There seems to definitely be some correlation between Christians and political 'conservatism,' and a strong belief in free-market capitalism. This correlation seems odd, and perhaps even contradictory. First of all, it certainly couldn't be said that Jesus advocated anything like capitalism. Jesus actually basically created a legitimate communist system among his followers. They gave all of their possessions to a central figure, where it would then be given out according to their needs. One of his primary messages was to not have concern for material things. "You cannot serve God and Mammon," mammon representing money and materialism. Jesus was al about detaching from the material, and losing greed. It seems odd that his followers so often argue that profit is the only legitimate form of motivation, and that nothing would get invented or done in general if it wasn't for the profit-motive, AKA motivated by greed. Now let's take this a step a further. Undeniably one of Jesus' main messages was as mentioned, getting rid of materialism and greed. Yet the argument is made that greed is the only legitimate motivator. So that is to say that to actually follow Jesus is impossible. Or else that whoever would follow Jesus, would have no motivation to do anything, and a world full of Jesus-followers would get absolutely nothing done and we would revert to being primitive. So yea...not sure how this correlation between Christianity and 'conservative' capitalism exists...seems contradictory, if anything...
Yep. Especially the politicians. Don't bother trying to convince any of them, though. They'll make up a million excuses before they admit their greed takes them about as far from Jesus as you can get. I don't know if I necessarily agree about the motivation part.
Did Jesus even want a religion after him? I'm pretty sure he just said worship god and don't kill steel or be greedy. Not make a religion in my name and start blowin up Muslims.
I think jesus is more of a nazi. A blond haired, blue eyed, white, aryan male deity worshiped by whites and non-whites the world over.
There is a difference between having the materials you need, using them well, and being greedy for them. Detaching from greed makes great sense, detaching from the material means we would not be having this conversation here. Which is why some have felt that having no concern for the material must mean having no material at all, for surely to have anything requires that you be concerned with it, if only minimally. Having nothing may allow us to avoid the greed that often comes with it, but it only hides things from view. The idea would be to transcend greed by not having nothing, but having what you need without being attached and affected by it that way. Our world seems to be that the only legitimate motivation for doing anything in business is profit and greed, but it is not the only motivation, far from it. Not everyone is concerned with profit, hence the many not for profit organisations that exist and of course charities. All those people who do voluntary work aren't greed motivated either. I can't see Jesus having a problem with these.
Just out of curiosity, I wonder how global and historically ubiquitous this correlation is. The though occurred to me because I saw a clip of Eisenhower signing the Civil Rights Act of 1964. With that, he pretty much signed over the South to the Republican party. And the South is known for its Christianity. So I see that there are modern cultural and political implications for the correlation, but is there more to it than that?
I think you have the blowing up part backwards lol Sent from my SCH-I535 using Grasscity Forum mobile app
Not really america blew up their own buildings and then started blowing up Muslim cities. And duped Americans into thinking they are doing someone a favour. Anyways I'm not going to argue about it.