How to Get Around Jesus

[cbayer]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/neal-wooten/how-to-get-around-jesus_b_4936941.html

Neal Wooten
Writer, artist and standup comedian; author, 'Reternity' and 'The Balance'

Posted: 03/12/2014 5:22 pm EDT Updated: 03/12/2014 5:59 pm EDT


IAN HOOTON via Getty Images

Sure, I want to be seen as a Christian, but Jesus didn't make it easy. In fact, He raised the bar way too high. I'm all for loving my neighbor, as long as they are good, churchgoing folk, but this whole love-and-forgiveness-for-everyone thing is crazy. Luckily there are a lot of Christian leaders and organizations that can steer you around this nonsense.

One great way is to pretend Jesus didn't even raise the bar. In John MacArthur's Study Bible, MacArthur has a footnote for Matthew 5 that explains that Jesus was really making no changes at all. Sure, the old rule was "Do not murder"; the new rule is "Don't even be angry." The old rule was "Do not commit adultery"; the new rule is "Don't even think it." The old rule was "An eye for an eye"; the new rule is "Turn the other cheek." The old rule was "Love your neighbor"; the new rule is "Also love your enemy."

However, now that I know that Jesus didn't really understand what He was saying, or simply chose his words poorly, it's a lot easier to apply. I much prefer "An eye for an eye." Seriously, who doesn't?

And what exactly did Jesus mean when He told us not to judge? What are we to make of all the places in the Bible that explain that judgment is reserved for God only? Luckily the members of the Westboro Baptist Church, as well as many other churches, will point you to the Book of John: "Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment" (John 7:24, KJB). If you read the entire story, you'll see that this was Jesus lecturing the Jews, who were complaining about Him healing a man on the Sabbath. He was letting them know how wrong it was for them to judge Him at all. But if you ignore what was going on and focus only on that one line, you can make it read as if it's OK to judge if you are one of the righteous. And I'm sure we all know if we are, so we and God can judge away.

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[trotsky]

1. For a writer and comedian, the guy has no sense of irony. n/t

[longship]

2. Irony deficiency anemia? ;-) nt