Was Jesus a Liberal?

A few days ago, I sent some family members an FBI CHART on gun murders.  We were debating on gun laws and I used the chart to prove that rifles murder very few people every year.  Pistols do the vast majority of the murders.

Anyway, I had mistakenly used the word "liberal" in my frustration after reading the MO Democrats proposal on banning certain rifles.  Evidently I had used the word as a "pejorative".

Here is how the discussion quickly unraveled into an attack on Jesus' nature and mission.

Relative;
Deny,

Every time you use the word "liberal" like a pejorative, you debase yourself as being on par with every other partisan hack uninterested in honest debate.

"Liberals" don't want to ban them. Some liberals do. Some don't. Joe Biden is a liberal. I'm a liberal (increasingly so it appears). Jesus was a liberal. I know conservatives who come down on different sides of this. I know gun-toting military and law enforcement guys who have killed lots of people who come down on different sides of this.

 

Me:

You are right...sorry. I had just seen the proposal from the MO Democrats and saw that the MN Democrats were studying their proposal and as I read their comments on “pistol grips” and “forward grips” and how they somehow make a gun more “dangerous”....I simply can’t understand their logic....because they aren’t using any. That’s like saying that every kid who puts racing stripes on his car now has a “dangerous” race car...and racing cars have no place on city streets. What??

As you can see from FBI stats, rifles cause VERY FEW deaths in America...and using this tragedy at Sandy Hook to roll out pictures of rifles to get the voters all whipped up, is...frustrating and dishonest.

 

Wait a second....Jesus was a liberal?? Hmmmm.....guess you would have to expand on that. 

 

ANOTHER RELATIVE NOW CHIMES IN:

Since I'm in the loop on this one, just a thought:

I think I would have to agree with (relative #1) on his observation about Jesus.
I've done a fair amount of reading about Jesus over the years, and I would
say he was a liberal. Certainly for a man in his place and time, his ideas,
preachments, and actions were liberal, and that eventually is what got him
in trouble with the Roman authorities. He was unorthodox and counter-culture
(the domination system that prevailed), and I believe that would be in his
time called what we might think of today as liberal.

 

OK....now our gun control debate has just shifted into a discussion on the nature and mission of Jesus Christ!  In their minds Jesus was a Prius driving, gay man who fed children and yelled at rich people who was killed by the Romans because he was a LIBERAL!!  AAARRRGGGHH!!

 

So do I stand and fight?  Do I walk away and pray?  Do I send the words of Jesus Christ?  Do I apolgize and turn the other cheek?  Do I just push them away from Jesus discussion and get back to the original debate on guns?

 

ME:

Liberal;Adjective
Open to new behavior or opinions and willing to discard traditional values.

Yes, I would agree that the PHARISEES and SADDUCEES would have CALLED Jesus
a liberal....but those same people were also IGNORANT as to what Jesus
really came to do. (Fulfill prophecy...offer Kingdom to Jews...offer grace
to Gentiles) That's why the JEWISH LEADERS demanded death. That doesn't
MAKE Jesus a liberal any more than it makes me a NEOCON just because I have
been called one.

Jesus never came to CHANGE ANYTHING and was certainly never willing to
discard traditional values or laws that God/Jesus had said during
PRE-INCARNATION (Old Testament). Jesus IS GOD so he was always WITH GOD
from the Beginning and said EVERYTHING that God said. To argue anything
else is to deny the Trinity....which would mean denying the Apostles Creed,
the words of Christ and the very core of Christianity.

Matthew 5:17
[ The Fulfillment of the Law ] “Do not think that I have come to abolish the
Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.

Luke 18:31
[ Jesus Predicts His Death a Third Time ] Jesus took the Twelve aside and
told them, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by
the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled.

So need to respectfully disagree on Jesus being a liberal looking to CHANGE.
He didn't come to abolish the current Law or ANYTHING the prophets or God
said...but ONLY came to fulfill everything that had already been said.

So by that definition...Jesus was a CONSERVATIVE.

For further discussion, please remember that Paul was a PHARISEE and was
involved in killing Christians whom HE THOUGHT WERE LIBERALS because they
were claiming Christ was God-in-Flesh....but as soon as Christ appeared to
Paul on the Damascus road...Paul's eyes were opened as to the Truth of
Jesus.

If you really want to continue studying the words of Jesus, look up how many
times the Gospels say "fulfill"....verses how many times "change" or
"discard" are used when describing Jesus' earthly mission.

The Word Became Flesh

1 In the beginning was the Word, (Jesus) and the Word (Jesus) was with God,
and the Word (Jesus) was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through
him (Jesus) all things were made; without him (Jesus) nothing was made that
has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all
mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not
overcome it.

In my humble opinion,
DL

 

Of course the other relative is now fit to be tied...and simply can't contain himself. In a fit to PROVE that Jesus was a DEMOCRAT who came to SAVE THE WORLD from Republicans, he comes back with this;

hmmm...lets see..does Jesus appear to put a higher value on taking care of
poor and sick people or further enriching the wealthy?

Would we guess that Jesus would be more interested in seeing that children
have a sufficient food and education or that MNCs with billions in cash
continue to get significant public handouts?

Would he congratulate the current Republican congress who, with millions out
of work, has voted 33 times to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and has
proposed 113 religion bills, 73 family relationship bills, and 36 marriage
bills, but no job bills?

Would he be more or less likely to befriend today's outcasts (gays) as he
did then (prostitutes). Did he endorse efforts to have their rights
restricted so that they would have fewer rights than others?

Would he agree that the richest country in the history if the world is right
to be more concerned about protecting the low tax rates of the wealthy than
ensuring everyone has equal access to affordable health care?

Would he be more likely for broadening civil rights or restricting them?

Do we think Jesus would be supportive of efforts to restrict old, sick, and
poor people from being able to vote? And that he would see it as fair and
honest to propose those changes a month before elections?

Would he say "right on!" when hearing that on MLK Day the VA GOP closed
their session with a tribute to Stonewall Jackson?

Would he be more likely to support a wage increase for the working poor, or
the businesses who wish keep profits high by keeping labor costs down?

These could go on all night...

So what would do?  What would you say?  You know this person doesn't know Jesus.  You want to defend your Savior...at the same time you want to offer the words of eternal life to this relative that you love before it's too late....so what do you say?