I think my favorite thing is the woman in the frame with Sinatra at the end who clearly mouths the word, “Wow”. Wow is right.
I know it’a probably not a new thing, but my lefty friends are promoting the idea that Jesus was a socialist, and Paul a fraud. I’m not Catholic, but married into an Italian/Irish family, so I’ve learned. But would be interested to hear from practicing people.
“Most Christians don’t believe in the religion of Jesus — they believe in the religion of Paul.
“The actual Jesus, the historical Jesus,” writes Andrew Springer at his ‘Jesus Movement’ Substack, “preached something closer to a revolution than a religion. He proclaimed that God’s kingdom was imminently arriving — a kingdom where the hungry would be fed, debts would be forgiven, the rich would be made poor, and the powerful would be laid low — and that entry into that kingdom was contingent not on what you believed but on how you lived.”
In modern terms: socialism.
Paul, on the other hand, wrote in his letters of a “set of claims about Jesus: that Christ died for our sins, that he was buried, that he was raised from the dead, and that faith in this death and resurrection is what makes a person right with God.”
Then came the forged Paul letters, and the powerful people who took those forged letters and transformed them into a new way of controlling the masses.”
From a practicing Christian: Your lefty friends and their sources take their current opinions and read them into the gospels and epistles. A straightforward reading of the four gospels and the acts of the apostles would disabuse them of any idea that Paul invented the whole thing, or that Jesus was a secular revolutionary. Believe it or don’t believe it, as they choose, but twisting it doesn’t work.
@physicsguy:
I suppose some of what is written in the Gospels can be taken in Springer’s sense, but at the very least, the narrative and the sayings of Jesus in the Gospels certainly overlaps significantly with the writings of Paul. The Gospels narrate that he was crucified, dead, and buried – in fact, the whole narrative structure of each of the Gospels is a build-up to these events. As a specific example of overlap/consistency:
Jesus: ” ‘For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.’ ” Mark 10:45 (ESV)
Paul: “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all…” I Tim. 2:5-6.
It would seem that Springer is being selective to build his own “narrative”.
The socialists/communists can be counted on for one thing; lies and hostility to Christianity.
The socialists/Communists can be counted on for two things; lies, hostility to Christianity, and the worship of power.
The socialists/Communists can be counted on for three …
And just like that, The Spanish Inquisition!
Those evil Catholics! (sarc)
Kate and Watt:
Thanks for the illumination on this progressive “Christian” heresy.
I had to find out separately that the “short” was Richard Burton talking.
Are we all supposed to know this intuitively?
My life was such that I never saw many movies.
Was involved in things that I considered more important.
I think the last film I saw Burton in was The Sandpiper about 4 years ago. Not his best film, but it has local color for me. In fact, I’ve got tickets to a Halloween bash at Nepenthe, which is featured in that film.
I read some knowledgeable film historian who claimed that it took Burton a rather long time to learn how to pull his stage oriented projection, back enough to be suitable for the film camera. I saw most of his films when I was rather young, but it rings true to me that he might have over projected in some of them.
– – – – –
This is a digression, but thinking about actor’s performances, I’ve decided that one of the worst scenes a good actor can be given is one where he or she is supposed to be playing an actor character, of mediocre skill, who is acting and is not doing a very good job of it.
I first noticed this watching the old TV show Burn Notice. I thought, “Gee, Jeffrey Donovan’s acting isn’t very good. Then I thought, “No… The character he is playing is supposed to be acting in this scene, and HE isn’t doing a very good job.” It must be painful for them to do such a scene.
I was watching Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood days ago. The trivia on this film has the following about DiCaprio’s performance.
Very rare for a Quentin Tarantino film, some scenes contained improvisation, particularly when Rick Dalton forgets his lines when filming Lancer (1968) and afterwards rants to himself privately in his trailer. Leonardo DiCaprio had a very difficult time playing the scene as Dalton, rather than as how he himself would, especially since Dalton is supposed to be an actor of limited range. DiCaprio suggested that Dalton forget his lines mid-scene, ironically, to help him stay in character as Dalton. The subsequent scene in the trailer was also unscripted.
I had to find out separately that the “short” was Richard Burton talking. — Stayin_Alive_555
I was in a waiting room years ago reading something, and another guy walks in and sits down near me. I glanced at him briefly, then glanced longer again, then I stared at him for a third time. He looked exactly like Eli Wallach, except about 10 years younger.
So I told him that, and he laughed and said that he never watches movies (really??), so he wouldn’t know. But a few other people had told him the same thing.
Then he related an incident when he was walking in Carmel. He saw Clint Eastwood drive by slowly, then stop and back up to take a good look at him. Then he drove on. This guy DID know who Clint was, like everyone else around here.
Stayin_Alive_555:
You can learn new things every day here from neo!
I wasn’t sure who was speaking about Sinatra, but what Richard Burton said about alcoholism I understand to be true.
A bonus. 🙂
Stayin_Alive_555:
Well, if you’re under 50 or 55 you might not know. But until he died in 1984 Burton was one of the biggest celebrities in the world. Huge celebrity, and with an instantly recognizable voice.
”I had to find out separately that the ‘short’ was Richard Burton talking.”
OK, who is Richard Burton, and why is the camera zoomed way in on his face like that? It’s really annoying.
Indeed, and who is Elizabeth Taylor?
Is she related to Taylor Swift? (sarc)
If only the Interweeb had a search thing or some way to ask a question.
Just stream “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” mkent.
Speaking of movies, I went to see the new Elizabeth Holmes “documentary” last night, and yes that needs to be in quotes. It’s one wild ride man. Only thing I can assure you of is you’ll know less coming out than you did going in.
Haven’t listened to it yet, but now will. Went back to look at the pic, and YES that is Richard Burton. Didn’t think about it at first. And Dick Cavet, a real interviewe
UPDATE to yesterday’s post from Robert Gouviea and the beginning prosecution of two Ex-FIBer, Flores and Benevides.
Marco Polo reporter Ziegler says “they are sociopaths,” they need to in
Federal Prison. He says we don’t remove them from our prosecution list until they get at least 13 (the max is 6 years for lying to Congress). Benevides reported toDirector Christopher Ray!
Ziegler calls them mid-level bureaucrats managing the Democrat coverup
and whitewash and law fare campaign aimed at deposing the elected President
Trump. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iw-evcy-FHw
The Congressional testimonies of the two arrested is on Rumble to view – over 6 hours.
physicsguy says “my lefty friends” think Jesus preached socialism because…Sermon on The Mount.” God is coming and He will judge you!
