Submitted by Elaine Magliaro, Guest Blogger
All you Christian warriors out there best make ready for battle! Sean Hannity and the Catholic League’s Bill Donohue are now claiming that there is a war on Easter. “Oh no!” you say. “Who would do such a thing?” Why, Lady Gaga, comedian Ricky Gervais, and a few other dastardly demons—that’s who.
I even heard it through the grapevine that the CEO of Easter Bunnies, Inc., is hopping mad. I was told that he’s organized his bunny brigade and worked in co-operation with the president of Hatchling Chicks Corporation to devise a plan to go after anti-Easterites like Lady Gaga and Gervais.
Get your trebuchets ready! I’ll bring eggs. We’re planning to meet in Mister MacGregor’s garden tomorrow at the first light of dawn. We’ll shell the hard-boiled enemies of Easter ova and ova again until they surrender. They won’t know what hit them.
Are you ready to join me and my fellow warriors?
More about the War on Easter:
Stephen Colbert has an excellent summary of the story for us here: Easter Under Attack—Egg Edition
Fox News And Catholic League’s Bill Donohue Invent ‘War On Easter’ (Think Progress)
Easter Brings Out the Crazies (Catholic League)
Hannity – War on Easter (4.21.11) I couldn’t embed video. Here’s the link:
Jim,
“But, I can’t find anywhere in scripture where an apostle, disciple, or Jesus himself ever stated go and ask the government.”
And what does that prove? Zip. Zero. Nada.
When you don’t see the sun at night, does that mean it disappeared from the solar system?
You need to find a better argument.
J. Brian Harris, Ph.D.,
I only hold the Bible and not anything extra. There is no gospel of Mary. Also, someone with a PH.D should be able to seep my simple point of getting help from people and not the government.
And you can’t find any place that He ever stated not to either, Jim.
When I pray and the prayer is answered, then I knwo that Jesus is real. He has never let me down and always taken care of me. He has never told me to go and ask from the government. If I have a need and other Christians know it they step up because we are commanded to help each other. That is one purpose of the Christian Church in fulfilling the great commision. But, I can’t find anywhere in scripture where an apostle, disciple, or Jesus himself ever stated go and ask the government.
RE: Jim, April 25, 2011 at 11:23 am
Elaine M
If he said come unto to me and I give you rest then if he wanted people to go the government he would have told them so by not mentioning it he actually did answer it.
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Methinks attending to history may be helpful. In Judea, at the time of the alleged life of Jesus, there was no government facility which had the form and structure such as to provide for the needs of those “society” severely damaged. People died because there was no help available. People still die because there is no help available.
I, personally, can imagine no better way to discredit “The Message” of Jesus (if such message actually exists) than by attending to what Jesus did not say according to one or another translated version of “The Bible.”
Jesus did not say, “Share the Gospel via television.” Therefore, all television ministries are against Jesus’ teachings???
Jesus did not say, “Share the Gospel using the Internet.” Therefore, mentioning Jesus on the Internet is prohibited because Jesus never told anyone to use the Internet.
What about Matthew 7:1-5, KJV, “Judge not, that ye be not judged. Fro with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s euye, but considerest not the beam that is in thy own eye> Or wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thy own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam from thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast the mote out of thy brother’s eye.
Is it not a judgment for you, Jim, to decide what Jesus did not say, based on what is in the Bible? If everything Jesus said is recorded in the Bible, then Jesus was almost always silent?
How familiar are you with the Gospel of Thomas or the Gospel of Mary? If you are very familiar with them, how have you validated their authenticity?
I have before me a Red Letter edition of the King James Version. I have not actually tried it, yet I am quite certain that I am able to read aloud every “red letter” word in that KJV in considerably less than 8 hours.
What is your source of infallible authority such that you, without error, know that, during the supposed thirty-some years of his life, Jesus spoke for considerably less than 8 hours in total?
What I experience as of tragic irony is the curious thought that some folks, of apparently diverse religious orientation, on this blawg seemingly make judgments to the effect that that they do not judge.
As for that “Render unto Caesar…” notion:
Interpretation 1 — God made everything, everything belongs to God, and Caesar gets nothing.
Interpretation 2 — The parable is not about coins, but about people, each one unique, and in the countenance of the faithful, we are to recognize the true face of the gospel through the actual lives of the faithful; that true faith being the actual living of the teachings of Jesus. Alas, that true faith cannot truly include whimsically adding one’s own personal judgmental notions to what Jesus did, and did not, say?
