[Mb-civic] Chatting with Jesus

Tue Mar 22 18:37:56 PST 2005

Bravo!  With two minor quibbles (i.e., that Jesus would never refer to Himself as "Jesus Christ," and that He would have used an initial cap on the word "God"), this is one of the best things I have read in a very long time.  I am going to share this with my entire ministry network, and strongly suggest that each of the people on that network share it with their networks.

As an ironic aside, I have been working on an article entitled "Is President Bush Truly Christian?"  I think I can safely set it aside...

Peace.
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: ean at sbcglobal.net 
  To: ean at sbcglobal.net 
  Sent: Tuesday, March 22, 2005 7:28 PM
  Subject: [Mb-civic] Chatting with Jesus

  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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  "In times of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act."
     ---   George Orwell

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