Courtesy of a comical website called "Luciferian Liberation Front":
http://www.luciferianliberationfront.org/wwjd.html
Let's examine the claims of the tract:
1. Jesus is a bigot. Bible verses cited: Matthew 10: 5-6, Matthew 15:24
This is what happens when ignorant people cherry-pick the Bible with help from Google. They ignore the cultural and historical contexts from which the Bible was written.
Matthew 10: 5-6 Jesus instructed his disciples to go out among their own people first. Jesus' disciples were JEWS. How were new Galilean converts to the faith expected to go out and witness to people who didn't speak Aramaic? Did Jesus specifically "diss" the non-Jews? No.
Matthew 15:24 This is truly hilarious. The tract fails to mention that Jesus did help the woman in the passage because of her great faith. Racism claim debunked.
2. Jesus calls non-Jews names. Verses cited: Mathew 7:6, Matthew 15:26, Mark 7:26-27
Mathew 7:6 Jesus is telling His disciples not to give God's gifts to people that refuse to listen, or else they will turn on them and abuse their good will. This is in fact what happened many times to His Apostles as they spread the message of the Gospel. They were repeatedly attacked, arrested, tortured, and eventually martyred by non-believers. Jesus wasn't being a bigot, He was being prophetic.
Matthew 15:26 Jesus used the term "dogs" metaphorically as he was testing the faith of a gentile woman who had otherwise ignored God all her life. Remember, he healed the woman's daughter.
Mark 7:26-27 It's simply the same incident from Matthew, Chapter 15 as repeated in Mark's Gospel.
3. Jesus encourages people to steal and be bums. Verses cited: Matthew 6: 25-34, Matthew 12:1-2, Mark 2:23, Luke 6: 1-2
Matthew 6: 25-34: Really BAD inference here. Jesus didn't tell people to become listless bums, He was teaching them that they needed to focus their lives on God vs. worldly things. I guess the people who wrote this silly tract think Jesus was an anarchist.
Matthew 12:1-2: The tract writers display their true ignorance of Bible history here. The Israelites were instructed by God to leave a portion of their fields unharvested as a donation to the needy. Ironically, the following verse cited criticism from the Pharisees because the Disciples were working on the Sabbath, not that they were stealing.
Mark 2:23: Same as Matthew 12:1-2
Luke 6: 1-2 Same as Matthew 12:1-2
4. Jesus encourages selfishness. Verses cited: Mark 14:3-7
The tract authors took the passage completely out of context. Jesus reminded the woman's critics that any one of them could open his wallet any time and lay out the amount of that perfume if they were concerned about the poor. Jesus is the Son of God, God in the Flesh, and he was accepting a gift of worship from a believer who understood that better than any one of her critics.
5. Jesus came to destroy the family unit and cause hatred and division. Verses cited: Luke 14:26, Matthew 10:35-36, Luke 12:51-53
Luke 14:26: Jesus, the Son of God, says He is Number One, and you have to understand that if you are going to be a disciple. It is the antithesis of narcissism. Atheists hate this verse with a passion.
Matthew 10:35-36: Easily one of the most misunderstood verses in the Bible. Jesus wasn't going to water down right and wrong in favor of a feel-good khumbaya ministry, and He was prophesying that this would cause great divisions among people, even in their own homes. Jesus said it the way it was, and His detractors hate these words.
Luke 12:51-53: Same as Matthew 10:35-36
6. Jesus preached disrespect to one's parents. Verses cited: John 2:4, 19:26
In both cases, the tract authors are unaware of the cultural context of the use of the word "woman". without a qualifier it is either a noun, or in certain cases, a term of endearment. There is nothing in the context to indicate that Jesus was being a sexist. This claim is based on ignorance.
7. Jesus preached disrespect to fathers. Verse cited: Matthew 23:9
Once again taken completely out of context. Jesus is lecturing his disciples on the use of "father" as an honorary title to elevate themselves above other men.
8. Jesus is a hatemongering bigot who won't help anybody upon his Second Coming: Verses cited: Matthew 10:34-36, Luke 21:22-23, Isaiah 13: 9-16
Matthew 10:34-36: Redundantly redundant. See the above response to Matthew 10:35-36
Luke 21:22-23: Yes, in the end times, when people have repeatedly thumbed their noses at God after being warned of the consequences, ultimately people will get the punishment God warned them against. God is a Judge. Scofflaws will be judged for their actions. Without enforcement, laws are meaningless. I guess the tract writers don't relate to this.
Isaiah 13:9-16: Atheists really hate the Old Testament. What Isaiah prophesied was that God will let the disobedient suffer the consequences for ignoring God's laws. He will withdraw His protection from the people, which they didn't care about anyway, and then let their enemies do as they wish.
Remember, God has a long history of bending over backwards to save the innocent. Judgement only comes after God's patience with the people is exhausted.
