Is the Jesus of religion conservative, and the Jesus of the New Testament liberal?

by Fernando 35 Replies latest watchtower bible

  • Fernando
    Fernando

    Is the Jesus of religion conservative, and the Jesus of the New Testament liberal?

    Your thoughts?

  • Crazyguy
    Crazyguy

    Well I know that one can find a lot of contradictions between Jesus of the New Testament and the God of the Old Testament . Problem is the bible is not fluid . Jesus seemed to say and teach one thing and then Paul comes along and teaches something different .

  • smiddy
    smiddy

    Jesus stated he came to cause divisions in ones household ,father against son etc. , where does he fit , in that scenario , conservative or liberal. ?

    Didn`t Jesus teach one thing and then another ? Crazyguy ?

    Just asking .

  • Crazyguy
    Crazyguy

    Yes smiddy i think he did. Of course I think we both agree the gospels don't agree with one another either.

  • scratchme1010
    scratchme1010

    Is the Jesus of religion conservative, and the Jesus of the New Testament liberal?

    Neither. You cannot compare the society Jesus of Nazareth live in with the society we live in today. And don't forget that today there's this interesting concept named "the rest of the world", who don't see or classify people, groups or events in such way.

  • blondie
    blondie

    Please define what you mean by

    Conservative

    Liberal

    I have found that individual definitions vary especially if they view one as positive and the other as negative.

  • jws
    jws

    I remember my conservative friend arguing about Bernie Sanders plan to make college free. That that would just produce people who expect everything. Even though he ignores the fact that he went to high school under basically the same structure and doesn't think of himself as wholly relying on others.

    Didn't Jesus feed the crowds with bread and fish? How dare he! Then they'll come to expect it.

    Isn't the whole plan of many that all you have to do is say you believe in Jesus and he'll reward you with mansions in heaven? Even though Romans specifically says that YOU DO NOT DESERVE God's kindness? So it's something you can't work for and can't earn, yet it's given to you. Sounds a bit like socialism to me.

    Whatever it is, it's not the conservative way.

  • Sanchy
    Sanchy

    Politics vary wildly with factors such as culture, geography, history, time, temparature, humidty level and allergen amount

    As Blondie said, how do you define what is a 'Liberal" or a "Conserative"? There are social liberals, fiscal liberals, socialists, communists, etc. There are fiscal conservatives, social conservatives, donald trump conservatives, constitutional conservatives, etc. It's just too broad of a brush.

    Jesus definitely preached virtues that would be considered liberal by the standards of his time (charity system for the poor, riches are bad, don't judge sinners). However, the New Testament also contains many ideas that I think would fall in the "conservative" spectrum (rights of the individual from god and not government, work hard to provide for family, moral standards)

  • Ucantnome
    Ucantnome

    I was looking up fascism regarding my father not really knowing what it is. Anyway I came across this on Wikipedia

    'A number of historians regard fascism either as a revolutionary centrist doctrine, as a doctrine that mixes philosophies of the left and the right, or as both those things'

    Maybe Jesus was a bit of a fascist by this definition.

    Being quite political ( we had a picture on the mantle piece of a politician ) and my father becoming a JW and supposedly a friend in the same party. There were some things that appealed to him.

    I think my political views are slightly left of centre and his were more to the right. I struggled with being a witness and feel more comfortable with my Christianity since leaving.

  • Fernando
    Fernando

    Indeed, I see what you say Blondie.

    From a Jesus (good) vs Pharisees (bad) perspective possibly one might say:

    • Liberal = yielding to and embracing prevenient Natural Law and Order

    • Conservative = ignoring, negating, countermanding and usurping prevenient Natural Law and Order, typically via religious legalism, moralism, doctrinal ethnocentrism, supremacist gnosticism (privileged knowledge), hierarchy, magisterium, clericalism, creedalism, hypocrisy, self-righteousness, ignorance, indifference, inequality, inequity, and bigotry.

    Or in plain English: liberals navigate by intuition, conservatives navigate by dogma.

    It would be interesting to hear other definitions and perspectives

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