[Vision2020] Melynda a Marxist? I'm shocked

Art Deco deco at moscow.com
Sun Dec 26 17:37:28 PST 2004


Joan, Melynda,Ron?, et al

I am not a believer so my opinion may not carry much weight, but...

Ron(?) says:

Christ certainly calls His people to care for the poor 

Here are two of many translations of the passage from Matthew 25:31 et sec.

I fail to see any support for Ron(?)'s claim that Jesus only speaks of His people and his claim that Christians can rightgeous and frivolously ignore their duty to help the less fortunate should they not care for the mechanism of delivery of that help.  Nor does this passage require that those destined for an alleged heaven (the kingdom) be Christians.

From: the New Revised Standard Edition of the Bible:

31"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. 32All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, 33and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. 34Then the king will say to those at his right hand, 'Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; 35for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.' 37Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? 38And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? 39And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?' 40And the king will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family,£ you did it to me.' 41Then he will say to those at his left hand, 'You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; 42for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' 44Then they also will answer, 'Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?' 45Then he will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' 46And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."





>From Young's Literal Translation of the Bible:

31'And whenever the Son of Man may come in his glory, and all the holy messengers with him, then he shall sit upon a throne of his glory; 32and gathered together before him shall be all the nations, and he shall separate them from one another, as the shepherd doth separate the sheep from the goats, 33and he shall set the sheep indeed on his right hand, and the goats on the left.
34'Then shall the king say to those on his right hand, Come ye, the blessed of my Father, inherit the reign that hath been prepared for you from the foundation of the world; 35for I did hunger, and ye gave me to eat; I did thirst, and ye gave me to drink; I was a stranger, and ye received me; 36naked, and ye put around me; I was infirm, and ye looked after me; in prison I was, and ye came unto me.

37'Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when did we see thee hungering, and we nourished? or thirsting, and we gave to drink? 38and when did we see thee a stranger, and we received? or naked, and we put around? 39and when did we see thee infirm, or in prison, and we came unto thee?

40'And the king answering, shall say to them, Verily I say to you, Inasmuch as ye did it to one of these my brethren-the least-to me ye did it.

41Then shall he say also to those on the left hand, Go ye from me, the cursed, to the fire, the age-during, that hath been prepared for the Devil and his messengers; 42for I did hunger, and ye gave me not to eat; I did thirst, and ye gave me not to drink; 43a stranger I was, and ye did not receive me; naked, and ye put not around me; infirm, and in prison, and ye did not look after me.

44'Then shall they answer, they also, saying, Lord, when did we see thee hungering, or thirsting, or a stranger, or naked, or infirm, or in prison, and we did not minister to thee?

45'Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say to you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of these, the least, ye did it not to me. 46And these shall go away to punishment age-during, but the righteous to life age-during.'

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Joan Opyr 
  To: Vision2020 Moscow 
  Sent: Friday, December 24, 2004 1:47 PM
  Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Melynda a Marxist? I'm shocked


  Ron Smith opines:

  "Thanks so much for quoting the words of Christ at length. I certainly enjoyed reading them. The part at the end troubled me, though. You know very little about me and yet you presume to call me a goat simply because I do not think that passage you quoted in any way refers to state sanctioned redistribution of wealth. Christ certainly calls His people to care for the poor and I will be the first to admit that they do not do it enough. As well, I doubt you are willing to argue that the state should compel each citizen to believe and live by the teachings of Christ. As for your comparison of US taxation to that of France, Germany, and Canada, I can only say that robbery is robbery and no kudos are due to the one who robs less.

  Merry Christmas"


  Dear Ron:

  I called you Billy the Goat for my own amusement.  It was a cheap shot, but who ever said shooting fish in a barrel wasn't fun?  My goodness, it's better than Whack-A-Mole!  And easier, too.

  Now, as for the government compelling people to believe and live by the teachings of Jesus, of course I would object.  I am not, myself, a Christian, but I'm nonetheless familiar with (and a frequent admirer of) his work, particularly the Sermon on the Mount.  But what does that have to do with taxation in the US of A?  How and why, exactly, do you equate taxation (for which, thanks to the American Revolution, you have representation) with robbery?  While I agree with Woody Guthrie that some men will rob you with a gun and others with a fountain pen, I fail to understand how this applies to the IRS, which simply determines, based on your annual income, what you must pay to the elected government of this fine nation to cover your fair share of the cost of our national defense, port security, the interstate highway system, food safety, drug safety, the federal prison and judicial system, agricultural subsidies, and the federally-insured deposit of that aforementioned annual income in U.S. bank?  These things don't pay for themselves, Matey, and it puzzles me what Libertarians imagine would happen if we were to abolish the income tax.  Call it a failure of imagination on my part, but I'm picturing pot-holes, ad hoc militias, and some really suspect hamburger on sale at the Piggly Wiggly

  BTW, anyone who can read Matthew 25 and not think Jesus was in favor of the radical redistribution of wealth via the then-government of Jerusalem, i.e., the Sanhedrin, *is* a goat.  My Pet Goat, to be exact.  A kindergartner (or the President of the United States) should be able to read and understand this particular Biblical text without the aid of a fat preacher and the Merriam-Webster.   

  Merry Christmas right back at ya and a happy belated Hanukah,
  Joan Opyr/Auntie Establishment    


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