Well, the Mormons went West, believing the same. And guess what? He didn’t come. They had eschewed accumulating wealth because it was of no use with His second coming!
My point is, point to this history as a counter example of religious fervor and where it ends. Ultimately, it ends with capitalism by Mormons.
/As an atheist, I find The Sermon on The Mount especially vicious instance of the evils of Christian altruism. When I was in Alabama for a year not long before 9/11, we read and debated it, with a local Jesus loving Baptist Christian, so enamored of him he wanted to write a biography. We debated. We disagreed.
Even the Plymouth Puritans in Massachusetts went through a parallel socialist reckoning leading to starvation, then using capitalism to survive.
And how do we put the three gospels down? Which find Jesus saying “Render unto Ceasar what is Ceasar’s…,” clearly supporting separation of church and state.
Here’s a cute little statistic—according to the linked article, in 2024 more people in Canada were killed via their policy of assisted suicide in a year—the tally is 16,499 Canadian citizens killed–than were killed in the same year in the U.S.—the U.S. tally is 15,364–by the dreaded U.S. “gun homicides” which Canadians are so critical of and worried about.*
I might note that I’ve seen news stories which report on the reasons some people give for choosing assisted suicide, and to my way of thinking, some number of them seem to be things which may well become better, go away, or are rather trivial.
I also believe that I’ve seen a report that those eligible for such assisted suicide can now also include children/juveniles.
“The actual Jesus, the historical Jesus,” writes Andrew Springer at his ‘Jesus Movement’ Substack, “preached something closer to a revolution than a religion. He proclaimed that God’s kingdom was imminently arriving — a kingdom where the hungry would be fed, debts would be forgiven, the rich would be made poor, and the powerful would be laid low — and that entry into that kingdom was contingent not on what you believed but on how you lived.”
Christians do not believe entry into the kingdom is contingent on what you did. That is utter nonsense. Muslims on the other hand with two exceptions do believe that.
John 14: 6 makes this clear – ” I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the the father except through me.” The circumstance was the disciples asking him the question directly as to getting to heaven – “to the kingdom.”
That’s one of the (4) gospels – not St Paul.
If Jesus were to have claimed the way to heaven and eternal life was a list of good deeds we would have “The Ten Good Deeds” instead of The Ten Commandments.
Listening to atheists, agnostics, Progressives, Communsists, Nazis, Fascists, Muslims or in fact any non-Christian claiming knowledge of what Christians believe and don’t believe is very interesting information about them and irrelevant as to Christian doctrine.
.
You may have run across a few science fiction stories which feature the idea of “genetic uplift,” taking some already somewhat capable Earth species–Chimpanzees, great apes, dogs, dolphins, raccoons, ferrets, various birds, etc.– and enhancing their DNA, “uplifting” them, so that they are generally smarter, more capable, and make better partners for humans; force multipliers.
Well, it looks like here is where something like this starts.*
The Sermon on the Mount was particularly aimed at Jesus’s disciples whom he was sending out to expand his ministry. It is not always assumed that every detail of it must be observed by all Christians at all times. This sounds like the sermon I heard in a liberal church recently, when the gospel for the day was the parable of the vineyard owner who kept hiring people during the day and at the end paid all of the workers the same, the ones who worked all day and the ones that worked only one hour. This idiot preacher thought it was economic advice and didn’t know how to deal with it. It’s a parable about salvation. She doesn’t know about that, I guess.
It’s often a mistake to pick passages out of context and without guidance on how the church has always interpreted them.
Politics kills science.
Sabine Hossenfelder gives concise overview of the scandal at the National Academy of Science on climate change science, with the vulgar cash grab reverberating ever since June.
“Rapid Climate Event Attribution” attempts to tie fictional rapid climate change events and presumed harms to CO2, and therefore make the “polluters” liable for damages in the courts. Science thus serves politics, and ceases to find truth.
PS In Italy, Meloni has shown the good sense to call in soldiers backed by an armoured division to Milan. Order restored.
physicsguy,
Others have already commented with good responses. I’m not sure I have more to offer, but this is something I have thought about a great deal, so I’ll write something anyway.
First, your Lefty Facebook friends are not alone among Christians. I’m much more interested in the Socialism stuff, but quickly, regarding Paul. Paul was not one of the original, 12 Apostles and never met Jesus prior to the Resurrection” and there was debate among Paul and the Apostles about whether salvation comes from faith or works. There were also disputes about whether only Jews could be saved or if all people could be saved. There are wonderful writings about all of this, including how the Apostles and Paul sorted this out; which was ultimately, sort-of solved 300 years later at the Council of Nicea. (But there were still disputes resulting in schisms; Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Constantinople vs. Rome and, ultimately Martin Luther and the hundreds of Christian denominations that subsequently followed, including, improbably, “Jews for Jesus.”)
You probably know a lot of this history, but if you don’t I recommend researching it. I think you’ll find it fascinating. But the short answer is; I don’t know of any Christian group that doesn’t recognize Paul as a legitimate follower of Jesus chosen by Jesus himself. I’ve also never heard any Christian group claim his writings were forged. I’ve heard of all kinds of conspiracies about writings in the Old and New Testament and different Christian faiths include or exclude writings they do not believe belong in the “Bible,” but Paul’s writings are not only accepted by Christians, they are revered by Christians.
As I wrote, the Socialism/Communism stuff interested me for a long time. Still does. I can certainly quote scriptures that would give a capitalist Christian pause; the parable of the widow’s mite is a toughy. Camels and needle eyes. Matthew 19 is a challenge, Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” Lots of writings about usury being wrong. And by all accounts Jesus and the Apostles lived a sort-of communist lifestyle. Judas’ thinking that Jesus was breaking this economic structure by allowing expensive oil to be used in an extravagant (to Judas’ thinking) manner is the major catalyst that causes Judas to turn Jesus over to be crucified.
However, I can also cite Gospel writings and parables where Jesus seems to be promoting Capitalism and being a good steward of one’s personal wealth and possessions, even growing one’s personal wealth. I highly recommend the Parable of the Talents. I have read and re-read that many times over the past, 2 decades and am still trying to understand it.
Jesus often spoke in parables and the Old and New Testaments cover a lot of ground. As Shakespeare wrote in “The Merchant of Venice,” “The devil can cite scripture to suit his purpose.” As Kate wrote, many people take parables literally when they are meant as metaphors for other things; greater things. Which is ironic for followers of Christ because the Pharisees and Sadducees did the same thing to him. They took the Mosaic Law very literally and continually tried to trip Jesus up by asking Him about it. Yet a lot of Christians have become like the Pharisees and Sadducees.
