Do Evangelicals Hate Jesus

I know that most consider Huffington Post to be liberal but it's hard to argue with this article. Thoughts?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/phil-zuckerman/why-evangelicals-hate-jes_b_830237.html

I find it interesting when non-Christians try to tell us how Christians are supposed to act. Like Phil Zuckerman is the gospel on Christianity, he is not.

Jesus was very clear that the pursuit of wealth was inimical to the Kingdom of God, that the rich are to be condemned, and that to be a follower of Him means to give one's money to the poor. And yet Evangelicals are the most supportive of corporate greed and capitalistic excess, and they are the most opposed to institutional help for the nation's poor -- especially poor children. They hate anything that smacks of "socialism," even though that is essentially what their Savior preached. They despise food stamp programs, subsidies for schools, hospitals, job training -- anything that might dare to help out those in need.

I don't know of anywhere in the bible that it says to give $$ to the government, in order for them to waste a large percentage, then they will give to the poor as they see fit. Jesus tells you to give to, and take care of the poor. Christians give a lot more to the poor than any other group...especially democrat politicians. Most Christians I know give lots to the poor, support food pantries, etc. It has nothing to do with "taking care of the poor" it is the delivery method. I don't like govt. delivery any of the above, because they don't do it well, or do it efficiently. The democrat lobbyists have a vested interest in having the poor remain poor.

I agree with conifermtman. Phil Zuckerman has assumed himself to be THE expert on Christianity. As an academic he would never consider the opinions of a butcher/baker spouting opinions in sociology. But he has placed himself in the position of being the butcher/baker and proposing his uneducated declarations of Christianity to fit his sociological and political views.

How unprofessional and unacademic.

Being a good steward does suggest that using the government as a conduit to help others should be avoided.

I read the article... Not once did I see the word "government" mentioned... I DID see a lot about the hypocrisy of the right as evidenced by their attitudes that are contrary to what Jesus taught. I guess the Right has to spin "government" in there so they can feel good about their rejection of the principles....

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Well, I guess this could sort of be construed as "government":

Of course, conservative Americans have every right to support corporate greed, militarism, gun possession, and the death penalty, and to oppose welfare, food stamps, health care for those in need, etc. -- it is just strange and contradictory when they claim these positions as somehow "Christian." They aren't.

That certainly summarizes the "compassionate conservative" viewpoint.

Jesus was very clear that the pursuit of wealth was inimical to the Kingdom of God, that the rich are to be condemned, and that to be a follower of Him means to give one's money to the poor. And yet Evangelicals are the most supportive of corporate greed and capitalistic excess, and they are the most opposed to institutional help for the nation's poor -- especially poor children. They hate anything that smacks of "socialism," even though that is essentially what their Savior preached. They despise food stamp programs, subsidies for schools, hospitals, job training -- anything that might dare to help out those in need.

I don't know of anywhere in the bible that it says to give $$ to the government, in order for them to waste a large percentage, then they will give to the poor as they see fit. Jesus tells you to give to, and take care of the poor. Christians give a lot more to the poor than any other group...especially democrat politicians. Most Christians I know give lots to the poor, support food pantries, etc. It has nothing to do with "taking care of the poor" it is the delivery method. I don't like govt. delivery any of the above, because they don't do it well, or do it efficiently. The democrat lobbyists have a vested interest in having the poor remain poor.

No - I don't think "evangelicals" hate Jesus.

However, I would hazard a guess that Jesus would hate the way that modern evangelicals are acting.

Modern evangelicals have (unfortunately) bought into the religion of politics. They rely far too often on political figures to be their messiah.

I think it's a fundamentally bad idea - and anti-ethical to the values taught (and exhibited) by Jesus, himself.

Jesus had little interest in political authorities (look at his conversations with Pilot). It also appears that he had little in common with religious authorities.

RenegadeCJ wrote:

The democrat lobbyists have a vested interest in having the poor remain poor.

And the neo-con lobbyists apparently have a vested interest in having the rich remain rich, and screw the poor.

Okay - so I read the actual article.

I disagree.

Just because evangelicals don't support government-run programs

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doesn't mean they hate Jesus or his value.

Government doesn't have a monopoly on programs that feed, clothe, and house the poor.

On the topic of feeding - I'd note Word Vision ---- one of the larger non-profits dedicated to feeding mal-nurished individuals (world-wide)

On the topic of housing - I'd note that Habitat for Humanity was actually started by Christians. (Habitat's original name was "Koinonia Partners")

I'm sure there's a Christian organization dedicated to feeding.

I'd also note that the world's leading healthcare provider is the Catholic Church (not technically "evangelical Christians")

So while I think that Jesus might hate the way evangelicals behave - I patently disagree with the author's claim that Evangelicals hate Jesus.