9. Jesus gave hidden messages to keep unbelievers from being saved. Verses cited: Mark 4:11-12
Jesus said that believers would understand His parables. If you wanted to understand the meanings of His teachings, you just needed to believe in Him. This is simple enough for a child to understand.
10. Jesus preached dishonesty. Verses cited: Luke 16:1-9
This is a PARABLE. It's metaphoric and its meaning transcends the worldly terminology. The fact that the tract authors misunderstood it as being a metaphor for salvation lends credence to what Jesus said about non-believers in Mark 4:11-12 above.
11. Jesus taught to nag your friends instead of trusting them. Verses cited: Luke 11:5-10
Another misunderstood PARABLE on being persistent in prayer. Once again, refer to the commentary on Mark 4:11-12
12. Jesus advocated slavery. Verses cited: Matthew 18:25-35
ANOTHER misunderstood parable... this one is about paying forward the forgiveness you receive from God. Yet these tract authors claim to know the 'truth" about the Bible.
13: Jesus was a judgmental narcissist. Verses cited: Luke 11:50-51, Matthew 11:22-24, Luke 10:13-15
Luke 11:50-51: Jesus was ranting against the religious elitists who misused their authority for personal power, claimed to know the Scriptures, and yet were blind to the prophecies they contained.
Matthew 11:22-24: Jesus was prophesying against the people that saw Him, witnessed His miracles, experienced His Grace, yet still denied Him, even though he was the fulfillment of the Scriptures. The judgement came from God the Father.
Luke 10:13-15 Redundant. See the above commentary.
14: Jesus promoted gluttony and drunkenness. Verses cited: Matthew 11:19, Luke 7:34
Matthew 11:19: Completely out of context. Jesus was remarking on what others were accusing Him of, because He had the gall to actually fellowship with the people He was trying to save.
Luke 7:34: Redundant. See the above comment.
15. Jesus advocates mistreating animals. Verses cited: Matthew 5:18-20, Matthew 8: 31-32
Matthew 5:18-20: The tract authors are drawing an inference while ignoring the point Jesus was trying to make. He was faulting the religious elites for stressing religious rules over true worship.
Matthew 8: 31-32: Jesus lets demons possess pigs and the pigs drown themselves. I don't see this as a common practice in present day Christianity. This dumb argument may only impress PETA (People for Ethical Treatment of Animals).
15. Jesus mistreated plants, too! Verses cited: Matthew 21:18-20, Mark 11:12-14
Gee, do plants have feelings, too? Is cursing a fig tree worse than taking all its fruit, chopping it down and burning the wood? How much more nit-picking can these tract authors do?
16. Jesus wants most people to go to Hell. Verses cited: John 1:1-3
The straw-grabbing is getting more ridiculous. The tract accuses God of being a tyrant who created Hell and demanded an innocent man be tortured to death. The verses from John are used to claim God made Hell and therefore He's evil. Once again, the tract authors have only proven their ignorance of the Bible in citing this shopworn argument. If God hates everyone, why sacrifice Himself in their place?
17. Jesus said we should blind ourselves or cut off our hands for looking lustfully at other women or men who aren't our spouses. Verses cited: Matthew 5:28-30, Matthew 18:8-9, Mark 9:47
Give me a break. Any Sunday schooler knows that Jesus was speaking in exaggerated terms to point out the real origin of sin, which comes from the mind and heart. I don't see any Christians walking around with an eye patch, a hook for a hand, or a peg leg. Those kinds of people are generally known for robbing ships in the Caribbean Sea.
The tract page was concluded with this statement:
"When confronted with difficult decisions in their lives, many people ask
themselves, “What Would Jesus Do?” Fortunately (I think these poor guys meant UN-fortunately. Proofread much?), they think of Jesus as a gentle,
loving and morally upright character. While in reality, the Bible paints a
different picture about the nature of Jesus and the things he supposedly did. In
truth, no one needs the poor example of morality that Jesus provided us. The
time has come to stop blindly believing what others say about the Bible and
Jesus and look at the truth for yourself."
What an ironic conclusion. The tract writers accuse others of "blindly believing what others say about the Bible", yet they expect the rest of us to blindly believe what THEY say about the Bible. What a pity.
Even sadder is the artwork for the tract, which basically plagiarized 'Beavis and Butt-Head' in its design of the images used for the Christian and for the Lord. B&B are well-known for being insulting, ignorant, puerile and potty-mouthed. They stand out as symbolic of the comments that so many atheists have posted in this blog over the years.
More's the pity.
3 comments:
Quote"If you wanted to understand the meanings of His teachings, you just needed to believe in Him. This is simple enough for a child to understand."Quote
That is what Arnold Murray of the Shepherd's Chapel says often when discussing the Bible. If a child can understand, why can't an Atheist?
That's a funny observation and to point!
It is also hilarious when they consider Jesus's cursing of the Fig Tree as plant abuse.
He wasn't cursing the plant itself. The Fig Tree is a metaphor for the Nation of Israel.
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