From my reading and reflection it seems clear Jesus wants us to save ourselves and others as individuals. Socialism and Communism are collective economic systems. I can’t pretend to claim that I am living my life, economically, in the way Jesus would proscribe..I know I fall far short of his teachings. But I can’t find anything in the Gospels where He states the road to salvation lies in my voting for a Roman tax collector to redistribute my neighbor’s wealth on my behalf at the threat of a Roman spear. I’m pretty certain, of the 3 individuals in that scenario (me, the tax collector and the spear wielding Centurion) Jesus would find me the most sinful.
*I imagine all here know about the “Road to Damascus,” Saul/Paul’s prior work as a persecutor of Christians and his conversion.
When I saw the extreme close up I wondered if it was Big Brother. 🙂
= = = = = = = =
It seems to me that Jesus’ message was spiritual, rather than political. That being said, some of his statements are relevant to modern politics, such as his condemnations of homosexuality and transvestism.
More Trump on Truth Social:
“Anybody reporting Voter Fraud in the past Elections, or the upcoming 2026 Midterm Election, will be paid $1,000,000 upon the arrest and conviction of those that created the Fraud!”
That’s a very good vademacum to Jesus, Paul, and social issues they
actually address. Protean Bible topics, for sure.
@ Neo > “What a voice he had:”
If James Earl Jones had a British accent….
@ Shirehome > Dick Cavett was indeed a great interviewer, because he threw out interesting questions and then let his guest answer them without interrupting. He was not there to promote his own views, but to allow his viewers to learn about the guest.
@ TommyJay > “I read some knowledgeable film historian who claimed that it took Burton a rather long time to learn how to pull his stage oriented projection, back enough to be suitable for the film camera.”
The quality of cinema technology was inadequate to show off Laurence Olivier’s much earlier performances as they deserved.
I don’t think he pulled back much.
IMO
Best Shakespeare Movie Ever: Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor in “The Taming of the Shrew.”
Runner up Zeffirelli’s “Romeo and Juliet.”
Kenneth Branagh also did a fantastic job on other plays of The Bard.
At first I thought the voice comment was related to Dick Cavett’s voice, which is also distinctive and easily noted to be his voice, although Cavett presumably did not have the natural or trained voice for maximal theater projection.
Very interesting discussion of the Gospel and the worldly perversion of it that we call socialism.
Jumping off from Springer’s words: “He proclaimed that God’s kingdom was imminently arriving — a kingdom where the hungry would be fed, debts would be forgiven, the rich would be made poor, and the powerful would be laid low — and that entry into that kingdom was contingent not on what you believed but on how you lived.”
That’s a reasonably decent paraphrase of a lot of material, but the interpretation hinges on what is meant by believing and living.
IMO (and this is my own gestalt of considering the Biblical sources and various commentaries, plus — as the Woke say– my lived experience), I consider Springer and his ilk to be reversing cause and effect.
WHEN everyone on earth learns of Christ, believes in His divinity and His mission to rescue us from our sins and atone for the wretchedness that follows sinfulness, and then each person lives up to those beliefs and the directions He gave us for personal action, THEN we will be in the Kingdom of God and indeed all of those blessings will follow.
What Socialism and other worldly heresies get wrong is thinking that they can force people to produce the blessings without going through the conversion process.
No one has to experience a change of heart that encourages them to voluntarily conform their behavior to the commandments of God (whether ten or any other number)
Socialists forcibly confiscating money and services from those who produce to give to those who don’t, claiming they want to “feed the hungry,” even as the leaders siphon off part (possibly most) of the money for their own use, and using a very flexible definition of “hungry” to determine who gets taken care of.
Christ freely forgave the debts owed to Him and enjoined us to likewise forgive the debts owed to us by other people (whether material or emotional). Socialists construe “debts to be forgiven” as excusing their own errors and faults, but not those of anyone who opposes them.
The sayings of Christ on how “the rich would be made poor, and the powerful would be laid low” are harder to interpret but my feeling is that there will be a leveling of social status (if not the complete eradication of it) so that those who were rich in material things will not be preferred to those who were lacking, and those who exercised temporal power will have no advantage over those who did not. This is not the same as Socialists impoverishing (selected) Rich People or incarcerating (selected) Powerful People.
Hayek ably addressed the ultimate outcome of any socialist system in his book “The Road to Serfdom” and other works, and although he did not bring Christianity into his conversation, his reasoning informed my interpretation: on this earth we are all sinners and deficient in our morals and behavior; as a mass, we have to be forced to “do good” according to some definition of what that entails, and the forcing itself becomes an evil thing.
When all people accept Christ as Lord and act on His counsel (aka commands) voluntarily, then the blessings follow for everyone.
If some people force others to simulate the appearance of the blessings, that is not the same thing as bringing forth the Kingdom of God.
@ Rufus > “From my reading and reflection it seems clear Jesus wants us to save ourselves and others as individuals. Socialism and Communism are collective economic systems” —
— which are found in the temporal world, not in the Kingdom of God, just as Capitalism, Feudalism, Tribalism and all other economic systems are temporal. I note that followers of Christ can individually apply His teachings on love and charity in all of those systems; we don’t have to wait for everyone to join in.
“But I can’t find anything in the Gospels where He states the road to salvation lies in my voting for a Roman tax collector to redistribute my neighbor’s wealth on my behalf at the threat of a Roman spear.”
I came up with a shortcut when trying to wrap my brain around this topic, “Voluntary Communism.” I believe that is the best economic system. That is how most of us run our households.
Communism can work very well in close, small groups, and scales up a bit, but tends to fall apart the larger a group gets. Given a large group, especially a large group of unrelated people, Capitalism seems to fit human nature better.
When our children were minors in our care my wife and I definitely followed a “from each according to his or her ability to each according to his or her need” philosophy regarding our household income. Voluntary communism. And my wife and I can extend the group under that umbrella a bit for people we know very well; our siblings and parents, Aunts, Uncles, cousins… A few close friends. But even that gets tricky. Even if my wife and I want to be magnanimous and selfless it’s harder to know the intentions of those we don’t live with. It’s also hard to assess their true need. Our family has several stories of close relations estranged over misunderstandings over money and how it should be distributed.
“But one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was going to betray Him, asked, ‘Why wasn’t this perfume sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?’”
Scottish philosopher Adam Smith famously explained why Capitalism scales better than Communism, vis a vis human nature.
