Jesus' teachings are not a liberal panacea

This post is about the political appropriation of Jesus' endorsement of views, not about the validity of any religion.

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Sermon on the mount? Great stuff. Be nice to the little people. All men are your brothers.

But Jesus was not a hippie. He was, in some ways, a religious conservative. And he would certainly not be on board with the entirety of modern liberalism.

For instance... Jesus was a fanatic about traditional marriage. Among the most reliable "words of somebody named Jesus," (Q document stuff—the sections within the gospels that may actually date back to Jesus' life-time) and the first policy statement he makes in the Bible, is that remarriage is adultery... Needless to say, he was entirely opposed to divorce, and felt that the law of Genesis—one man one woman one time—trumped the law of Moses. The idea that a man with the most old-school, conservative view of marriage available in Jewish culture circa 30 AD would be on board for same-sex marriage is preposterous. (But Jesus would probably not have santioned stoning gay people, which is good. See... that was good for 30 AD. JC's an okay guy, but he is not Bernie Sanders.)

And he had no real interest in improving things on Earth. He did not think the Earth was very important. Jesus never says a word against slavery—that part of the law of Moses is unchallenged, while much other Talmudic law is. (Paul is plainer on the topic, telling slaves to be as obedient to their masters as they are to God, and when he meets a runaway slave tells him to go back to his master.)

Jesus' calls for charity are, though admirable, more for the spiritual improvement of the giver than for the benefit of the recipient. This plays out to its logical extension when the apostles later run around kissing Lepers on the mouth. This is not charity, as such, but using the lepers as a means to demonstrate your own humility to God.

There is never a sense that the poor are entitled to a better lot... except perhaps in the kingdom of heaven.

We are talking about a man living two thousand years ago who chose to live most of his life in fanatically celibate cult for men, where accidentally dropping your towel after bathing was worth a year of censure.

There is much worthwhile in the New Testament, but anyone, right or left, who thinks Jesus approves of their 21st century politics is being silly. The guy didn't give a rat's behind for anyone's politics. He had little interest in the governance of a society only a few years away from the end times.