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Christianity is not Kosher; there is a whole lot of cherry-picking going on. Might as well belly up to it.
That's my perception as well: it seems that both the liberal and conservative Christians cherry-pick the bible and other "sources of authority" in order to establish a preferred narrative or theology.
For example, the liberal Christians tend to down-play or explain away the "fire and brimstone" teachings of Jesus. There seems to be a push to portray Jesus as a kind of social activist rather than a zealous apocalyptic religious leader. They also tend to dismiss almost everything written by St. Paul, even though Paul authored most of the NT. Some even say that Paul was a false apostle or a kind of early heretic. Finally they tend to ignore much of church history and claim that liberal Christianity was the predominant form of Christianity until those dastardly Fundamentalists hijacked the religion in the 1920s. Crusades? Conquistadors? The Spanish Inquisition? Well those folks weren't true Christians. Or something.
And of course the conservative Christians tend to down-play or explain away the teachings about helping the less fortunate, including much of the book of James (because it emphasizes works over faith, and we can't have that!). How could we still support Republicans without Republican Jesus? And of course there's the obsession with homosexuality even though Jesus taught that any man who looked at a woman with lust was guilty of adultery. What man past puberty hasn't committed adultery then? And if St. Paul taught that "there is no difference, for all have sinned" why is homosexuality a worse sin than adultery? And they ignore the stuff in Leviticus about stoning disobedient children, but are happy to quote Leviticus when the topic is homosexuality.
That's my perception as well: it seems that both the liberal and conservative Christians cherry-pick the bible and other "sources of authority" in order to establish a preferred narrative or theology.
For example, the liberal Christians tend to down-play or explain away the "fire and brimstone" teachings of Jesus. There seems to be a push to portray Jesus as a kind of social activist rather than a zealous apocalyptic religious leader. They also tend to dismiss almost everything written by St. Paul, even though Paul authored most of the NT. Some even say that Paul was a false apostle or a kind of early heretic. Finally they tend to ignore much of church history and claim that liberal Christianity was the predominant form of Christianity until those dastardly Fundamentalists hijacked the religion in the 1920s. Crusades? Conquistadors? The Spanish Inquisition? Well those folks weren't true Christians. Or something.
And of course the conservative Christians tend to down-play or explain away the teachings about helping the less fortunate, including much of the book of James (because it emphasizes works over faith, and we can't have that!). How could we still support Republicans without Republican Jesus? And of course there's the obsession with homosexuality even though Jesus taught that any man who looked at a woman with lust was guilty of adultery. What man past puberty hasn't committed adultery then? And if St. Paul taught that "there is no difference, for all have sinned" why is homosexuality a worse sin than adultery? And they ignore the stuff in Leviticus about stoning disobedient children, but are happy to quote Leviticus when the topic is homosexuality.
Who cares?! Don't have sex with 'em; could be their loss.
That's my perception as well: it seems that both the liberal and conservative Christians cherry-pick the bible and other "sources of authority" in order to establish a preferred narrative or theology.
For example, the liberal Christians tend to down-play or explain away the "fire and brimstone" teachings of Jesus. There seems to be a push to portray Jesus as a kind of social activist rather than a zealous apocalyptic religious leader. They also tend to dismiss almost everything written by St. Paul, even though Paul authored most of the NT. Some even say that Paul was a false apostle or a kind of early heretic. Finally they tend to ignore much of church history and claim that liberal Christianity was the predominant form of Christianity until those dastardly Fundamentalists hijacked the religion in the 1920s. Crusades? Conquistadors? The Spanish Inquisition? Well those folks weren't true Christians. Or something.
And of course the conservative Christians tend to down-play or explain away the teachings about helping the less fortunate, including much of the book of James (because it emphasizes works over faith, and we can't have that!). How could we still support Republicans without Republican Jesus? And of course there's the obsession with homosexuality even though Jesus taught that any man who looked at a woman with lust was guilty of adultery. What man past puberty hasn't committed adultery then? And if St. Paul taught that "there is no difference, for all have sinned" why is homosexuality a worse sin than adultery? And they ignore the stuff in Leviticus about stoning disobedient children, but are happy to quote Leviticus when the topic is homosexuality.
That's not true. We politically-conservative Christians do much to serve the poor and needy. My church runs a free medical and dental cliniic for the poor, a food bank, an after-school program for at-risk kids and families and each Christmas, we give away toys and coats to the poor. Most churches in my area do similiar things.
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