For them, the baby Jesus wants us to “provide,” no matter what the circumstance. But being a Christian, I know that while Jesus promoted charity at the highest level, he was not self-destructive.
In response to O’Reilly’s missive, Stephen Colbert pointed out the very obvious flaws in O’Reilly’s argument.
“If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn’t help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we’ve got to acknowledge that he commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition and then admit that we just don’t want to do it.”
Here’s just a few of the many passage in the Bible that make it pretty clear that Christians should absolutely be concerned about the less fortunate among us.
Luke 14: 12-14
“When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your kinsmen or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return, and you be repaid.
But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”
Luke 6:20-21
“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours in the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.”
Earlier this week, a man tried to convince me that there is a god by using a story about an odd demonstration involving people trying to lift someone using only their fingers. I didn’t get the connection, and whatever he was shooting for in the way of convincing me fell way short.
I know there are good and decent people everywhere on the planet who practice some sort of religion or follow some sort of spiritual belief. I’ve met a few of them—Father X, a man who helped smuggle people out of Rwanda to escape the genocide and was wounded in the process—He comes to mind. If there are truly saints, he is one walking among us.
Zach, who is the founder and chief of this blog, is another decent person who has a religion he follows. I know there are many like him and Father X out running around. Problem is: We don’t hear about them—We hear about assholes like Bill O’Reilly.
“I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ. ”
-Mohandas Gandhi
One of my favorite quotes of all-time.
I’m an outsider to the faith, but isn’t the notion of Him dying for our sins the ultimate example of being ‘self-destructive’ in order to help others?
Perhaps O’Reilly subscribes to the Randian understanding of Christianity as explained by the antagonistic Fountainhead character Ellsworth Toohey. Toohey says something to this effect: that if the meek shall inherit the earth, and those who suffer shall be rewarded in heaven etc., then the most meaningful Christian sacrifice would be the sacrifice of one’s own soul by intentionally being evil and inflicting suffering on others, thereby effecting the consecration of their souls. So, the spiritually self-less rich must preserve their material selves and their material resources, the better to inflict soul-building hardship on others.
you would have to be an IDIOT not to realize there is a higher power look around you