I could have just done a Google Reader share on this, but the author so nails my understanding of Jesus’ teaching, I thought it deserved a blog post of its own. I’ll quote just one (long, broken up for readability) paragraph …
Mike Lux: How Do Christians Become Conservative?
The Jesus of the New Testament was of course extremely concerned with spiritual matters: there is no doubt whatsoever about his role or interest in the issues of the day, but the spiritual well-being of his followers was a major interest of his. How much he was involved with or interested in the political situation of the day is a matter of much debate and interpretation. Some say it was a lot and others that it was pretty limited or, as conservatives would say, not at all.
However, much of a priority or focus it was, though, if you actually read the Gospels, it is clear that Jesus’ main concern in terms of the people whose fates he cared about was for the poor, the oppressed, and the outcast. Comment after comment and story after story in the Gospels about Jesus relates to the treatment of the poor, generosity to those in need, mercy to the outcast, and scorn for the wealthy and powerful. And his philosophy is embedded with the central importance of taking care of others, loving others, treating others as you would want to be treated.
There is no virtue of selfishness here, there is no “greed is good”, there is no invisible hand of the market or looking out for number one first. There is nothing about poor people being lazy, nothing about the undeserving poor being leeches on society, nothing about how I pulled myself up by my own bootstraps so everyone else should too. There is nothing about how in nature, “the lions eat the weak”, and therefore we shouldn’t help the poor because it weakens them. There is nothing about charity or welfare corrupting a person’s spirit.
Read the whole thing (including some lovely take-downs of what passes for conservative Christianity in this country). If you want to know why I consider myself a Christian not just by upbringing but because of the values it teaches, it’s all right there (as well as here).
We can debate theology and metaphysics however much we want (and I always enjoy a vigorous discussion about angels and heads of pins), but drift too far away from that core message — love your neighbor, no matter how different, no matter how poor or outcast — and we’re talking a different faith language.
(via Ginny)