“It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. We address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities but of their advantages. Nobody but a beggar chooses to depend chiefly upon the benevolence of his fellow-citizens. Even a beggar does not depend upon it entirely.”
AesopFan,
That meme is a good shorthand for what we are discussing. The Babylon Bee’s “Woke Jesus” series of videos is also great at showing how we misinterpret Jesus’ teachings, often perceiving the opposite of His intent.
From my reading of the Gospels and from sitting through sermons of many learned scholars I don’t see where anyone finds a message of force, or, as depicted in your meme, an abrogation of duty. Also, “judge not lest you be judged” and “thou shalt not covet.”
It’s not my duty to determine when my neighbor has enough wealth or possessions and it’s certainly not my job to take his wealth or possessions and give them to others. And voting for others to take his wealth and possessions by force seems even worse. Now I’ve added the sin of sloth onto the list. I’m not only judging my neighbor and coveting his possessions, but I’m so lazy I’ve abrogated the work of giving to the poor to the tax collector and police force.
If I truly care about my neighbor and his well being I should share the messages of the Gospel and God’s love with him and pray he freely accepts that message. If he does he will be a good and noble steward of his wealth. And what that means in his personal life is between him and God and not for me to judge.
This is why I do not appreciate when elected Representatives encourage us to envy the wealthy and lobby for redistributing their wealth. Encouraging that attitude is harmful to all. One would hope a talented orator would use his or her gifts of persuasion to convince their constituents to voluntarily share their financial gifts with others, rather than encouraging envy and taking by force.
And, there is hubris in my pretending to know “how much is too much” and what others should do with their wealth. When I see Jeff Bezos’ yacht my initial reaction is to second guess Mr. Bezos and imagine all the good I would do with that money instead. But then, the employees who work for the boat builder are probably glad Mr. Bezos commissioned it. Most of them probably love to create magnificent watercraft and were thrilled to have the opportunity. It may be the highlight of their life’s work for some. And, maybe there is a woman who designed the cabinets who has a handicapped child and her wages allowed her to afford better care for that child. It makes my ego feel momentarily good to think I would be a better steward of Jeff Bezos’ wealth than he, and to mock his yacht. But what do I really know of his life, or the crosses he bears, or the effects of what he does?
If I spend my life looking upon what I perceive as the sins of others and feeling good that I am somehow better, eventually my perception grows impaired from the plank that develops in my eye.
Dear Lord!
Looks like the Germans have decided to invade Poland again.
Rufus T–looking forward to sharing your insightful reflection.
Barry, Germans might be happier in Poland, considering what the German government is doing to Germany. But this time around, they’ll have to learn Polish and become only secondarily German.
In response to the leftist frauds who prostitute Christianity as some form of socialism, all I can say is they don’t call it “Heaven” for nothing. As opposed to “Earth,” which is where we are constrained to live until we meet Him, either individually at physical death or collectively when He comes again to claim His rightful place as King over all the Earth. The faux, soi disant “Christians” who preach socialism and call it “Christianity” are all attempting, in the words of Buckley to imminatize the eschaton, a fool’s errand that only appeals to other fools, of which, sadly, we have many.
RTF et al,
Thanks for all your very thoughtful responses. Very enlightening. I was raised a Methodist, abandoned that in teen years, bacame an atheist, but as I grew older and through physics learned more about the universe evolved into a “I don’t what it it is, but there’s something going on that’s bigger than just the earth and humans.” As I’ve indicated before, I’m, sitting in the Penrose/Nagel camp.
Despite my theological beliefs, I think Christianity has contributed more to the uplifting of humanity than any other religion. And it annoys the hell out of me when my lefty friends try to twist it (like they do everything else) into their own political frame.
physicsguy:
Jesus is so big and complex and covers so much ground that everyone, including practicing Christians, extracts some subset according to their backgrounds, needs and wishes.
The socialist Jesus has been around since the beginning of socialism. Springer offers his version of socialist Jesus, as well as St. Paul as the bad guy who turned Christianity into a tool of the ruling class.
___________________________________
But that’s just his story of Christianity and, as commenters above have noted, it is not compatible with orthodox Christian teachings. Springer’s arguments for his version are far from bulletproof.
However, the desire among liberals/progressives for Jesus as a deep spiritual teacher, though not divine, preaching economic justice, social equality, and liberation from oppressive power, is strong.
Everyone wants Jesus on their side!
MESSAGE tto huxley in France—-
TJ:
I got back to Albuquerque Saturday night. I’ve spent much of my time since paying down a massive sleep debt.
Interesting Hot Air link. I don’t understand French politics well, so it goes into my mental hopper. Thanks.
I had a fifth grade teacher who told us that what Jesus preached was something like socialism. I don’t think I quite believed her, but it stuck in my mind that she said it because it seemed odd.
I know it’a probably not a new thing,
— physicsguy
It’s a very, very old heresy and demonic lie.
Tommy Jay –
When I was in my twenties. I looked a LOT like an actress on one of the soaps. Total strangers would stop and tell me, “You know, you just like [….]” I visited Manhattan during that time, and had a relative who worked near the CBS studio where the soap was filmed. The times I was in that neighborhood during that trip, I got SEVERAL double takes like that Clint Eastwood one.
RTF, following up on your commentary about Bezos, etc.:
I wonder if we took the net wealth of those “name brand” wealthy people and then placed the combined salary/wage income and investment/company stock wealth of all of their employees, how those two sets of numbers would compare.
We in general know almost nothing about the 2nd to 22nd level people in command at these companies, the people providing the daily operational and part of the strategic direction for these firms. Who is building the Tesla factories around the world, arranging for the Space X achievements launch after launch, selecting and closing logistics sites and practices at the various Amazon warehouses, etc. etc. ?? The better and smarter CEO’s are involved, but not with every day to day decision.
Another wealthy man anecdote: some decades ago I recall seeing a remark that during the build up phase at Microsoft, Bill Gates was taking a salary of about $400K/year, and working 60 to 80 hours a week. Enough income for the top guy to be credible and to live very comfortably, but not yet taking the wealth grab that would later allow him to build a $50M “home” compound, etc.
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Yes he did. Not sure where I came across this, maybe it was here, but his speech celebrating Frank Sinatra is a masterclass in how to give a speech.
https://youtu.be/-kPgHywV6iM
I think my favorite thing is the woman in the frame with Sinatra at the end who clearly mouths the word, “Wow”. Wow is right.
I know it’a probably not a new thing, but my lefty friends are promoting the idea that Jesus was a socialist, and Paul a fraud. I’m not Catholic, but married into an Italian/Irish family, so I’ve learned. But would be interested to hear from practicing people.
