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But Of Course, Jesus Was Wrong



by John K. Stoner  (December 1, 2017)

At the beginning of Advent, a reflection (a bit sobering) on what our culture, and maybe much of the church, really thinks about Jesus.  This year let’s use advent time to let Jesus teach what he taught and be who he was. 

But of course, Jesus was wrong.  His teachings were over the top. Everybody knows that.

People are not really, like children, dependent on others—dependent on receiving unconditional love, many chances to get it wrong and try again, in order to survive.  It makes no sense to say that we should become like children.

People are not really, as adults, capable of generous forgiveness and compassion toward others.  Such behavior would be mocked and abused.  

People are not really able to love their neighbors, let alone their enemies.  Jesus posed as the  model human, but we know better.  He was deluded and we are smart.  We know that people are cruel, treacherous and not to be trusted.  We steel ourselves for the worst.

Christmas is coming.  A good time to do a retake of our estimate of Jesus, this baby born in a manger to nobody parents and shepherds who didn’t understand real power and ruling empire.  

Let’s think about Jesus.  Of course he was wrong, everybody knows that.

We’ve got schools, teachers and parents teaching children to be kind, forgiving, and certainly not bullying.  But when they grow up, we know how to turn them around and teach them to kill people and break things.  We call it basic training.  Real basic, you bet—it goes against all natural instinct and childhood training, but it makes killers of compassionate human beings.  No small re-education process there.  

Jesus had this story about the prodigal son, or forgiving father.  But we know that that father was deluded, and that son was pampered.  We take our stand firmly with the elder brother, who knew that this was all a crock, and said so.

And his stories about good Samaritans.  Makes as much sense as good Muslims.  Really, what should we do about Muslims? 

So yes, this Christmas lets get down to brass tacks and look straight at what our culture really thinks about Jesus.  Do we think that, well, nice story, but sure, he was wrong?  Are we saying that we have a better way than his, and we can show you, with a world brought in just a couple hundred years to the brink of nuclear destruction or climate ecocide?    

So of course, Jesus was wrong.  Everybody knows that.

People are not really, like children, dependent on others—dependent on receiving unconditional love, many chances to get it wrong and try again, in order to survive.

People are not really, as adults, capable of generous forgiveness and compassion toward others.  Such behavior would be mocked and abused.  

People are not really able to love their neighbors, let alone their enemies.  Jesus posed as the  model human, but we know better.  He was deluded and we are smart.  We know that people are cruel, treacherous and not to be trusted.  We steel ourselves for the worst.

Christmas is coming.  A good time to do a retake of our estimate of Jesus, this baby born in a manger to nobody parents and shepherds who didn’t understand real power and ruling empire.   Declaring an empire of God built on human capacities far different from worldly empires. 

Let’s think about Jesus.  Of course he was wrong, everybody knows that.
Rev. Jan. 3, 2018

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