Chatting with Jesus
Minister: Jesus, what do you think of the recent presidential election?
Jesus: In the United States?
Minister: Yes.
Jesus: I don't do politics.
Minister: But the President is a Christian.� He has dedicated his life
to
serving you.
Jesus: He has dedicated his life to serving himself.� That is the
opposite of
what I teach.
Minister: But he's a Christian.
Jesus: He is an Old Testament Christian.� The ancient Hebrew scriptures
say that God is an angry God, a vengeful God, a jealous God.� But he is
not.�
Nor is he petty, nor vindictive, nor narrow minded, nor self-righteous.�
God
was not made in our image. He is not insecure or emotionally immature.�
God is not like us, but in our better moments we can be like him.
God wants his children to be full of love, not full of hate.�
He wants his children to be compassionate, not vindictive.
He wants his children to be open-minded, not narrow-minded.
He wants his children to be accepting not intolerant.
He wants his children to be righteous, not self-righteous.
This is the message that God sent me to share with the world two
thousand
years ago. This is the message for which I was crucified. And just as
those
who put me to death then ignored god's message, so your president
ignores God's message today.
Minister: But President Bush believes in the Ten Commandments.
Jesus: If he does, then why does he ignore them?� One says that "Thou
shalt not kill."� Yet he sends an army to invade a foreign land and kill
tens
of thousands of men, women, and children.� Another commandment says
�Thou shalt not bear false witness.�� In modern language, this means
that
you shouldn't tell a lie.� Is there anything your president has said
that isn�t
a lie?
Think of the Ten Commandments as one, single commandment that
encompasses all the others: Love your fellow human beings as you love
yourself.� If you obey this one commandment then all the other
commandments will take care of themselves.
This single commandment is the foundation of god's laws, the one on
which all of the others are based. If you treat this as the foundation
of your
laws, and of your life, then you will be doing god�s work. If you honor
this
single commandment with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with
all your mind, then you honor god.� There is no greater form of worship.
There is no other form of worship that even matters.� A thousand years
in
church are not worth a single act of compassion toward another human
being, or to any of god's creatures.
Minister: But Bush has been born again.� He accepts you as his Lord and
Savior.
Jesus: I was sent to teach people to turn the other cheek.� He starts a
war
in the Middle East.
I was sent to teach people to feed the poor.� He steals from the poor
and
gives to the rich.
I was sent to teach people to heal the sick. He ignores the tens of
millions
people in his own country who have no way to pay for health care. And he
cares even less about those outside his country who need help.
I was sent to teach people to love all their fellow human beings as they
love
themselves. He orders American soldiers to slaughter the citizens of a
foreign land. He brags about the death penalty. He ignores the millions
of
starving and sick human beings around the world who will die without
food
and medical supplies, things that his rich nation could provide for half
the
cost of his war in the Middle East.
It doesn't matter who you claim as your Lord and Savior when your hands
are drenched in blood.
Minister: Are you saying that President Bush will go to Hell?
Jesus: I'm saying that he has brought hell to us.
Minister: But he says he is a Christian.� People believe him.� I
believe him.
Jesus: Then watch what he does instead of what he says. He is a man
full
of hate, and anger, and violence. He is an anti-Christian. Verily, I say
unto
you that if he had he been alive two thousand years ago, his voice would
have been the loudest among those who clamored to have me crucified. To
him I would have been a terrorist.
The Bible speaks of the Antichrist.� But there isn't just one, there are
many.�
Everyone who washes his hands in blood and then claims to do so in my
name is an Antichrist.� These hypocrites say one thing and then do the
opposite.� They say they love god but then they brutalize god�s
children.�
They say they are compassionate, but instead of comforting those in need
they increase the suffering of their fellow human beings.� The
Antichristians are those who spew hatred, intolerance, and violence in
the
name of Jesus Christ. For now, for this generation, your president is
their
leader.
Minister: Then you don't agree with his policies?
Jesus: I don't agree with his morals. He talks about moral values but
his
actions are immoral. In a world full of poverty and want, his life's
work is to
make the rich still richer.� In a world from which god�s creatures are
disappearing in huge numbers, where the air in many places is unfit to
breathe and the water unfit to drink, where the future of life on the
planet
is in jeopardy, the crowning glory of his presidency is to make matters
worse. He is a liar and a hypocrite. Worst of all, he is a mass
murderer.�
These are the things I condemn.
Minister: Do you condemn him for using politics to pursue his religious
agenda?
Jesus: I condemn him for using religion to pursue his political agenda.
He
uses religion to manipulate people.� He uses religion to spread
intolerance
and commit violence. And he does it all in my name.�
He claims to follow my teachings, but I teach love, not hate.�
I teach compassion, not �compassionate conservatism.� �
I teach acceptance, not intolerance.
I teach forgiveness, not revenge.�
I teach that �Thou shalt not kill� means just what it says.� There is no
exception for capital punishment. There is no exception for war.
Your president lives a life that violates everything that God asks of
us.
Minister: But he�s such a devout man.
Jesus: If you believe that a liar, and a hypocrite, and a mass murderer
can
be devout, then you do not know the meaning of the word. Reading the
Bible doesn't make the world a better place.� Going to church doesn't
save
lives or feed the hungry.� God doesn't care about our devotion to
scripture,
he cares about our devotion to each other.� That's why he sent me here.�
Not to save man from sin, but to save man from himself.�That is the
meaning of salvation.
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