In a comment to the post, Looking Back to 2007: Reflection in the Mirror, Baroness Radon wrote in response to a point I had made, "Jesus taught just the opposite." As I offered in a brief response, I hear this rationale often anytime someone makes a point re Christianity that another person disagrees with.
I have come to the conclusion that Jesus is a lot like a Barbie doll!! Just like Barbie, Jesus can be dressed up in all sorts of different outfits. Little girls (and maybe little boys too) can dress up Barbie like a tomboy, chic model, business woman or a shameless hussy. Whatever mood the child is in, Barbie can be made to be a mirror image.
In this same vein, the Jesus dude can be made to fit within any given person's ideological framework. If you're a peacenik, you can find scripture to show that Jesus was a peacnik too. However, if you support the concept of war, you too can easily marshal citations to back up your position.
If it's your contention that Jesus spent his life administering to the poor, there are ample examples of this in the gospels. However, if you believe that riches are bestowed on those who best heed Jesus' message, you can locate a lot of testimony in the New Testament to buttress your claims.
On issue after issue, regardless of which side of the fence you stand on, you can quote numerous citations that, in your mind or the minds of many, support your contention that, if he were alive today, Jesus would see things as you do.
Which interpretation is the correct one? Who knows? Jesus ain't around to settle all the doctrinal debates. Since he himself wrote nary a word AND his exploits were recorded decades after he died, no one really knows which of the various depictions, if any, capture the true measure and character of the man.
What we do know is that the records we have in the New Testament are contradictory and inconsistent. They paint a picture of a fellow who was all over the map!
To make matters worse, we are told that a lot of his lessons were given in the form of parables and parables are anything but straightforward or clear. About the ONLY way a person can try to make sense of a parable is to understand the context of the story itself and, since we don't know that much about life in the first century, the needed context is lost.
What we are left with is very minimal information that has been filtered significantly through the authors themselves, changing doctrinal emphases and time. All these factors and more have turned one Jesus of Nazareth from a flesh-and-blood Jewish teacher into a malleable caricature who can be shaped to support or oppose whatever anyone chooses.
I have come to the conclusion that Jesus is a lot like a Barbie doll!! Just like Barbie, Jesus can be dressed up in all sorts of different outfits. Little girls (and maybe little boys too) can dress up Barbie like a tomboy, chic model, business woman or a shameless hussy. Whatever mood the child is in, Barbie can be made to be a mirror image.
In this same vein, the Jesus dude can be made to fit within any given person's ideological framework. If you're a peacenik, you can find scripture to show that Jesus was a peacnik too. However, if you support the concept of war, you too can easily marshal citations to back up your position.
If it's your contention that Jesus spent his life administering to the poor, there are ample examples of this in the gospels. However, if you believe that riches are bestowed on those who best heed Jesus' message, you can locate a lot of testimony in the New Testament to buttress your claims.
On issue after issue, regardless of which side of the fence you stand on, you can quote numerous citations that, in your mind or the minds of many, support your contention that, if he were alive today, Jesus would see things as you do.
Which interpretation is the correct one? Who knows? Jesus ain't around to settle all the doctrinal debates. Since he himself wrote nary a word AND his exploits were recorded decades after he died, no one really knows which of the various depictions, if any, capture the true measure and character of the man.
What we do know is that the records we have in the New Testament are contradictory and inconsistent. They paint a picture of a fellow who was all over the map!
To make matters worse, we are told that a lot of his lessons were given in the form of parables and parables are anything but straightforward or clear. About the ONLY way a person can try to make sense of a parable is to understand the context of the story itself and, since we don't know that much about life in the first century, the needed context is lost.
What we are left with is very minimal information that has been filtered significantly through the authors themselves, changing doctrinal emphases and time. All these factors and more have turned one Jesus of Nazareth from a flesh-and-blood Jewish teacher into a malleable caricature who can be shaped to support or oppose whatever anyone chooses.
yep, i agree. no matter what you believe, you can find justification for it in the bible. i think that's why it's so popular. plenty of people use the bible to support a very good and moral life, but you could also use it to support a variety of harsh and immoral stances.
ReplyDeleteAfter I made that comment, I expected you to respond the way you did. I should have said, "I interpret Jesus as saying just the opposite."
ReplyDeleteAlthough I still think the "prosperity gospel" talkers are completely off-base.
Consider those lilies in the field....