I know it's Easter and all, but this is getting ridiculous. I thought people might have seen my comments when Frank Dorrel circulated this widely, but here it is again from Ed Pearl
>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. It's nice to know that the ancient Hebrews are to blame for George W. Bush. Here all along I think his vindictive, narrow-minded self-righteousness had something to do with his being emperor of the greatest war machine in the history of humanity, and might culturally have something to do with a history of Crusades, Christian soldiers, holy wars and the linkage of organized Christianity to Empire since the third century. Look, Judaism has plenty to answer for in its own right. Maybe the god of those ancient scriptures is a bit schizophrenic (because occasionally, they do describe god as the all-merciful, a god of loving-kindness and forgiveness, as well as stern, angry and jealous). But Christianity has plenty to answer for in its own right, too. There is no such thing as an "Old Testament Christian." Jews believe in the Torah and other scriptures; Christians believe that Jesus brought a new gospel that superceded what they then called the Old Testament to indicate that it no longer held currency. Muslims believe Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad were all prophets of the same god. Practitioners of all three monotheistic religions (as of many other polytheistic and other religions) have committed both great crimes and great deeds in the name of their faith and their god(s). The "Golden Rule" exists in all faiths and moral systems known. The "ancient Hebrew scriptures," long before Jesus, expressed it as "ve-ahovta l'rai-akha ca-mokha" -- love your neighbor as yourself. Believers in Jesus will have to take responsibility for the totality of their religion in its own right, and for the crimes committed in its name, and not foist them off on the "ancient Hebrews," just as Jews must do the same. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Give underprivileged students the materials they need to learn. Bring education to life by funding a specific classroom project. http://us.click.yahoo.com/4F6XtA/_WnJAA/E2hLAA/7gSolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Digest: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Help: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
