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Stockton's Opinion:
Put aside all the Religious talk, which is hard to do in this case, because of his Divine, or Religious Status. But If you look at what he did, and what he preached, his politics was similar to that of Commies. As a matter of Fact, IMHO Jesus was a Socialist.
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Was Jesus a Communist?
Submitted by dr forbush on Thu, 2005-03-03 13:16.
* Original Content
* Analysis
* Christianity
* Philosophy
This is in response to the discussion at LongShot’s blog.
Community was the central theme to Jesus' preaching. And, it was also the theme to Karl Marx's philosophy. The word Communism comes from the word community. Communes popped up during the 1960s in response to the desire to find a group of people who were willing to work together for the common good of the community.
These experiments tend to fail because members of the group don’t feel like they are properly rewarded for the effort they put into the community. Some members put in very little effort and feel that they should share equally in the results. Some people make large efforts and burn out after a time period and they longer feel the need to put forth the same effort. The reward is always an equal share, so it doesn’t really matter how much effort one puts forth. Jesus preached that we should not be concerned with worldly rewards and therefore always put forth our best efforts. God expects our best efforts. This is ideology, in reality everyone cares about what they get out of the deal. Only Monks and Nuns who live the ideal commune lifestyle are happy to put forth the effort and share equally what they get out of it. Their reward is spiritual, not material.
The Communist idea is that the community can be greater than the individual if everyone works together. Obviously this is in opposition to the idea that the individual can succeed when he goes against the set notions of the malaise of societal norms. The conflict of these two ideas is at the core of the left right debate in our country. The haves tend to side with the individualist ideology, because they are the top dogs and they don’t want to lose their position. The have-nots side with the community effort ideology, because they are looking for help to get out of their difficult situation. From a moral point of argument the haves say that the have ownership that should not be taken away from them. The have-nots say they didn’t get a fair deal at birth or along the way and the community should help them out.
Jesus preached that the community should work together. The apostles demonstrated this in the early church. Paul on the other had read Plato and the Stoics and he had a higher ideal for the individual. It’s quite obvious that the Conservative Christians like to quote Paul more often than they quote Jesus. The Conservative Christians interpret the Bible to support their conservative individualistic ideology. They use Paul in large part and they ignore Jesus. If questioned the Conservative Christians will tell you that it is good to do as Jesus taught, but the emphasis is placed on converting as many people as they can to their religion. If helping the poor helps spread the Gospel of Paul, then the poor will become individualistic and they will dig themselves out of the gutter and become useful to society. Like most Conservative Christian ideas, the facts don’t always match the preaching. But, the Conservative Christians will tell you that’s because the poor just don’t try hard enough, while the wealthy preacher tees off at the Pebble Beach 9th hole.
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Stockton's Opinion:
Put aside all the Religious talk, which is hard to do in this case, because of his Divine, or Religious Status. But If you look at what he did, and what he preached, his politics was similar to that of Commies. As a matter of Fact, IMHO Jesus was a Socialist.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Was Jesus a Communist?
Submitted by dr forbush on Thu, 2005-03-03 13:16.
* Original Content
* Analysis
* Christianity
* Philosophy
This is in response to the discussion at LongShot’s blog.
Community was the central theme to Jesus' preaching. And, it was also the theme to Karl Marx's philosophy. The word Communism comes from the word community. Communes popped up during the 1960s in response to the desire to find a group of people who were willing to work together for the common good of the community.
These experiments tend to fail because members of the group don’t feel like they are properly rewarded for the effort they put into the community. Some members put in very little effort and feel that they should share equally in the results. Some people make large efforts and burn out after a time period and they longer feel the need to put forth the same effort. The reward is always an equal share, so it doesn’t really matter how much effort one puts forth. Jesus preached that we should not be concerned with worldly rewards and therefore always put forth our best efforts. God expects our best efforts. This is ideology, in reality everyone cares about what they get out of the deal. Only Monks and Nuns who live the ideal commune lifestyle are happy to put forth the effort and share equally what they get out of it. Their reward is spiritual, not material.
The Communist idea is that the community can be greater than the individual if everyone works together. Obviously this is in opposition to the idea that the individual can succeed when he goes against the set notions of the malaise of societal norms. The conflict of these two ideas is at the core of the left right debate in our country. The haves tend to side with the individualist ideology, because they are the top dogs and they don’t want to lose their position. The have-nots side with the community effort ideology, because they are looking for help to get out of their difficult situation. From a moral point of argument the haves say that the have ownership that should not be taken away from them. The have-nots say they didn’t get a fair deal at birth or along the way and the community should help them out.
Jesus preached that the community should work together. The apostles demonstrated this in the early church. Paul on the other had read Plato and the Stoics and he had a higher ideal for the individual. It’s quite obvious that the Conservative Christians like to quote Paul more often than they quote Jesus. The Conservative Christians interpret the Bible to support their conservative individualistic ideology. They use Paul in large part and they ignore Jesus. If questioned the Conservative Christians will tell you that it is good to do as Jesus taught, but the emphasis is placed on converting as many people as they can to their religion. If helping the poor helps spread the Gospel of Paul, then the poor will become individualistic and they will dig themselves out of the gutter and become useful to society. Like most Conservative Christian ideas, the facts don’t always match the preaching. But, the Conservative Christians will tell you that’s because the poor just don’t try hard enough, while the wealthy preacher tees off at the Pebble Beach 9th hole.