“Most Christians don’t believe in the religion of Jesus — they believe in the religion of Paul.
“The actual Jesus, the historical Jesus,” writes Andrew Springer at his ‘Jesus Movement’ Substack, “preached something closer to a revolution than a religion. He proclaimed that God’s kingdom was imminently arriving — a kingdom where the hungry would be fed, debts would be forgiven, the rich would be made poor, and the powerful would be laid low — and that entry into that kingdom was contingent not on what you believed but on how you lived.”
In modern terms: socialism.
Paul, on the other hand, wrote in his letters of a “set of claims about Jesus: that Christ died for our sins, that he was buried, that he was raised from the dead, and that faith in this death and resurrection is what makes a person right with God.”
Then came the forged Paul letters, and the powerful people who took those forged letters and transformed them into a new way of controlling the masses.”
From a practicing Christian: Your lefty friends and their sources take their current opinions and read them into the gospels and epistles. A straightforward reading of the four gospels and the acts of the apostles would disabuse them of any idea that Paul invented the whole thing, or that Jesus was a secular revolutionary. Believe it or don’t believe it, as they choose, but twisting it doesn’t work.
@physicsguy:
I suppose some of what is written in the Gospels can be taken in Springer’s sense, but at the very least, the narrative and the sayings of Jesus in the Gospels certainly overlaps significantly with the writings of Paul. The Gospels narrate that he was crucified, dead, and buried – in fact, the whole narrative structure of each of the Gospels is a build-up to these events. As a specific example of overlap/consistency:
Jesus: ” ‘For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.’ ” Mark 10:45 (ESV)
Paul: “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all…” I Tim. 2:5-6.
It would seem that Springer is being selective to build his own “narrative”.
The socialists/communists can be counted on for one thing; lies and hostility to Christianity.
The socialists/Communists can be counted on for two things; lies, hostility to Christianity, and the worship of power.
The socialists/Communists can be counted on for three …
And just like that, The Spanish Inquisition!
Those evil Catholics! (sarc)
Kate and Watt:
Thanks for the illumination on this progressive “Christian” heresy.
I had to find out separately that the “short” was Richard Burton talking.
Are we all supposed to know this intuitively?
My life was such that I never saw many movies.
Was involved in things that I considered more important.
I think the last film I saw Burton in was The Sandpiper about 4 years ago. Not his best film, but it has local color for me. In fact, I’ve got tickets to a Halloween bash at Nepenthe, which is featured in that film.
I read some knowledgeable film historian who claimed that it took Burton a rather long time to learn how to pull his stage oriented projection, back enough to be suitable for the film camera. I saw most of his films when I was rather young, but it rings true to me that he might have over projected in some of them.
– – – – –
This is a digression, but thinking about actor’s performances, I’ve decided that one of the worst scenes a good actor can be given is one where he or she is supposed to be playing an actor character, of mediocre skill, who is acting and is not doing a very good job of it.
I first noticed this watching the old TV show Burn Notice. I thought, “Gee, Jeffrey Donovan’s acting isn’t very good. Then I thought, “No… The character he is playing is supposed to be acting in this scene, and HE isn’t doing a very good job.” It must be painful for them to do such a scene.
I was watching Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood days ago. The trivia on this film has the following about DiCaprio’s performance.
I had to find out separately that the “short” was Richard Burton talking. — Stayin_Alive_555
I was in a waiting room years ago reading something, and another guy walks in and sits down near me. I glanced at him briefly, then glanced longer again, then I stared at him for a third time. He looked exactly like Eli Wallach, except about 10 years younger.
So I told him that, and he laughed and said that he never watches movies (really??), so he wouldn’t know. But a few other people had told him the same thing.
Then he related an incident when he was walking in Carmel. He saw Clint Eastwood drive by slowly, then stop and back up to take a good look at him. Then he drove on. This guy DID know who Clint was, like everyone else around here.
Stayin_Alive_555:
You can learn new things every day here from neo!
I wasn’t sure who was speaking about Sinatra, but what Richard Burton said about alcoholism I understand to be true.
A bonus. 🙂
Stayin_Alive_555:
Well, if you’re under 50 or 55 you might not know. But until he died in 1984 Burton was one of the biggest celebrities in the world. Huge celebrity, and with an instantly recognizable voice.
Trump flamed Bill Maher in his longest yet Truth Social rant. I like a laugh in politics, but wonder if lambasting Maher is productive.
https://nypost.com/2026/10/26/us-news/trump-blasts-complete-total-loser-bill-maher-in-1300-word-truth-social-post/
https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/117504266048722465
”I had to find out separately that the ‘short’ was Richard Burton talking.”
OK, who is Richard Burton, and why is the camera zoomed way in on his face like that? It’s really annoying.
Indeed, and who is Elizabeth Taylor?
Is she related to Taylor Swift? (sarc)
If only the Interweeb had a search thing or some way to ask a question.
Just stream “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” mkent.
Speaking of movies, I went to see the new Elizabeth Holmes “documentary” last night, and yes that needs to be in quotes. It’s one wild ride man. Only thing I can assure you of is you’ll know less coming out than you did going in.
Haven’t listened to it yet, but now will. Went back to look at the pic, and YES that is Richard Burton. Didn’t think about it at first. And Dick Cavet, a real interviewe
UPDATE to yesterday’s post from Robert Gouviea and the beginning prosecution of two Ex-FIBer, Flores and Benevides.
Marco Polo reporter Ziegler says “they are sociopaths,” they need to in
Federal Prison. He says we don’t remove them from our prosecution list until they get at least 13 (the max is 6 years for lying to Congress). Benevides reported toDirector Christopher Ray!
Ziegler calls them mid-level bureaucrats managing the Democrat coverup
and whitewash and law fare campaign aimed at deposing the elected President
Trump. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iw-evcy-FHw
The Congressional testimonies of the two arrested is on Rumble to view – over 6 hours.
physicsguy says “my lefty friends” think Jesus preached socialism because…Sermon on The Mount.” God is coming and He will judge you!
Well, the Mormons went West, believing the same. And guess what? He didn’t come. They had eschewed accumulating wealth because it was of no use with His second coming!
My point is, point to this history as a counter example of religious fervor and where it ends. Ultimately, it ends with capitalism by Mormons.
/As an atheist, I find The Sermon on The Mount especially vicious instance of the evils of Christian altruism. When I was in Alabama for a year not long before 9/11, we read and debated it, with a local Jesus loving Baptist Christian, so enamored of him he wanted to write a biography. We debated. We disagreed.
