Was Jesus a libertarian?

FountainofTruth ^ | May 19, 2001 | Doug Newman

[Cultural Jihad]

Was Jesus a moral-liberal humanist ideologue who called for the mandatory toleration of evil? No.

[The Libertarian Dude]

"Draw down military spending"???

Maybe cut the waste, sure, but leave the spending for the good bits. Can't be free without bullets.

I'm with you on the tax cuts, but only if they're cut to zero, then replaced with the national retail sales tax. Make those IRS jackboots get jobs that don't require leeching off society... IOW, the private sector.

[A CA Guy]

Libertarians are that broken clock that might tell the right time of day two times for a second.

[Commie Basher]

Does anyone know anything about the Good News Bible, which I was raised under in Catholic school in the 1970s? I found a website about it: http://www.bible-researcher.com/tev.html

The thing is, I never hear it referenced by anyone in Bible discussions. I know the Good News Bible isn't the KJV, but is it the NIV version? I don't think so.

[The Libertarian Dude]

Well, golly, thanks for throwing the bone. Guess I'll go back to being the spawn of Satan you think we are...

[Capitalism2003]

Reagan was a conservative. Today's GOP is certainly NOT.

[familyop]

"Does anyone know anything about the Good News Bible, which I was raised under in Catholic school in the 1970s? I found a website about it:
http://www.bible-researcher.com/tev.html

The thing is, I never hear it referenced by anyone in Bible discussions. I know the Good News Bible isn't the KJV, but is it the NIV version? I don't think so."

Dr. Robert Bratcher's work is heretical from both Catholic and Protestant points of view. He was an "inner light" follower, among other things. Here's a quote of something he said: "

"We are not bound by the letter of Scripture, but by the spirit. Even words spoken by Jesus in Aramaic in the thirties of the first century and preserved in writing in Greek, 35 to 50 years later, do not necessarily wield compelling authority over us today. The focus of scriptural authority is not the words themselves. It is Jesus Christ as the Word of God who is the authority for us to be and to do."

IMO, his worst heresy was his intent to make assumptions about some of the mysteries of the Bible and to revise it to reflect his assumptions. He also denied the diety of Jesus and changed some text to reflect that belief, which is most heretical from the Catholic perspective.

The King James is not a Catholic bible, but it would be the best to stay with if you prefer to read the Protestant Bible. I have found it to be the most accurately translated work from the earliest of all the texts, but I am Protestant.

Are you are still a practicing Catholic?

I had previously studied problems with revisionisms in the New Jerusalem Version--very bad and heretical work that is against the teachings of the Catholic Church, in conclusion. The Biblia Sacra Vulgata (which I sometimes refer to and translate verses for Catholics) is in Latin, so I asked a Catholic scholar about Catholic versions and will now go find the answer he gave and report back to you.

[familyop]

Here's the result with my search for an online version for you.

Run as keywords, "Douay-Rheims online" (without the quotation marks) in a search engine like google.com You'll find online versions and may choose the format of your liking.

When questioned about the King James Version, some of the more secular scholars in the Catholic Church say that it is based on the Douay-Rheims, which is not true. ...the greatest difference between the two, in simplicity sum...? IMO, the Douay-Rheims rejects some things of very Hebrew origin, while the King James Version rejects things very much of ancient Roman origin.

The source documents for the King James Bible are the Masoretic Hebrew (The Hebrew Bible) and Textus Receptus Greek (for the New Testament).

The New Testament of the King James Version is from the Traditional Greek Text. The problem that the Catholic Church had with it was the researcher and translator, Desidierus Erasmus (priest critical of the Catholic Church then, around 1516).

I suggest to use either the Douay-Rheims (if you are Catholic) or the King James Version (if you are Protestant or are Catholic and want to read what is yet most authentic but missing a few books for the Catholic--what we Protestants call "Apocrypha"). But other versions are based on source documents that are too corrupt for either Catholics or Protestants.

There are also many online King James texts, BTW--easy to find.

Whatever I read, after much study, I reject the newer versions: New Jerusalem, NIV, all.

[BibChr]

The so-called "Good News Bible" is a distinct version of its own. It is a somewhat extreme example of the "dynamic equivalence" approach to translation, which really amounts to paraphrasing.

You can read more about it, and other versions, in my essay: Help for Bible Students.

Dan

[Commie Basher]

I'm a lapsed Catholic, but was thinking of reading the Gospels (for the first time) after seeing THE PASSION. Back in the 1970s, our Catholic church was full of Good News Bibles and mini-bibles in the back of the church. By mini-bibles, I mean just the individual books (Mark, Matthew, etc) in pamphlet form. Maybe it was popular because the church had a grammer school that I attended, and the Good News Bible had pictures and easy text.

Recently, someone told me the best version is the Concordant New Testament, which he said proves that there is no hell, that Jesus only preached for the Jews, and that it was Paul who first had relevant messages to gentiles. Also, that everyone gets to heaven in the end. He gave me a book, MARTIN ZENDER GOES TO HELL, which is about the concordant Bible.

[Commie Basher]

Your page says nothing on the Concordant Bible, which someone else recommended to me (at least my text search couldn't find it -- didn't read the whole article yet).

[BibChr]

Yeah... well... that's mainly for two reasons:

1. It's neither very major nor very influential; and...

2. I've never really understood the point of it.

(c8

Dan

[familyop]

"I'm a lapsed Catholic, but was thinking of reading the Gospels (for the first time) after seeing THE PASSION."

That's a great idea! There are a lot of misleading efforts against Christian belief now, and most of those are really subtle and incremental. ...many different kinds of preachers around us. IMO, the best way to go is to read for oneself, then decide.

[Bob J]

Lord, give me strength. Anytime anyone starts comparing themselves or their efforts with Jesus, you know it's about time he's calling you to that big mansion in the sky.

[centristfederalist]

Libertarian is not about being right or left it is about the freedom of the person to choose for themselves.

Most of you miss the point: Gods law does not need government. We do not need to legislate every single issue to our special interests desires.

Many libertarians are personally Christian, such as Ron Paul and Michael Badnarik; they just don’t feel the government should be the nanny telling us what to do or giving us all our needs.

For more republican friendly discussion seek out Kevin Miller and the national Freedom Initiative:

Freedom Nationally: Virtue Locally

Libertarians are not about left right “issues” but about personal decision making power and freedom to be responsible for those decisions. The only real “issues” with libertarians are of course getting government out of our domestic lives and the ever guiding and very christian (or at least new testament Jesus teachings) “non-aggression principle which prevents taking by force or coercion or imperialism.

I have finally come to understand this and accept my lot as a freedom libertarian christian.

Change the hearts of society; not the laws.

[centristfederalist]

Yes and No.

I believe the Gospels of Matthew and Mark are clear about the anti-establishment behaviors of Jesus. He disdained the lofty priests and pharisees. He even was sly about the issue of taxes: if the coin has Caesars picture on it, give some back to Caesar, if it doesn’t keep it to yourself.

People forget to analyze this in light of the culture. The Jews had their own currency though sometimes they would be paid in Denari (Caesar’s money).

Jesus also worked on the Sabbath and bid his disciples do so as well.