I feel so much better now

How interesting. Meanwhile back at reality conservatives have been shown to be both more generous and happier than liberals. And I am not just spouting rhetoric as you have. The liberals proved it. http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=BABCDEA5-D180-499B-094168CBE5442468

 

There is dark matter in the universe and it lies to the right.

 

Typical liberal response...

 

Nothing but hot air!

 

And yet a lot of far-left liberals hate religion. Where did you get the idea that Jesus Christ was a liberal? If you look at many of the things He preached, then He was as conservative as they come.

 

For instance what?

 

"Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that [is] thy neighbor's."

 

For a start, Christ did not intend to overthrow the faith he was born into--rather, He wanted the people to be *better* Jews and turn away from the negative habits that they'd taken on. He preached personal responsibility. Charitable giving outside of a religious context was voluntary and, when charity was given, Christ preached that the gifts be made in private. He did not oppose free enterprise, private ownership, or the military. Neither did he state that money was, in and of itself, evil. Remember the parable of the talents? The king rebuked the servant that buried the single talent with which he'd been entrusted. Granted, the parable is not, per se, about money; however, it does show that rewards (either spiritual or earthly) would be received in accordance with the effort put into something. I won't quote chapter and verse--I'm not a fundamentalist Baptist and so I don't have the Bible committed to memory--but I'm sure you can find what you need based on what I've posted here.

 

Talents were a unit of currency so yep it was talking about money

From Wiki

The Babylonians, Sumerians, and Hebrews divided a talent into 60 mina, each of which was subdivided into 60 shekels. The Greek also used the ratio of 60 mina to one talent. A Greek mina was approximately 434 ± 3 grams. A Roman talent was 100 libra. A libra is exactly three quarters of a Greek mina, so a Roman talent is 1.25 Greek talents. An Egyptian talent was 80 libra

 

I said Jesus spoke of the same values liberals pursue. I never said He was liberal or conservative. Do you read English? My view of life comes mostly from my own direct observations. I was raised by a Southern working class family with Christian, conservative values, but I learned better. I turned hard left during the Vietnam War while in the military and have seen no reason to veer right again. I fear for my soul. The right is evil. Just listen to them talk.

 

Haven't read any of those. I am a liberal because my eyes are wide open and seeing the damage of conservative, right wing, regressive thought and its insistence on applied ignorance.

 

Yes, the surface subject matter was that of money. However, the parable itself has a deeper meaning.

I read quite well, thank you. I am surprised, if you are a Southern child, that you don't have better manners. Interesting that for someone so new that you come out so strongly and with sword drawn.

 

Oh I'm sorry. I didn't know newbies were supposed to lay low your highness. My manners do fall short when I'm confronted with intentional stupidity. And I don't want to be misunderstood. I am entirely anti-religion as it exists today and particularly anti-Christian.

 

I think that is an interesting if not imaginative take on Jesus' life. Do they teach you this stuff in your school?

Let's say Jesus came down to earth today. Do you think that he'd caucus with the people on the Right or the peolpe on the Left?

 

I would consider myself a non-believer in any organized religion, this after growing up in a Catholic school. I don't know if there is some supernatural being overseeing our daily activities but I find the possibility fairly remote especially as defined by the current theologies. I really couldn't care less what other people want to believe but when they start trying to make policies based on their silly beliefs and it affects me, then I am anti-religious. Stay in your churches and keep your beliefs inside of your congregations or you will create a lot more anti-religious people. The best way to secure religious freedom is to secure freedom from religion.

 

I think we have no idea of what Jesus, if there ever was such a person, said. His words have been so mutilated, tweaked, corrupted and reshaped by the Church that nothing in the Bible is to be believed. I didn't get on that well with my Bible-thumping father, but at least he understood this and tried, as best he could to do his own research into Jesus and God's word. Personally, I'm leaning toward shamanism now.

 

Really? I hadn't noticed.

Imaginative? I'm sure I could come up with chapter and verse if I were so inclined, but I really have better things to do than to do research for someone else. Even if I did, it would be a waste of time, since your second post indicates that you really don't care and that you're just being argumentative. Christ was, essentially, apolitical. He was, however, caught up in a very political fight. Remember, He did say "Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's" (Matt 22:21). Whether you take the surface reading to be the only important one (pay your taxes) or whether you delve deeper (God and man are separate beings, give up your earthly goods to earthly beings and give your spiritual life to God) or whether you rely solely on religious law (the coins that had Caesar's image on them had "graven images" on them and were therefore tainted), Christ is not expressing liberal views.

 

The Left tends to look out for the poor while the Right tends to favor the wealthy. A little simplified but more or less a provable fact. Jesus always looked out for the least of the population. Sounds pretty liberal to me.

 

That's a pretty superficial reading of a very complex man and a very complex set of ideas. It's also based on flawed assumptions that provide an invalid starting argument. In any case, I've given up arguing religion with atheists: it wastes my time and makes my head hurt.

 

More accurately, the left tends to favor policies designed to keep the poor in poverty while the right favors policies designed to give everyone the option to pursue wealth. Which is more Christian? Keeping the poor down or providing an opportunity to achieve if one so desires?