Even the Plymouth Puritans in Massachusetts went through a parallel socialist reckoning leading to starvation, then using capitalism to survive.
And how do we put the three gospels down? Which find Jesus saying “Render unto Ceasar what is Ceasar’s…,” clearly supporting separation of church and state.
Here’s a cute little statistic—according to the linked article, in 2024 more people in Canada were killed via their policy of assisted suicide in a year—the tally is 16,499 Canadian citizens killed–than were killed in the same year in the U.S.—the U.S. tally is 15,364–by the dreaded U.S. “gun homicides” which Canadians are so critical of and worried about.*
I might note that I’ve seen news stories which report on the reasons some people give for choosing assisted suicide, and to my way of thinking, some number of them seem to be things which may well become better, go away, or are rather trivial.
I also believe that I’ve seen a report that those eligible for such assisted suicide can now also include children/juveniles.
• See https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2026/10/citizens-killed-assisted-suicide-gun-hating-canada-americans/
physicsguy wrote:
“The actual Jesus, the historical Jesus,” writes Andrew Springer at his ‘Jesus Movement’ Substack, “preached something closer to a revolution than a religion. He proclaimed that God’s kingdom was imminently arriving — a kingdom where the hungry would be fed, debts would be forgiven, the rich would be made poor, and the powerful would be laid low — and that entry into that kingdom was contingent not on what you believed but on how you lived.”
Christians do not believe entry into the kingdom is contingent on what you did. That is utter nonsense. Muslims on the other hand with two exceptions do believe that.
John 14: 6 makes this clear – ” I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the the father except through me.” The circumstance was the disciples asking him the question directly as to getting to heaven – “to the kingdom.”
That’s one of the (4) gospels – not St Paul.
If Jesus were to have claimed the way to heaven and eternal life was a list of good deeds we would have “The Ten Good Deeds” instead of The Ten Commandments.
Listening to atheists, agnostics, Progressives, Communsists, Nazis, Fascists, Muslims or in fact any non-Christian claiming knowledge of what Christians believe and don’t believe is very interesting information about them and irrelevant as to Christian doctrine.
.
You may have run across a few science fiction stories which feature the idea of “genetic uplift,” taking some already somewhat capable Earth species–Chimpanzees, great apes, dogs, dolphins, raccoons, ferrets, various birds, etc.– and enhancing their DNA, “uplifting” them, so that they are generally smarter, more capable, and make better partners for humans; force multipliers.
Well, it looks like here is where something like this starts.*
* See https://dallasexpress.com/business-markets/dallas-startup-secures-200-million-for-genetically-enhanced-working-dogs/
The Sermon on the Mount was particularly aimed at Jesus’s disciples whom he was sending out to expand his ministry. It is not always assumed that every detail of it must be observed by all Christians at all times. This sounds like the sermon I heard in a liberal church recently, when the gospel for the day was the parable of the vineyard owner who kept hiring people during the day and at the end paid all of the workers the same, the ones who worked all day and the ones that worked only one hour. This idiot preacher thought it was economic advice and didn’t know how to deal with it. It’s a parable about salvation. She doesn’t know about that, I guess.
It’s often a mistake to pick passages out of context and without guidance on how the church has always interpreted them.
Politics kills science.
Sabine Hossenfelder gives concise overview of the scandal at the National Academy of Science on climate change science, with the vulgar cash grab reverberating ever since June.
“Rapid Climate Event Attribution” attempts to tie fictional rapid climate change events and presumed harms to CO2, and therefore make the “polluters” liable for damages in the courts. Science thus serves politics, and ceases to find truth.
A tale of politics, graft, and cruel grab for prestige, repeating all past failures of science like Covid and ClimateGate. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15PV7qn8Phg
MESSAGE tto huxley in France—-
With French government in free fall, the only thing keeping the country together is the open forum at X.com
https://hotair.com/david-strom/2026/10/24/x-is-the-only-thing-keeping-democracy-alive-in-france-n3820306
So HotAir says.
PS In Italy, Meloni has shown the good sense to call in soldiers backed by an armoured division to Milan. Order restored.
physicsguy,
Others have already commented with good responses. I’m not sure I have more to offer, but this is something I have thought about a great deal, so I’ll write something anyway.
First, your Lefty Facebook friends are not alone among Christians. I’m much more interested in the Socialism stuff, but quickly, regarding Paul. Paul was not one of the original, 12 Apostles and never met Jesus prior to the Resurrection” and there was debate among Paul and the Apostles about whether salvation comes from faith or works. There were also disputes about whether only Jews could be saved or if all people could be saved. There are wonderful writings about all of this, including how the Apostles and Paul sorted this out; which was ultimately, sort-of solved 300 years later at the Council of Nicea. (But there were still disputes resulting in schisms; Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Constantinople vs. Rome and, ultimately Martin Luther and the hundreds of Christian denominations that subsequently followed, including, improbably, “Jews for Jesus.”)
You probably know a lot of this history, but if you don’t I recommend researching it. I think you’ll find it fascinating. But the short answer is; I don’t know of any Christian group that doesn’t recognize Paul as a legitimate follower of Jesus chosen by Jesus himself. I’ve also never heard any Christian group claim his writings were forged. I’ve heard of all kinds of conspiracies about writings in the Old and New Testament and different Christian faiths include or exclude writings they do not believe belong in the “Bible,” but Paul’s writings are not only accepted by Christians, they are revered by Christians.
As I wrote, the Socialism/Communism stuff interested me for a long time. Still does. I can certainly quote scriptures that would give a capitalist Christian pause; the parable of the widow’s mite is a toughy. Camels and needle eyes. Matthew 19 is a challenge, Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” Lots of writings about usury being wrong. And by all accounts Jesus and the Apostles lived a sort-of communist lifestyle. Judas’ thinking that Jesus was breaking this economic structure by allowing expensive oil to be used in an extravagant (to Judas’ thinking) manner is the major catalyst that causes Judas to turn Jesus over to be crucified.
However, I can also cite Gospel writings and parables where Jesus seems to be promoting Capitalism and being a good steward of one’s personal wealth and possessions, even growing one’s personal wealth. I highly recommend the Parable of the Talents. I have read and re-read that many times over the past, 2 decades and am still trying to understand it.
