their's. Of course by definition an omnipotent deity could eliminate poverty at will. Such a deity could also eliminate disease, death, crime, loneliness, war, and sorrow at will. My belief has always been that the reason God/Jesus doesn't is that to do so, to act so overtly, would eliminate free will, and free will/independence for our immortal souls is somehow more precious than eliminating whatever suffering those other things may invoke. But I don't know, and I feel no great compulsion to understand the motives of the Almighty (my limited human intelligence is probably far too small to understand such motives anyway). Speaking personally, I help people because I care about them, not because some divine command. Even in a god-free universe of the atheists, I would still care about and love people and want to relieve their suffering. I agree that an attitude that "I have no burden to personally help the poor because the government does so" is an un-Christian attitude. I don't think anyone here has suggested as much, however. Rather, I think the proper interpretation of Jesus' message is that we should help the poor by every means possible, which includes personal giving as well as supporting a government that will help...presumably with greater resources and more extensive tools than I have at my personal command. (And no, while I do give a lot, I haven't 'sold all my goods and given everything to the poor', but I sometimes consider it and occasionally feel guilty for not doing so. But at this moment in my life I plan to keep my computer, my car, and my house and don't worry too much about invoking the wrath of God for doing so. I believe He is far more forgiving and loving than wrathful, anyway.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AURaptor 1,122 Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 Do people here NOT comprehend that the teachings of Jesus have indeed been co-opted by some as a means to spread the socialist / communist agenda ? Are there some so naive , ignorant and flat out in denial that such a " religious " movement exists, and has existed, for many decades ?? This has zero to do with everyone chiming in with their 2 cents " Well, I believe Jesus meant this , and not that... blah blah blah " . THAT'S NOT THE POINT ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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