Setting The Jesus People Straight

[rsmith6621]

This morning I wanted a cup of my Coffee of the Day and an extra shot to boot so I made my way down to the local Starbucks for a dose.

I got my cup and headed for the outdoor sitting area to relax and as I do watch and listen to the world. Well there happen to be about five people sitting around a coffee table two of them with broadcast quality TV cameras. They were from a local broadcast group that puts together local segments for Trinity Broadcasting Network and they were there to interview a gentleman who is in Orlando to do street ministry.


Well in the midst of the interview they began to talk about the election and how important is is that Christians get to the polls and vote for republicans that support Christian Values so as to thrust the agenda on to the floors of the legislative bodies across the country. At a point in the middle of all this I reached in my back pocket pulled out my bible and began to open it which caught one of the producers attention.

After the interview they came over and introduced themselves and asked if I was in the ministry in which I said at one time I was an education pastor. So we visited a while and I then asked why they felt it is necessary for them to impose their values via legislation.....Cause that what God has asked us to do one said. I asked if people are elected to serve/vote the constituents will or to promote an agenda....he said to vote the will of the people s I asked what if the will of the people is counter to the Christian values then what that's when he said then we have the courts......I then handed him my pocket Bible and asked him to biblicly back up what he just said........He fumbled the pages said he would be praying for me and handed my Bible back and left......on the party's way out I said the only power God has given us is the power of prayer prayer is the only way God has said we can change the world not through legislation...legislation is a worldly power not ordained of God.


What a beautiful day...

[1Hippiechick]

1. Huh? What kind of response are you anticipating? n/t

[TechBear_Seattle]

2. An excellent reaction

:applause:

[Hydra]

3. Gj pointing out their "Making it up as we go along"

I don't bother, though. People who can't be bothered to read and understand their ENTIRE holy book aren't really of the faith they pretend.

[Fumesucker]

8. IMHO, it isn't possible to read and understand the entire Bible

The Bible is simply too self contradictory to really be understood.

The main reason I ended up an atheist at around thirteen years old was that I read the Bible twice with no one there to "interpret" it for me. That was forty five years ago and I haven't changed my mind since.

Good on the OP though for trying to put forth his own point of view in a reasonable manner.

[Hydra]

9. I read a good portion of the new testiment and agree with you about the contradictions

I tried my best to cut out the parts that were obvious product placement(Especially in the gospel of John) and felt like I had a good sense of what Jesus was trying to convey...and then I realized I was the only person in church DOING it!

I'm a free agent agnostic, now. If the Gods come to visit me, I'll be happy to acknowledge their existence but I'm free to do what I want about it.

[TalkingDog]

11. Hey! Are you me?

Wait, that can't be right. It was 32 years ago for me at about the same age....

Okay, better now.

Except I'm not an atheist...preferring agnosticism...(can't prove or disprove higher beings so fuck it)

[Warpy]

4. Thank you, you made my day, too

not that you'll make it to anywhere but the virtual cutting room floor. The last thing the conspicuous Christians want is someone who has actually read the book they're hitting us over the head with, someone who realizes how many more admonitions there are to care for the poor than hate one's neighbors for falling short of pious perfection.

I love stories of mainstream Christians standing up to these two bit thugs.

[yardwork]

5. Thank you! Not only did you stand up for the U.S. Constitution, you stood up for Jesus, too.

These people pretending to be Christians to change the U.S. laws are frauds. They are Pharisees.

[hfojvt]

6. no, it's more than prayer

2 Chronicles 7: 14 "If my people who are called by My name will humble themselves and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land."

Mark 16: 15 "And He said to them, 'Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.'"

Deuteronomy 30: 11-20 The Nation of Israel is given a choice - obey the commandments of God and be blessed or worship other gods and be cursed.

It should be clear to everyone that by voting for the mammon-worshiping Greedy Old Party of Dives, that we have been cursed.

[SpookyCat]

7. Nicely done.

In my experience growing up Baptist, "I'll pray for you" is code for "I have no intelligent response at this point so I'm ending the argument my way.." and "I have a prayer concern" is code for "Girl, do I have some juicy gossip!"

Bleh.

[GreenPartyVoter]

10. LOL He wasn't well-trained. He didn't try to roll over you with the lies that the Founding Fathers

were all Xians and therefore this is a Xian nation. Most of those guys think that shuts down the whole argument, and don't care to hear that they were actually Unitarians and Deists.

[Martin Eden]

12. Here's what Al Franken had to say about Christian values:

During the 2000 campaign George Bush ran for president by saying repeatedly, and I quote, “by far the vast majority of my tax cut goes to those at the bottom.” Of course, nothing could be further from the truth.

In fact, the president continues to ask for and sign tax cuts that go primarily to those at the top. By the way, until George W. Bush, our country had never cut taxes during a time of war.

As a result, our deficits grow and the cuts – in Medicaid, Pell Grants, food stamps, low-income housing subsidies, community block grants – are targeted at the poorest in our society.

George W. Bush famously said that Jesus was his favorite political philosopher. Frankly, I don’t get it.

I’m Jewish. Thank you. I’m not an expert on the New Testament. But I know that if you cut out all the passages where Jesus talks about helping the poor, helping the least among us, if you literally took a pair of scissors and cut out all those passages, you’d have the perfect box to smuggle Rush Limbaugh’s drugs in.

http://midwestvaluespac.org/blog/156/an-evening-with-ann-coulter-with-full-speech

[Rambis]

13. Well done

I am going to use that from now on!:toast:

[DailyGrind51]

14. Jesus expects us to live in the world, just not be taken in by it.

Working through legislation has been the modus operandi of Christians ever since Emperor Constantine. The Magna Carta, the basis for our own Constitution, was foisted upon King John by Archbishop Stephan Langdon. Look at the liberation theology of Latin America or the role played by John Paul II in the collapse of communism in the former Warsaw Pact. Look at MLK, Rev. Ralph Abernathy, Rev. Jesse Jackson, et.al., and the American civil rights movement.