01.01.14
Jesus of America
Pleez, Mr. Pope, don’t criticize capitalism for stomping the poor, it makes American plutocrats angry and then they’ll stop giving money to the church!
One of us might look at this and say, “so [Home Depot founder Ken Langone] doesn’t want Pope Francis to tell the truth about capitalism.??? Not only that, but how this comes across is as a sort of economic blackmail: you continue saying irresponsible things about the sincerity of rich people’s Christianity, then those rich people will show you exactly how they feel about turning the other cheek by withholding the funds to rebuild cathedrals. In other words, if you want our money, lie about capitalism, or, at the very least, stop telling the truth …
[For] some 2,000 years the biggest problem facing rich people has been how to “be??? Christians without BEING Christians, if you know what I mean. The Republican Party has solved this problem in the simplest possible way: by restructuring Jesus’ gospel and turning his teachings about rich and poor on their head. Now rather than blessing the poor, Jesus is a capitalist’s capitalist who blesses the rich. Naturally, many capitalists are less than enthusiastic about the emergence of a Pope who seems to actually know what Jesus’ original message was, and not only takes it seriously, but is busily repeating it to all and sundry.
Great essay.
Jesus of America: “Wealthiness leads to Godliness.”
You will also surely enjoy The Compleat Sayings of American Jesus.
And Happy New Year from Pasadena! The TV eyes of the country are upon us! And the WhiteManistan Blues Band will be praying, I mean, playing “Jesus of America” today.
Bill said,
January 3, 2014 at 10:25 pm
Jesus was very specific about these kinds of people.
You’d be better off tying a millstone around your neck and
jumping in a pond.
He already told them he will not know them when the time
comes.
It’s nothing but Calvinist BS which is really Gnosticism
rebranded and quite honestly it’s why I disassociated from
these religions of man, because we were warned about that too.
No thanks, I’ll take my chances without an interpreter and hope
there is enough forgiveness available even to the likes of me.
Anon said,
January 13, 2014 at 8:33 pm
The Gospel of Matthew, chapters 5 and 6 cover it pretty well.