Apr 13, 2009 -- 8:32PM, swinter5 wrote:

He would be ultra-patriotic, loving, next to God, His country and ALL the people in it.

I think it's this line that I find the most unsettling.

It's not just that you said Jesus would be patriotic, which even then I'd be in opposition to the statement; it's that you said Jesus would be ultra-patriotic.

When you read the Gospels, do you honestly read of an "ultra-patriotic" Jesus? Because being a patriot in the Roman Empire didn't involve just respecting the emperor or swearing allegiance to a flag (itself being arguably idolatrous), but swearing allegiance to Caesar. Are you aware of what that entailed? Do you understand the political and religious climate of the time? The very coins minted during the reign of Tiberius proclaimed him the son of a god, reading, "Tiberius Caesar, Son of the Divine Augustus".

Would Jesus be patriotic today? In what country? If Jesus were living in what is today the State of Israel, how do you think He would feel about the Israeli-Palestinian situation? Both sides have killed hundreds, needless death and destruction of equal share, would Jesus support the Israeli government ultra-patriotically?

Or are you thinking if Jesus was living here in the West, in America perhaps. Do you think Jesus would be a "proud American"? What if Jesus had been living in Iraq, how patriotic do you think He would have been under the regime of Sadam? How do you think He'd feel about the war and what it's brought to that land being a resident there? Or a resident here.

Let's take a good, long and hard look at Jesus as the Gospels depict Him. Let's take that ever so terribly seriously and then perhaps, when we begin to contemplate the ramifications of our thinking on this matter, perhaps it will revolutionize us.

What if Jesus had been an Iraqi killed in the bombings and subsequent war?

Because, here's the real kicker, He was.

"Whatever you do to the least of these brothers of Mine, you do it unto Me."

-Jon

Apr 3, 2009 -- 12:27PM, hamerhas wrote:

  What has given you cause to believe He would be so different?

He would still be the son of God and would die for our sins. So it wouldn't matter where he would spend his time.The bible says he will help the lesser of our brethern.

"If Jesus were alive today..."

That is not an "if" for me.  Jesus is alive, I have no doubt.

What are we waiting for?  Live!

mebjk

Apr 13, 2009 -- 8:32PM, swinter5 wrote:

I see Jesus today as a Jewish rabbi, though conservative in his views.  He would be ultra-patriotic, loving, next to God, His country and ALL the people in it.  He would serve a congregation, but I also see him, perhaps, teaching on PBS, enlightening the curious, maybe mainstream, people who would surely like to see the Son of God, and ask Him many questions.  Whether H would reveal Himself as such, would be questionable, though he DID identify Himself to the Twelve in that way. Would we elect Him to public office?  I think the general public would think he was too evangelistic and conservative to be a Congressman or a Senator.  I don't believe He would make a "spectacle" of Himself; just allow people to "read" into Him what they will. It would be soooo neat to meet Him, here, right now, and sit at His feet and just listen to his parables and stories.

Ultra-Patrotic? I hope you haven't had your supper yet! Have you had your SUPPER?  Now if you really aren't a wimp,and want to be a Soldier,  here is how you will do it when you attend the supper of the great God;  Har-Mageddon, 'hill of Megiddo' in the plain of Megiddo, Israel, site of the final battle of the kings of the Earth and their armies against Christ.

And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.  

And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;

That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.

And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. Rev 16:16, 19:18,19

But if you are watchful:

Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a twoedged sword in their hand;
To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people;
To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron;
To execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have all his saints. Praise ye the LORD. Ps 149:6-9

Oh no!  he won't be coming back.  That interest had long gone off him.   1,400 years ago he was sighted at the 2nd Heaven.   By now he is most likely above the 7th Heaven and dancing, barbequing and honeymooning in the Garden of Eden, with his wife .  That would probably take about another equivalent 48,000 earthly years before he would be readmitted into the Kingdom (the Throne) where he came from, originally.  If and only if he will come back, who knows - he could be among the cattles taht walk on th eearth or monkey/apes that hang on the trees.  So when you eat your meat and vegetables and fruits of the trees, just think about him.  Who is saving whom?