Jesus is my Hostage: Some people don’t view Jesus as someone that they serve, but as someone that should serve them. Jesus seems to be in their life simply to inform their political views or beliefs. The Bible isn’t a truth to live to; it’s a weapon to divide with. Verses are ripped screaming from their context and used as a bludgeon over those who aren’t as adept at memorizing scripture.
The most frustrating part about this box is that it isn’t a box that affects the “boxer” as much as the “boxee.” It’s a struggle to wake anyone up from this, and ultimately, we have to balance love and challenge to the people who have put Jesus in this box.
Before we can even do that to others, we also must remove the planks in our own eyes. Think back to your life and when you get most frustrated and want to “prove your point.” What scriptures come to your head? Do you see where they fit in the whole of the Bible, or do you only remember the sentence/phrase that proves your point? If you feel yourself in this trap, I recommend spending some time forcing yourself to listen and not immediately respond to whatever “threat” is in front of you.
Jesus is my Stock Broker: Don’t you know that Jesus gives all the investment tips you need in the Bible? If you’re poor now, that’s because you aren’t serving God properly. God wants nothing to do with the poor – he’s given them all the tools they need to pull themselves out.
Of course that’s absurd, but it’s frightening how often we can use Jesus to promote capitalism. We take verses in the Bible where Jesus says that a worker deserves his wages but ignore Matthew 20, which flies in the face of conventional capitalism. In this parable, the worker does not pay for the amount of work done, but pays everyone equally. What economic system does that sound like? Hint hint… it’s not capitalism.
And that’s not to say that Jesus is promoting communism or socialism. I’m trying to point out that when we prop Jesus up to serve a specific economic model, we lose sight of the idea that all money belongs to Jesus, and that he doesn’t hoard it… So neither should we.
Jesus is my Uncle Sam: Jesus invented America and makes an exception to his platform of love for those dirty commies and people not fortunate enough to be a full blooded American. That’s why when you look at a picture of Jesus on the cross, you see red (Jesus’ blood), white (Jesus’ skin), and blue (Jesus’ eyes). That’s red, white, and blue baby…
This is pretty absurd on all levels, and we can tackle it without using the Bible. Pretty much have to, actually, since the Bible says nothing (directly) about America. The U.S.A. is a wonderful country to live in and provides us with many rich blessings that no one else in history is provided. However, this country was founded primarily on the works of John Locke, not on Jesus Christ.
More sobering than the foundation is what America is now. Still a great country, but we have to realize that if Jesus were to come today, we would probably look a lot more like the villainous Roman empire of the New Testament rather than the heroes of the story. I’ll leave you with this quote from Rob Bell’s “Jesus Wants to Save Christians:”
“Most of the Bible is a history told by people living in lands occupied by conquering superpowers. It is a book written from the underside of power. It’s an oppression narrative. The majority of the Bible was written by a minority people living under the rule and reign of massive, mighty empires, from the Egyptian Empire to the Babylonian Empire to the Persian Empire to the Assyrian Empire to the Roman Empire. This can make the Bible a very difficult book to understand if you are reading it as a citizen of the most powerful empire the world has ever seen.”
Andy is a freelance thinker, writer, and giver-of-opinions. Read more of his work at: http://andyszymas.blogspot.com
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