Is this the Jesus of the Bible? NO!

This meme is going around Facebook with lies about Jesus and the Christian faith.  Let’s set the record straight:

Was Jesus a “radical”? Depends on one’s definition, but certainly not as people see “radical” in this culture.  He was “radical” in that he was correcting the Jews in their many errors about God and His laws.

Was Jesus a “non-violent revolutionary”?  Um, no.  Was he violent?  Yes, he was violent at those who corrupted the faith.  Read about his whip in the temple as he chased the money-changers out (Matt. 21:12)  Look at His destruction of His enemies in Revelation.  Read what he said about those who contradicted God and other false teachers (Matt. 23:13-36)

Did Jesus “hang around” with “lepers, hookers and crooks”?  To hang around with someone implies being pals with them and doing things with them.  Jesus never hung around with such people, rather he met with them and taught them their need for repentance of their sin, and their need for a savior.

Jesus “wasn’t American and never spoke English.”  This is a very foolish statement, but it is directed at conservatives who think immigrants should learn English.  It has noting to do with the Christian faith, and has absolutely nothing to do with Jesus.

Was Jesus anti-wealth?  Absolutely not.  In fact, God sometimes used wealth to bless people.  Jesus was against greed and the worship of money.

Was Jesus anti-death penalty?  NO.  People twist the scripture about the woman caught in adultery as Jesus being against the death penalty.  What he was against was the hypocrisy; the woman was supposedly caught “in the very act,” which means both the man and woman are to be stoned, but where was the man? Also, they were trying to trip Jesus up, because only Rome had the authority to impose the death penalty, and if he said to stone her He would have been in trouble with Rome.

Was Jesus anti-public prayer? NO.  The O.T. gives many examples of public prayer on behalf of the nation of Israel.  What Jesus condemned was the hypocrisy of praying where everyone could see and hear while the prayer was self-justification - all about self.

“Jesus was…never anti-gay.”  First, Jesus didn’t address the issue because in that culture homosexuality was a death-penalty offense and never sanctified.  The Biblical teaching is that Jesus is God (one of the Trinity), so anything God the Father condemns is also condemned by Jesus.  In the O.T. God says homosexual behavior is an abomination to Him.  In the N.T. Paul (who got his teachings directly from Jesus — Acts 26:16; Gal. 1:11-12, 1 Cor. 14:37) also condemned homosexual behavior as “unnatural,” “indecent,” and “perversion.”  Every passage in the Bible mentioning homosexuality condemns it.  So, yes, Jesus was/is “anti-gay.”

“Jesus never mentioned…abortion.”   Well, he mentioned murder, and abortion is the murder of the unborn.  Murder is definitely a sin.  All through Scripture the unborn are referred to as children (the pregnant woman is said to be “with child.”)

“Jesus never mentioned…birth control.” Agreed, but anyone who condemns birth control that isn’t causing abortion, is doing so out of personal beliefs rather than from the Bible.

“Jesus never mentioned…” is poor logic arguing from silence.  Jesus never mentioned rape — does that mean rape is okay?  Jesus never mentioned bestiality — does that mean bestiality is okay?  Actually, both these are mentioned by God in the O.T. and the culture of the time KNEW what God thought about such things.  Just to say that something is okay because Jesus didn’t mention it is totally illogical.

“Jesus… never justified torture.”  And I know of no one who claims otherwise or claims Christian are okay with it.  This is what we call a straw man logic fallacy.

“Jesus…never fought for tax cuts for the wealthiest Nazarenes.”  This is also ludicrous, since no citizen of the Roman empire had a say-so about taxes.  Most Christians I know of seek only equal taxes for everyone - equal percentage of income or else a flat tax. 

“Jesus…never asked a leper for a copay.”  Since there was no such thing as health insurance, this is a straw man again (as well as another dig at conservatives who are against “free” healthcare).

“Jesus was a long-haired brown-skinned homeless community-organizing anti-slut-shaming middle eastern Jew.”  Well how long his hair was is unknown, but Paul pointed out that a man with long hair disgraces his head; the question is how long is “long,” but the real point was that hair length was part of the way to distinguish the sexes, so it would not be so long as to be feminine-looking.  Nor was Jesus homeless; he had a home in Nazareth, but chose to live on the road to facilitate his teachings.  He was most likely olive-skinned, since that is normal for that region.  He was not a community organizer — he did no organizing for any community.  He selected some people to spread his teachings but did nothing for any community.  Jesus was not “anti-slut-shaming” any more than he was anti- any shaming of people.  Why the meme author chose that specific thing to point out is only to promote an agenda, implying that Christians “slut-shame,” which they don’t.

This meme is obviously addressed at social issues where conservatives hold views differently than do liberals, and to the liberals if it is "conservative" then it is obviously "Christian" and therefore they feel the need to show how Jesus wasn't "conservative."  All they do is fail due to poor logic.

We as Christians need to be able to recognize this sort of nonsense for what it is, and correct the false teaching behind it.