Sunday, May 31, 2015

Christian Right Re-interprets "the Least Among Us" - Decides It's Them


Matthew 25:40  And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

This is one verse that anyone with even a passing familiarity with the Christian Bible will recognize.  The obvious lesson is that caring for the poor, the disenfranchised, the "least" among us is a way of showing your love of God.

On Thursday, Glenn Beck's conservative website, The Blaze, shared a different interpretation of that same verse written by Professor Denny Burk of the Biblical Studies Department at Boyce College in Louisville, Kentucky.

Professor Burk contends that the verse has nothing to do with caring for the poor, but is meant to warn against the persecution of florists who are forced to provide bouquets for gay weddings. 
"This text is not about poor people generally.  It's about Christians getting the door slammed in their face while sharing the gospel with a neighbor.  It's about the baker'/florist/photographer who is being mistreated for bearing faithful witness to Christ.  It's about disciples of Jesus having their heads cut off by Islamic radicals...In other words, it's about any disciple of Jesus who was ever mistreated in the name of Jesus.  This text shows us that Jesus will judge those who show contempt for the gospel by mistreating gospel-bearers."
what eye thynk:  Only a member of the new Christian right could take a Bible verse as simple and straight forward as Matthew 25:40 and twist it so far as to strangle all love out of it.

1 comment:

  1. Just one more, of many, instance of using the Lord's name in vain,

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