And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.21:14 And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them.21:15 And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the son of David; they were sore displeased, Jesus said, "Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give." (Matthew 10:8).
After reading these passages one has to assume that Jesus must be "sore displeased" with many of the zealots that are representing him to the world today. In this country, far from bringing the sick to be healed by the savior in the temple, "representatives" who call themselves from Christ are fighting against the very things Jesus said in the gospels.
Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have recieved, freely give
Now, I see nothing in that passage about asking for an insurance card to heal the sick and bankrupting them if they do not have one. Yet the rallying point for the "Christian" right seems to be doing just the opposite as Jesus would do. That is denying the ability to heal the sick without bankrupting them and their families. They have found a spokesman in the "Prince of Orange" John Boehner who never met a Corporate Welfare bill he could not support and has worked his whole career to make the rich richer, and the poor well poorer:
The Christian right, facing questions before the presidential election about its continuing potency as a force for cultural and political change, has found new life with Barack Obama in office, particularly around health care.
As the president prepares to address a joint session of Congress on Wednesday night to press for health-care reform, conservative Christian leaders are rallying their troops to oppose him, with online town hall meetings, church gatherings, fundraising appeals, and e-mail and social networking campaigns. FRC Action, the lobbying arm of the Family Research Council, has scheduled a webcast Thursday night for tens of thousands of supporters in which House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) and other speakers will respond to the president's health-care address.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
Yes, as they turn their backs on millions that need their help to climb into bed with monied, powerful interests that have bankrupted this country they actually have the gall to pretend this is "What Jesus Would Do":
The theme of total acceptance of God is continued. Jesus continues on his journey and a rich man comes up to him and calls him a "Good teacher." to which Jesus seems to disagree. "No one is good—except God alone.", a statement that trinitarians and non-trinitarians have used over the ages, as Jesus seems to say that he is different from God, see also Kenosis. Jesus tells him that the man already knows the commandments (could be the Ten Commandments or the Didache#The Two Ways or the 613 mitzvot), and the man tells him that he has always kept them. Jesus then ups the stakes and tells him that he should give up everything, give it to the poor, and follow him, the man can not comply and goes away sad. Jesus tells everyone that "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." This is a radical teaching, then and now, as most people naturally believe riches, especially their own, are a sign of God's favor.
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Of course, if Jesus was on earth today he would have plenty of work to do in driving the money-changers and these modern day Pharisees from the Temple:
"Movements do better when they have something to oppose," said D. Michael Lindsay, a sociology professor at Rice University who studies evangelicals. "It's easier to fundraise in those kinds of situations. It's easier to mobilize volunteers because you have an us versus them mentality, and that plays very well right now for the Christian right."
"It's a busy time," said Tom Minnery, senior vice president of Focus on the Family Action, the lobbying arm of Focus on the Family. He said donations to Focus Action have climbed beyond expectations, although he declined to say by how much.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
Of course, all this comes at a price for the hypocritical modern Pharisees who invoke the name of Christ to inspire hatred, not love:
Experts say the resurgent interest is proving that predictions of the death of the Christian right -- endemic before the election -- were again premature. But they say the recent flurry of activity does nothing to solve the underlying challenges facing the movement -- the lack of younger leaders to replace aging ones and ways to engage younger evangelicals who want the movement to embrace a wider range of issues.
We hear this around here on the very radio station that decided they should use a church to indocrinate voters as to why they were going to hell if they supported their own interests, and Universal Healthcare. There station manager, Gary Chester Morse is on a commercial asking for ideas as to why when he looks around area churches there are so few people under 40 and how to get them back.
Well, in answer to all these "Christian in name only" groups and Mr. Morse, as one of those under 40 (barely) I can say this. I saw, especially around here that years ago the "Christians" had climbed into bed with the Corporate Republican Party and cared little about the greed and injustice pushed off on all of us by them to foward anti-abortion ideas and to persecute gays.
So quite frankly as this article shows, the "Christian Right" is viewed as complete and total hypocrites by young people everywhere who do not want to reach out to those they disagree with using hatred, and who think you should actually go to church to (gasps) worship God and not the Republican Party. As long as "Christian Conservatives" insist on doing this they will continue to see their membership erode as young folks with a more enlightened view of Christianity and the world shun them and their complete hypocrisy until their churches are completely empty.
When that happens something tells me that Jesus Christ will be happier about it than anyone.
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