GUEST BLOG: Bryan Bruce – Jesus was a Leftie

By
The Daily Blog
-
37
19


I’ve just finished watching the TVOne News and their reporting of the result of a Colmar Brunton poll which asked the question :

“Would you consider voting for a party with Christian or conservative values at the 2020 General Election”

Frankly I’m appalled at that question.

The assumption that to hold Christian values is to be a conservative is an absolute nonsense.

In fact, I’d go as far as to say that I don’t see how you can be a practicing Christian and continue to vote for an economic system that gives to the rich and taxes the poor for their food. (Yes. I’m talking about the 15% GST on food again)

- Sponsor Promotion -

Nope.

I think Jesus was a Leftie – To hell with Capital Gains Tax “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor (Matthew 19:21)

On any reading of the Christian Scriptures ( whether you believe their content or not) it’s clear Jesus was considered a radical for his day. Not a conservative .. and having gathered a following (which the authorities found challenging) the Romans executed him.

But hey.. maybe some new Gospels have been discovered that I don’t know about.

Like the Gospel according to David (Seymour) in which Jesus apparently said ” Blessed are the Selfish,” or the one according to Simon (Bridges) in which Jesus advocated trickle down theory and you can have as many untaxed assets as you like.

Dear God- save me from pollsters.

Bryan Bruce is one of NZs most respected documentary makers and public intellectuals who has tirelessly exposed NZs neoliberal economic settings as the main cause for social issues.

37 COMMENTS

  2. You old necromancer you, some book based cadaver ventriloquist debates is it? I prefer digging in the crates for the classics, like the Ark of the Covenant.

    If you really need to melt some Nazis you gotta hit them with that stone tablet action, unambiguous and simple. Hardcore Moses action. It’s got more cross curricular purchase

  3. Great piece Bryan. Absolutely Christ was a radical lefty, he threw the money lenders out of the temple, he did not compromise his beliefs at anytime.

    The church is the main problem, not Christianity itself, its tenents are sound.

    The Christian faith should be front footing all the issues we have currently – primarily inequality.

  4. Most Christian fundamentalists aren’t Christians but non-Jewish followers of the Old Testament

    • Esoteric Pineapples: “Most Christian fundamentalists aren’t Christians but non-Jewish followers of the Old Testament.”

      I agree with you.

  5. Completely agree. It is beyond belief that most evangelicals align themselves with conservative power structures and policies that perpetuate inequality and exclusion of the already marginalised.

  6. Graham pedophile Capill – he was a Conservative Christian – call him back again then- Colin Craig – where are you Colin ? Brian Muslims are different from us Tamaki – On your bike Brian- Alfred Zionist oops Palestinians keep falling dead Ngaro – Cameron Christian politics are dirty Slater – Bill NZ’s young men are hopeless druggies so how about el cheapo immigrants English – Anybody who claims they should have control over women’s bodies.

    Shouldn’t have too much trouble rustling up a bunch of ” stout-hearted men who will fight for the right they adore.” So be it – aka – Amen.

  7. Thank you MIKE THE LEFTY for stating what i have believed for many years, but could not possibly have articulated so well.

  8. Haha… Jesus was a hippy, he raised people from the dead and rescued a woman about to be murdered because of adultery.He lambasted and mocked the sold out powers that be who were the lackeys of an overbearing emperor worshiping occupationist military force.

    He respected and recognized those who were the honest ones among those in the religious order , … that used the Temple as a money making enterprise , – while seeing them for what they were and flogging their arses and kicking over their money stalls when necessary. He favored and worked with laborers and working class people, healed them and gave them hope and told them that their Father in Heaven adored them despite the harshness of their lives on earth.

    And despite them trying to make him leader and King on earth to overturn the Roman occupation for their selfish reasons he kept his sights singly on the interdimensialism of the eternal.

    Even to the point of fulfilling ancient prophesy’s regarding his own death.

    The death foretold on a tree, a cross , for ungrateful and unenlightened humanity.

    Yeah Jesus was a hippy.

    And the toughest , most brutally honest and forgiving man that ever lived.

    I’m glad he was a long haired wandering radical hippy.

    Because this world would never have been the same if he wasn’t.

  10. Granted, Jesus of Nazareth was a radical preacher whose sympathies were entirely with the poor and who laid down a challenge to the powers-that-be in the world.
    And if the left claim him as one of their own, that is to be welcomed.
    But it is also true that the contemporary left has moved a long way from its Christian origins, and the right has not been slow to capitalize on that.

  11. Good post, Brian; keep pursuing this line of thinking. Obviously, the political environment Jesus had to deal with involved his country being occupied by the Roman empire. Things such as “left” and “right” democratic politics were unknown – it was more a case of coping under Roman might. Nevertheless, Jesus clearly stood in the Jewish prophetic line of teaching regarding social responsibility to ensure all in society were able to live and participate equitably.

    Today, this may reasonably be translated into a section of the voting public who would support a more progressive tax regime combined with reasonably conservative positions on moral issues.

    Fiscally progressive and morally cautious – that’s the target market for any party of “Christian conservative values”, but it will only gain wide enough appeal if the egos and political ineptitude of Brian Tamaki, Colin Craig etc are absent.

    • “Christian conservative values” is an American heresy that worships power and wealth and military violence.

      2 Timothy 3:1-5 (MSG) was prophetically accurate of the current US president:

      Don’t be naive. There are difficult times ahead. As the end approaches, people are going to be self-absorbed, money-hungry, self-promoting, stuck-up, profane, contemptuous of parents, crude, coarse, dog-eat-dog, unbending, slanderers, impulsively wild, savage, cynical, treacherous, ruthless, bloated windbags, addicted to lust, and allergic to God. They’ll make a show of religion, but behind the scenes they’re animals. Stay clear of these people.

      • Christian Conservatives use going to church as a camouflage for their immoral actions. It’s ‘see, I go to church and so I must be good’ while they engage in immoral actions. Just need to look at our own Bill English and his rort of parliament’s housing allowance to see that.

  12. “Would you consider voting for a party with Christian or conservative values at the 2020 General Election”

    That’s easy, Christian. I’m not too keen on what those conservatives are trying to do.

  13. Truth is , the reality of the Gospels are an outrage to the legalist’s, an affront to the academics, and a direct challenge to those who wish to hold power.

    Jesus said anyone who would wish to be a leader must first be a servant, and the simplicity of the message of Gods love and forgiveness is something that even a child can perceive, thus putting paid to the haughty academic notions of good works to earn a place in the hereafter,…in fact the righteousness of the Pharisees was condemned as being ‘whitewashed tombs full of dead mans bones’ by Jesus.

    He taught that the small amount given by the poor widow meant infinitely more to God than the much announced large Temple donations delivered with fanfare by the Pharisees…because she was doing it from pure motives. And they were only wanting men’s favour.

    You start to get a picture of the exact inverse of humankind’s arrogant pride here ,… and conversely , just like the smallest unit , the atom and the colossal amount of power within,… we see this universe as being not the frightful power of the collapsing supernova,… but of the still quiet voice…

    Its so easy to override that voice,.. we do it all too often…

    ——————————

    1 Kings 19:11-13 New King James Version (NKJV)

    God’s Revelation to Elijah

    11 Then He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; 12 and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire [a]a still small voice.

    13 So it was, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. Suddenly a voice came to him, and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

    ——————————-

Comments are closed.