michael!
well said! -emma Michael Novick wrote: > At 09:45 AM 3/20/2005 -0800, Frank wrote: > > > 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. > > Frank, I appreciate the effort to challenge Bush on his Christianity and > his devoutness. But I do want to take exception to a few things here > (apart > from the references to God as he and him, since even for believers in a > god, god's "masculinity" should be avoided). > > There is no such thing as an "Old Testament Christian." Christians are > people who believe that Jesus brought a new gospel that superceded the > "Old > Testament." People who believe exclusively in the Christian-denominated > "Old Testament" do not call it that, and do not call themselves > Christians. > They call it the Torah, and are Jews. The ancient Hebrew scriptures > sometimes refer to god as jealous and stern, and sometimes as the > all-merciful, sometimes as the source of all righteousness (which is much > different from 'self-righteousness'). Trying to identify anger, > vengefulness, jealousy, pettiness, vindictiveness, and self-righteousness > with the "Old Testament god" is a very wrong foot to start out on, to try > to redeem Christianity from the crimes of its advocates and practitioners. > > The history of Christianity is replete with Christian warriors, crusades > and holy wars, with emperors claiming divine right and religious and > temporal authorities who practiced forced conversions and the > execution of > heretics and non-believers. Trying to make these crimes some kind of > hangover or holdover from Judaism is shabby and irresponsible. Judaism > has > plenty to answer for on its own without having to be held responsible for > the crimes carried out in the name of Christianity. > > --Michael > > > > > > > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------------- > 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! 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