Jesus often spoke in parables and the Old and New Testaments cover a lot of ground. As Shakespeare wrote in “The Merchant of Venice,” “The devil can cite scripture to suit his purpose.” As Kate wrote, many people take parables literally when they are meant as metaphors for other things; greater things. Which is ironic for followers of Christ because the Pharisees and Sadducees did the same thing to him. They took the Mosaic Law very literally and continually tried to trip Jesus up by asking Him about it. Yet a lot of Christians have become like the Pharisees and Sadducees.
From my reading and reflection it seems clear Jesus wants us to save ourselves and others as individuals. Socialism and Communism are collective economic systems. I can’t pretend to claim that I am living my life, economically, in the way Jesus would proscribe..I know I fall far short of his teachings. But I can’t find anything in the Gospels where He states the road to salvation lies in my voting for a Roman tax collector to redistribute my neighbor’s wealth on my behalf at the threat of a Roman spear. I’m pretty certain, of the 3 individuals in that scenario (me, the tax collector and the spear wielding Centurion) Jesus would find me the most sinful.
*I imagine all here know about the “Road to Damascus,” Saul/Paul’s prior work as a persecutor of Christians and his conversion.
When I saw the extreme close up I wondered if it was Big Brother. 🙂
= = = = = = = =
It seems to me that Jesus’ message was spiritual, rather than political. That being said, some of his statements are relevant to modern politics, such as his condemnations of homosexuality and transvestism.
More Trump on Truth Social:
“Anybody reporting Voter Fraud in the past Elections, or the upcoming 2026 Midterm Election, will be paid $1,000,000 upon the arrest and conviction of those that created the Fraud!”
I like it!
https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/117508870323063258
THANKS Rufus~
That’s a very good vademacum to Jesus, Paul, and social issues they
actually address. Protean Bible topics, for sure.
@ Neo > “What a voice he had:”
If James Earl Jones had a British accent….
@ Shirehome > Dick Cavett was indeed a great interviewer, because he threw out interesting questions and then let his guest answer them without interrupting. He was not there to promote his own views, but to allow his viewers to learn about the guest.
@ TommyJay > “I read some knowledgeable film historian who claimed that it took Burton a rather long time to learn how to pull his stage oriented projection, back enough to be suitable for the film camera.”
The quality of cinema technology was inadequate to show off Laurence Olivier’s much earlier performances as they deserved.
I don’t think he pulled back much.
IMO
Best Shakespeare Movie Ever: Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor in “The Taming of the Shrew.”
Runner up Zeffirelli’s “Romeo and Juliet.”
Kenneth Branagh also did a fantastic job on other plays of The Bard.
At first I thought the voice comment was related to Dick Cavett’s voice, which is also distinctive and easily noted to be his voice, although Cavett presumably did not have the natural or trained voice for maximal theater projection.
Very interesting discussion of the Gospel and the worldly perversion of it that we call socialism.
Jumping off from Springer’s words: “He proclaimed that God’s kingdom was imminently arriving — a kingdom where the hungry would be fed, debts would be forgiven, the rich would be made poor, and the powerful would be laid low — and that entry into that kingdom was contingent not on what you believed but on how you lived.”
That’s a reasonably decent paraphrase of a lot of material, but the interpretation hinges on what is meant by believing and living.
IMO (and this is my own gestalt of considering the Biblical sources and various commentaries, plus — as the Woke say– my lived experience), I consider Springer and his ilk to be reversing cause and effect.
WHEN everyone on earth learns of Christ, believes in His divinity and His mission to rescue us from our sins and atone for the wretchedness that follows sinfulness, and then each person lives up to those beliefs and the directions He gave us for personal action, THEN we will be in the Kingdom of God and indeed all of those blessings will follow.
What Socialism and other worldly heresies get wrong is thinking that they can force people to produce the blessings without going through the conversion process.
No one has to experience a change of heart that encourages them to voluntarily conform their behavior to the commandments of God (whether ten or any other number)
Socialists forcibly confiscating money and services from those who produce to give to those who don’t, claiming they want to “feed the hungry,” even as the leaders siphon off part (possibly most) of the money for their own use, and using a very flexible definition of “hungry” to determine who gets taken care of.
Christ freely forgave the debts owed to Him and enjoined us to likewise forgive the debts owed to us by other people (whether material or emotional). Socialists construe “debts to be forgiven” as excusing their own errors and faults, but not those of anyone who opposes them.
The sayings of Christ on how “the rich would be made poor, and the powerful would be laid low” are harder to interpret but my feeling is that there will be a leveling of social status (if not the complete eradication of it) so that those who were rich in material things will not be preferred to those who were lacking, and those who exercised temporal power will have no advantage over those who did not. This is not the same as Socialists impoverishing (selected) Rich People or incarcerating (selected) Powerful People.
Hayek ably addressed the ultimate outcome of any socialist system in his book “The Road to Serfdom” and other works, and although he did not bring Christianity into his conversation, his reasoning informed my interpretation: on this earth we are all sinners and deficient in our morals and behavior; as a mass, we have to be forced to “do good” according to some definition of what that entails, and the forcing itself becomes an evil thing.
When all people accept Christ as Lord and act on His counsel (aka commands) voluntarily, then the blessings follow for everyone.
If some people force others to simulate the appearance of the blessings, that is not the same thing as bringing forth the Kingdom of God.
@ Rufus > “From my reading and reflection it seems clear Jesus wants us to save ourselves and others as individuals. Socialism and Communism are collective economic systems” —
— which are found in the temporal world, not in the Kingdom of God, just as Capitalism, Feudalism, Tribalism and all other economic systems are temporal. I note that followers of Christ can individually apply His teachings on love and charity in all of those systems; we don’t have to wait for everyone to join in.
“But I can’t find anything in the Gospels where He states the road to salvation lies in my voting for a Roman tax collector to redistribute my neighbor’s wealth on my behalf at the threat of a Roman spear.”
No modern social exchange is complete without a meme.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HTTLDvDXUAAkvc_?format=jpg&name=medium
AesopFan and others,
I came up with a shortcut when trying to wrap my brain around this topic, “Voluntary Communism.” I believe that is the best economic system. That is how most of us run our households.
Communism can work very well in close, small groups, and scales up a bit, but tends to fall apart the larger a group gets. Given a large group, especially a large group of unrelated people, Capitalism seems to fit human nature better.
When our children were minors in our care my wife and I definitely followed a “from each according to his or her ability to each according to his or her need” philosophy regarding our household income. Voluntary communism. And my wife and I can extend the group under that umbrella a bit for people we know very well; our siblings and parents, Aunts, Uncles, cousins… A few close friends. But even that gets tricky. Even if my wife and I want to be magnanimous and selfless it’s harder to know the intentions of those we don’t live with. It’s also hard to assess their true need. Our family has several stories of close relations estranged over misunderstandings over money and how it should be distributed.
