Thursday, February 21, 2013
The Message
I have always known that Jesus was Jewish, but I was never aware of how much the religion of Christianity changed his message. Jesus hated the patriarchal family; the idea of Heaven came from the scribal elites. Yet, family is an integral part of our culture, and Heaven is the goal of most Christians. Knowing this, I can't help but wonder if his message would be popular today if it had not been altered. Thoughts?
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I think that's an interesting question. If you look at the bible, there are many aspects of it that, morally and legally, are not agreeable by today's standards. For instance, in Leviticus, many things are outlawed, such as shellfish and clothing of more than one material while things like slavery are completely condoned. Despite these, people still pick and choose which parts of Leviticus they decide to follow (most famously, the part that seems to condemn homosexuality). If Jesus' message wasn't altered, then people perhaps would pick and choose which parts they decide to listen to, just as they do with Leviticus.
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting hypothetical. I think that, if we had access to Jesus's original message and beliefs, unaltered, they would probably be gaining popularity right now, given the current unbalanced distribution of the world's assets. Of course, things aren't nearly as bad now as they were under the Roman empire, but I could easily imagine the 1% movement adopting the message of Jesus.
ReplyDeleteA great thread; some comments. Jesus was indeed utterly Jewish, and his opposition to all existing economic, social, political, and military power structures was rooted in Hebrew scriptural principles about God's justice, etc. That is, he does not reject Judaism as such, but critique from within its patriarchal bad habits. In so doing, of course, he roundly condemns almost all modern societies as well -- given a chance, no doubt we would crucify him again.
ReplyDeleteBut as JonDavid observes, lots of disenfranchised people in the modern world would (and do) welcome his revolutionary ideas. And although it is true that conditions in the contemporary U.S. are not as bad as Roman Palestine, in much of the world today they are far worse (in some cases, WE are now the Romans, colonizing the world economically, rationalizing agriculture, de-developing local economies...).
In response to Alison, the same process of picking and choosing that all modern Jews and Christians apply to Leviticus is very much at work with regard to whatever version of Jesus' message you want to point to.