RE: Would Jesus promote punishing the innocent instead of the guilty?
August 10, 2020 at 1:00 am
(This post was last modified: August 10, 2020 at 1:03 am by Belacqua.)
(August 10, 2020 at 12:09 am)Tulayhah-Asadi Wrote:(August 9, 2020 at 11:59 pm)Belacqua Wrote: That's a big question! The Gospels are a mixture of old and new, and even experts don't agree on a lot of details.
Which message in particular seems radical to you? Could you point to the verses? That would make it easier for people here to address the question.
"My kingdom is not of this world"
"They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. These men will be punished most severely"
"But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first."
"If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also."
"And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well."
"Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."
"it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God"
These are amazing teachings for their time. As far as I know, they have no precedent in any religious scripture that predates. What really strikes me about them is that even Christianity as a religion has never truly appreciated or owned them, that's how radical these teachings are.
I agree with you that this is a wonderful radical message. And that no one has managed to live up to it.
Nothing is 100% new, and I think we can see things evolving toward this message through the Old Testament. Early on, it seems simply to say that if God loves you you'll be rich and live a long time. But as things go on the emphasis switches from worldly rewards as a sign of God's love toward an emphasis on the weak and those who are, in worldly terms, "unsuccessful."
So for example the Book of Job is a strange meditation on how worldly success may be decoupled from God's love, and even the best person may suffer.
The prophets say explicitly that God doesn't want our offerings if we're not feeding the widows and orphans.
So I think the big change comes when there's a sort of reversal from the original, simple idea that God rewards the good people with wealth, and flips over to the conviction that wealth is an impediment and God prefers the poor. But this reversal is instigated from within, by prophets and critics among their own ranks.
One thing that's encouraging to me is that this message seems to have soaked so thoroughly into our culture that it no longer needs Christians to advocate it. (Especially when so many self-described Christians oppose what the New Testament actually says.) The social justice movements in the US, for example, are not explicitly Christian, but I think would be impossible without the seed planted long ago in the Gospels. And the New Testament even warns us quite explicitly what the powerful people will do to those who work for this radical love.