Scottish philosopher Adam Smith famously explained why Capitalism scales better than Communism, vis a vis human nature.
AesopFan,
That meme is a good shorthand for what we are discussing. The Babylon Bee’s “Woke Jesus” series of videos is also great at showing how we misinterpret Jesus’ teachings, often perceiving the opposite of His intent.
From my reading of the Gospels and from sitting through sermons of many learned scholars I don’t see where anyone finds a message of force, or, as depicted in your meme, an abrogation of duty. Also, “judge not lest you be judged” and “thou shalt not covet.”
It’s not my duty to determine when my neighbor has enough wealth or possessions and it’s certainly not my job to take his wealth or possessions and give them to others. And voting for others to take his wealth and possessions by force seems even worse. Now I’ve added the sin of sloth onto the list. I’m not only judging my neighbor and coveting his possessions, but I’m so lazy I’ve abrogated the work of giving to the poor to the tax collector and police force.
If I truly care about my neighbor and his well being I should share the messages of the Gospel and God’s love with him and pray he freely accepts that message. If he does he will be a good and noble steward of his wealth. And what that means in his personal life is between him and God and not for me to judge.
This is why I do not appreciate when elected Representatives encourage us to envy the wealthy and lobby for redistributing their wealth. Encouraging that attitude is harmful to all. One would hope a talented orator would use his or her gifts of persuasion to convince their constituents to voluntarily share their financial gifts with others, rather than encouraging envy and taking by force.
And, there is hubris in my pretending to know “how much is too much” and what others should do with their wealth. When I see Jeff Bezos’ yacht my initial reaction is to second guess Mr. Bezos and imagine all the good I would do with that money instead. But then, the employees who work for the boat builder are probably glad Mr. Bezos commissioned it. Most of them probably love to create magnificent watercraft and were thrilled to have the opportunity. It may be the highlight of their life’s work for some. And, maybe there is a woman who designed the cabinets who has a handicapped child and her wages allowed her to afford better care for that child. It makes my ego feel momentarily good to think I would be a better steward of Jeff Bezos’ wealth than he, and to mock his yacht. But what do I really know of his life, or the crosses he bears, or the effects of what he does?
If I spend my life looking upon what I perceive as the sins of others and feeling good that I am somehow better, eventually my perception grows impaired from the plank that develops in my eye.
Dear Lord!
Looks like the Germans have decided to invade Poland again.
Don’t these people ever learn??
“…Germans Are Increasingly Emigrating To Poland”–
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/everyone-here-very-optimistic-germans-are-increasingly-emigrating-poland
All–thank you!
Rufus T–looking forward to sharing your insightful reflection.
Barry, Germans might be happier in Poland, considering what the German government is doing to Germany. But this time around, they’ll have to learn Polish and become only secondarily German.
In response to the leftist frauds who prostitute Christianity as some form of socialism, all I can say is they don’t call it “Heaven” for nothing. As opposed to “Earth,” which is where we are constrained to live until we meet Him, either individually at physical death or collectively when He comes again to claim His rightful place as King over all the Earth. The faux, soi disant “Christians” who preach socialism and call it “Christianity” are all attempting, in the words of Buckley to imminatize the eschaton, a fool’s errand that only appeals to other fools, of which, sadly, we have many.
RTF et al,
Thanks for all your very thoughtful responses. Very enlightening. I was raised a Methodist, abandoned that in teen years, bacame an atheist, but as I grew older and through physics learned more about the universe evolved into a “I don’t what it it is, but there’s something going on that’s bigger than just the earth and humans.” As I’ve indicated before, I’m, sitting in the Penrose/Nagel camp.
Despite my theological beliefs, I think Christianity has contributed more to the uplifting of humanity than any other religion. And it annoys the hell out of me when my lefty friends try to twist it (like they do everything else) into their own political frame.
physicsguy:
Jesus is so big and complex and covers so much ground that everyone, including practicing Christians, extracts some subset according to their backgrounds, needs and wishes.
The socialist Jesus has been around since the beginning of socialism. Springer offers his version of socialist Jesus, as well as St. Paul as the bad guy who turned Christianity into a tool of the ruling class.
___________________________________
–Andrew Springer, “There Are Actually Two Religions Based on Jesus:
And what it means for us today”
https://jesusmovement.substack.com/p/there-are-actually-two-religions
___________________________________
But that’s just his story of Christianity and, as commenters above have noted, it is not compatible with orthodox Christian teachings. Springer’s arguments for his version are far from bulletproof.
However, the desire among liberals/progressives for Jesus as a deep spiritual teacher, though not divine, preaching economic justice, social equality, and liberation from oppressive power, is strong.
Everyone wants Jesus on their side!
MESSAGE tto huxley in France—-
TJ:
I got back to Albuquerque Saturday night. I’ve spent much of my time since paying down a massive sleep debt.
Interesting Hot Air link. I don’t understand French politics well, so it goes into my mental hopper. Thanks.
I had a fifth grade teacher who told us that what Jesus preached was something like socialism. I don’t think I quite believed her, but it stuck in my mind that she said it because it seemed odd.
— physicsguy
It’s a very, very old heresy and demonic lie.
Tommy Jay –
When I was in my twenties. I looked a LOT like an actress on one of the soaps. Total strangers would stop and tell me, “You know, you just like [….]” I visited Manhattan during that time, and had a relative who worked near the CBS studio where the soap was filmed. The times I was in that neighborhood during that trip, I got SEVERAL double takes like that Clint Eastwood one.
RTF, following up on your commentary about Bezos, etc.:
I wonder if we took the net wealth of those “name brand” wealthy people and then placed the combined salary/wage income and investment/company stock wealth of all of their employees, how those two sets of numbers would compare.
We in general know almost nothing about the 2nd to 22nd level people in command at these companies, the people providing the daily operational and part of the strategic direction for these firms. Who is building the Tesla factories around the world, arranging for the Space X achievements launch after launch, selecting and closing logistics sites and practices at the various Amazon warehouses, etc. etc. ?? The better and smarter CEO’s are involved, but not with every day to day decision.
Another wealthy man anecdote: some decades ago I recall seeing a remark that during the build up phase at Microsoft, Bill Gates was taking a salary of about $400K/year, and working 60 to 80 hours a week. Enough income for the top guy to be credible and to live very comfortably, but not yet taking the wealth grab that would later allow him to build a $50M “home” compound, etc.