I, myself, have found a way out of “the mess” which seems, thus far, to work decently in my life. Things happen which never exactly happened before, and I name that process either creativity or evolution, as I find them synonymous. If there actually is some process of creativity and/or evolution, then I find it reasonable to allow that the problems which seemingly plague humanity today may exist only because the resolution of them has yet to be created or has yet to evolve.
If the world was created perfect and complete some 6000 year ago, surely “Adam” and “Eve” had 100 terabyte per second Internet access to all the works that can ever be written, and had total understanding of good and evil without ever touching the fruit of that tree in the middle of the garden, and therefore, were not “disobedient” because God recognized the risk before the first “moment of sin” and wisely (knowing everything) prevented sin from ever happening?
Recognizing inconsistency and self-contradiction may be an aspect of a properly working human brain.
Is it possible that deciding what Jesus intended, based on a fragmentary record of what he may, or may not, have said, variously translated into other languages (even modern Aramaic is not the same language that Jesus would have spoken, likewise such Latin and Greek as he may have used) is a hint of something akin to aspiring to Godhead? I have no clue; for me to decide anything of that sort, I find I would need to make a judgment.
So, I am curious… Why the seeming enmity?
Why can’t we simply be friends?
Was not the final commandment of Jesus, “Love others as I have loved you.”?
So how long have you been seeing Jesus, Jim?
Does He ever ask to borrow your car?
Does He have that $20 He owes me?
More importantly, are you seeing a psychiatrist, Jim?
Because when you think you are chosen by Jesus to speak for Him on topics He didn’t address?
That’s a pretty good sign you’re experiencing delusional hallucinations.
Or you didn’t take the advice over the loudspeakers to avoid the brown acid.
But the next time you see Him?
Tell Him I want my $20.
That was a loan, not a gift.
Jim,
You go where you “think” He told you to go then–and NEVER EVER take anything from the goverment. You wouldn’t want to disobey Him, would you?
Elaine M
He said come to me and that is quite clear where we should go.
Jim,
How do you propose to prove that negative?
I could be eating dinner at someone’s house. The roast beef I’m served might be tough and overcooked. Just because I don’t say “this meat is tough and overcooked” doesn’t mean that it is tender and cooked perfectly, does it?
It’s interesting how you use quotes from the Bible to support your positions–but when you couldn’t find an applicable Bible quote to support your position on this subject, you claim the fact that Jesus didn’t say about it is proof enough.
Good grief!
Elaine M
My point is that Jesus instructed people where they should go (him) and by not saying the government, he basically states government is not the source for their solution to their problems.
Jim,
“If he said come unto to me and I give you rest then if he wanted people to go the government he would have told them so by not mentioning it he actually did answer it.”
That’s an unclear statement. Maybe you could rewrite it.
Elaine M
If he said come unto to me and I give you rest then if he wanted people to go the government he would have told them so by not mentioning it he actually did answer it.
Jim,
“But, notice Jesus never told the people to go and get help from the government.”
Did Jesus ever tell people not to get help from the government?
Elaine M
We are to pay taxes. But, notice Jesus never told the people to go and get help from the government.
Jim,
And he told the person to render the coin to Caesar, didn’t he? Was there a coin with the likeness of Jesus imprinted on it at that time in history? Maybe Jesus was talking about prayer…or devotion to Him.
Elaine M
Jesus said he came not to change the law but to fulfill the law. Part of the law was tithing.
Elaine M
Absolutely. He was looking at a coin.
“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
Ya know, that’s the funny thing about Jesus. There are a lot of things he didn’t talk about at all. Well then I guess it’s a good thing we don’t have a theocratic government organized around the Bible then but rather one that incorporates secular humanist principles similar to the ones espoused by Jesus, isn’t it, Jim? Because if we organized a government around you two’s wacky Biblical interpretation, not only would the sick and the poor be screwed because Jesus never said anything about government taking care of them, we also wouldn’t have power, water and sanitation systems because Jesus never mentioned any of those either.
Jim,
“Jesus said render unto Ceasar what is Ceasar and to God what is Gods.”
That’s what you’ve got for your response on Jesus’ talk about tithing? Was Jesus talking about tithing? Was Jesus even referring to money?
Otteray Scribe
Jesus said render unto Ceasar what is Ceasar and to God what is Gods.
Also, HIR has stated many times that he feels it is the responsibility of people to help those in need and not be FORCED by the government to do so. Also, HIR stated that Christ never mentioned it being a government responsibility either. You need to actually read what HIR is saying and get your facts strait!
HIR
At least I have been reading what you are actually saying.