I would very much appreciate it if they could point me to the chapters and verses in the Bible where Jesus expressed those right-wing views.
D'ja even read my post above, the one about Jesus bein' God? About God being the strict disciplinarian? The one with Matt 34:10? All that up there, or is it just too harshfully truthful to deal with right now?
I get your point about Him hanging with the prostitutes and sinners too. Do you remember why He said He was hanging out with them? Because He wanted to HEAL them, FIX them, MAKE them stop sinning, by His example.
Yes, Jesus commanded us to live in peace with our neighbors. This is the same Jesus(GOD) who DECREED back in Genesis that the children of Ishmael would NEVER get along with their neighbors; the same Jesus (GOD) who punished Israel time and again for doing stupid stuff like worshiping false idols and taking advantage of widows and orphans(Hello Al Gore!) and the same Jesus(GOD) who assisted them when they were fighting their enemies and kicking people out of Canaan.
The reason He commands us to live in peace is because that's what He wants; it would make His job so much easier, life better on earth and all that, but human nature, being the sinful nature that it is, will never ever ever allow the Earth to be at peace, not until Jesus comes back anyway, and He knows this or He wouldn't have made any provision to come back, and I promise, when He does arrive, He won't be singing "kumbya". There's war, death and pestilance left in His wake.
I get that this line of reasoning is hard to grasp and again it's wearying on me to continue to go over the same points while someone's got their fingers in their ears and screaming "not listening". I suppose Jesus felt the same sort of frustration with the Pharisees and the scribes of His day, so I guess I should follow His example there and go kick the dust off my sandals.
TEEEEEJ
Jayne Cobb: Shepherd Book once said to me, "If you can't do something smart, do something RIGHT!
