Translating Jesus, a cartoon

[RobinFinderson]

I found this little irritainment on Youtube. It features a contemporary Christian going back in time to 'help' the good followers of Christ understand what Jesus really meant by his words. It has a little of something to bug everyone, but the common criticism that seems to run through the whole bit is that contemporary Christians (and I would include Mormons here), tend to conveniently look over a LOT of what Christ taught. Jesus was a radical, but most contemporary Christians are anything but radical. Jesus seemed to have little interest in material possessions, and taught that his followers should be the same, but today it is all about the 'prosperity gospel,' or the idea that the Law of Consecration isn't meant for us, right now. Jesus taught us to turn the other cheek, and if a person took something from us, we should give that person our coat as well, but today Christians are some of the most hawkish folks in America, leading in gun ownership, and advocating violent self-defense. Of course much of what fuels desperate people into doing desperate things is greed and need for the material things that seem impossible to attain by legal means. There is definitely a swath of malevolence and cruelty that cuts through the history of our species, but I would venture that most violence is a byproduct of our material culture, and Christ taught a LOT about our relationship to material culture.

Anyhow, here is the cartoon:

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[JohnnyLingo]

So we see the importance of living prophets. Jesus spoke to a people who lived thousands of years ago, and today, his words are interpreted any number of ways by hundreds of different Christian churches.

[Moliere]

I found this little irritainment on Youtube. It features a contemporary Christian going back in time to 'help' the good followers of Christ understand what Jesus really meant by his words. It has a little of something to bug everyone, but the common criticism that seems to run through the whole bit is that contemporary Christians (and I would include Mormons here), tend to conveniently look over a LOT of what Christ taught. Jesus was a radical, but most contemporary Christians are anything but radical. Jesus seemed to have little interest in material possessions, and taught that his followers should be the same, but today it is all about the 'prosperity gospel,' or the idea that the Law of Consecration isn't meant for us, right now. Jesus taught us to turn the other cheek, and if a person took something from us, we should give that person our coat as well, but today Christians are some of the most hawkish folks in America, leading in gun ownership, and advocating violent self-defense. Of course much of what fuels desperate people into doing desperate things is greed and need for the material things that seem impossible to attain by legal means. There is definitely a swath of malevolence and cruelty that cuts through the history of our species, but I would venture that most violence is a byproduct of our material culture, and Christ taught a LOT about our relationship to material culture.

Anyhow, here is the cartoon:

[YOUTUBE]<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/5mLOUWl-L-s&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/5mLOUWl-L-s&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>[/YOUTUBE]

I can't watch the video since it's blocked at work but I have to say that I couldn't agree more. Having lived in three very different parts of the US there is one underlining thread in Christianity and that is if you are rich it's because of your faithfulness. This permeates Mormondom and even more so it permeates the Evangelicals. The one religion I don't see as much of it is in Catholicism. I'm not sure why that is but practicing Catholics I know tend to separate out wealth from worthiness.

[RobinFinderson]

I can't watch the video since it's blocked at work but I have to say that I couldn't agree more. Having lived in three very different parts of the US there is one underlining thread in Christianity and that is if you are rich it's because of your faithfulness. This permeates Mormondom and even more so it permeates the Evangelicals. The one religion I don't see as much of it is in Catholicism. I'm not sure why that is but practicing Catholics I know tend to separate out wealth from worthiness.

The video itself is very mediocre. Terrible production values, a bit too long, and not funny enough. But the contrast between Christ's teachings about materialism and contemporary materialistic culture is interesting.

I would like to think that Christian religions exist to support people's moral progress toward living a true Christian lifestyle. In other words, we can all recognize that living a Christ-like life is a HUGE materialistic sacrifice, and that is a difficult, but within the walls of a Christian church one will find support and encouragement to take the big plunge and dedicate the remainder of one's life to some larger, selfless Christian project of feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, succoring the widow and the orphan, etc.

But instead of steeling up people's courage to take the Christian plunge, most Christian churches seem either directly (the prosperity gospel) or tacitly (the idea that we are NOT required to live the law of consecration) encourage a kind of materialistic complacency.

I see what you mean about Catholics.

[Fiyero]

Having lived in three very different parts of the US there is one underlining thread in Christianity and that is if you are rich it's because of your faithfulness.

In Memphis I saw a bumper sticker on a Lexus that read "I pay my tithes."

[Sleeping in EQ]

I can't watch the video since it's blocked at work but I have to say that I couldn't agree more. Having lived in three very different parts of the US there is one underlining thread in Christianity and that is if you are rich it's because of your faithfulness. This permeates Mormondom and even more so it permeates the Evangelicals. The one religion I don't see as much of it is in Catholicism. I'm not sure why that is but practicing Catholics I know tend to separate out wealth from worthiness.

Max Weber has something to say on these topics.

[Moliere]

Max Weber has something to say on these topics.

I actually have no idea who Max Weber is. I just read part of his wiki article and it seems fascinating. I'm not a political scientist or philosopher by any stretch of the imagination, but I'd like to learn more about Weber.

Any recommendations for books or articles (other than wiki) that might help an uninformed person?