I guess I’m a radical Christian then.
I believe Jesus taught tolerance and love, so I try to treat others with tolerance and love. And not fake love like “thoughts and prayers,” but real love, which comes with action.
Comment on Anon questions the KKK
Flax_vert@feddit.uk 1 day ago
Yes. Yes they are.
sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 23 hours ago
thespcicifcocean@lemmy.world 21 hours ago
John Brown was a radical Christian, and he’s okay in my book.
sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 20 hours ago
Truly an American hero.
nomy@lemmy.zip 19 hours ago
Pretty telling that he’s not mentioned in history books. I didn’t learn anything about him until well into adulthood.
Duke_Nukem_1990@feddit.org 20 hours ago
I believe Jesus taught tolerance and love
So that’s what he meant when he said
34 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. 36 And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. Matthew 10:34-36
or when he said:
“Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters." Matthew 12:30
So tolerant and loving! 😍
sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 19 hours ago
Matthew 10:34-36
Look at Matthew 26 (specifically 52) where Jesus stopped Peter from defending him with his sword. Jesus is opposed to violence, full stop.
The sword Jesus spoke of in Matthew 10 wasn’t a literal sword. He’s saying he’s here to disrupt the status quo. Following him requires being at odds with the status quo (Jewish law), which is likely to result in being excluded from families and whatnot. He certainly doesn’t condone violence, but he does acknowledge that this is a fork in the road and people need to pick sides, because they can’t do both.
This similar idea is conveyed in Matthew 6:24 (replace “money” with anything else that stands between you and following God):
No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
Or Matthew 5:29:
If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.
I also don’t think he means you need to preemptively abandon your family, just that if you have to choose, choose God.
The same idea is true in secular ideology as well. If your family are Nazis, it’s better to leave them than become a Nazi.
Duke_Nukem_1990@feddit.org 19 hours ago
It’s so weird how Trump and Jesus fans always need to explain what the words their admiration spoke actually meant. He maybe the evangelicals had it right all along and Donnie is the second coming!
algorithmae@lemmy.sdf.org 15 hours ago
Oh come on, I can see from a mile away that’s it’s a metaphor
Lightor@lemmy.world 12 hours ago
How can you tell the difference between what should be interpreted as literal vs a metaphor?
Duke_Nukem_1990@feddit.org 14 hours ago
Sure like everything that is uncomfortable. Rest is literal. How convenient.
angrystego@lemmy.world 13 hours ago
They said they believe Jesus taught tolerance. They didn’t say it’s the ultimate fact just that they believe it. Of course you can find anything in the Bible. You can interpret the text in a hundred ways. There’s no one true interpretation. You can just choose one to believe in that makes sense to you (or decide non of it is for you). I think sugar_in_your_tea has chosen a very positive interpretation.
Btw I love your user name!
dragonfucker@lemmy.nz 20 hours ago
Based tbh
nutsack@lemmy.world 16 hours ago
i fucked god’s asshole
bhamlin@lemmy.world 22 hours ago
I feel like “tolerance” is the wrong word here. If you instead strive for “compassion” you’d be closer to the mark.
sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 21 hours ago
When I think of tolerance, I think of how Jesus dealt with sinners. He didn’t go around pointing out others’ mistakes, instead he helped any who came to him. He even asked his father to forgive the people that killed him, saying they didn’t know what they were doing.
To me, tolerance doesn’t mean ignoring people who live differently, it means quite the opposite: look past the sin and love people for the rest of who they are. Getting into compassion, that also means championing causes that you disagree with, but that help your sinner friends and don’t hurt you.
For example, I fully support legalizing the following:
- gay marriage - I’ll even include polyamorous marriage (assuming consent)
- drugs - any restrictions should merely protect those who don’t use it (e.g. BAC limits for driving)
- prostitution
- gambling
I’m morally opposed to each of those, but that only applies to my own actions, and others choosing to do those doesn’t hurt me. If someone else makes a different decision, that’s not my business and I’ll continue loving them for who they are. Banning those things causes harm, and legalizing them makes people happy without hurting me, so why should I oppose?
Likewise, a homeless person addicted to drugs isn’t any less deserving of love than my local religious leader. Jesus gave two commandments:
- Love God
- Love neighbor as yourself
He didn’t say, “love saints more than sinners,” in fact he said we shouldn’t judge others at all. So if I love my religious leader and not the homeless person, I need to repent. And I show that love through action (i.e. compassion), otherwise it’s just lip-service and I’m no better than the Pharisees that showed piety in public but were incredibly intolerant.
Tolerance without commission isn’t love just like faith without works is dead.
bhamlin@lemmy.world 21 hours ago
Sure, but also “love the sinner, hate the sin.” Compassion still feels more appropriate.
blindbunny@lemmy.ml 11 hours ago
Love is a verb
RavingGrob@lemm.ee 6 hours ago
blindbunny@lemmy.ml 6 hours ago
Yep the second part in the link you sent. But it appears as if some people don’t think love is something you have to do. I guess it just happens 🤦♂️
the_crotch@sh.itjust.works 20 hours ago
Tolerantly beat the fuck out of those money changers
sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 20 hours ago
Lol.
The problem there was that they were defiling his house, disturbing people who were there to worship. Tolerance doesn’t mean putting up with bad actors, it means not getting involved in things that don’t concern you. Someone else choosing a different religion or lifestyle doesn’t concern you, and the direction to love them still applies.
Comrade_Spood@slrpnk.net 12 hours ago
Yeah they are reactionary christians. A radical christian would be like the Catholic Workers and Dorothy Day, or the Fasci Siciliani, or Leo Tolstoy
captainlezbian@lemmy.world 22 hours ago
Especially since radical doesn’t mean extremist, but seeking the root. You want to know what a radical Christian looks like? MLK. Arguing for equality to be achieved through peaceful means but a positive peace that includes justice.
The kkk are just positive Christians, but unwilling to call themselves that because that would imply that they might be g*rmans and they ain’t no stinking deutschbag
WhiskyTangoFoxtrot@lemmy.world 7 hours ago
A millennium and a half of Christianity would say otherwise.