Things Jesus Said and Did Not Say
 
Jesus said:  

"Blessed be the peace makers for they will be called the sons of God." Matthew 9:5
 
"You must love your neighbor as yourself." Matthew. 22.40
 
"If there is one of you who has not sinned, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." John. 8.7
 
"Do not judge, and you will not be judged yourselves; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned yourselves; grant pardon, and you will be pardoned." Luke 6.27
 
"If anyone has two tunics, he must share with the man who has none, and the one with something to eat must do the same." Luke 3.11
 
"You have learnt how it was said to our ancestors: 'You must not kill; and anyone does kill he must answer for it before the court.' But I say this to you: anyone who is angry with his brother will answer for it before the court." Matthew. 5.21
 
"I tell you solemnly, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." Matthew. 18.3
 
"You know the commandments: you must not kill..." Mark 10.18
 
"Forgive whatever you have against anybody, so that your Father in heaven may forgive your failings too." Matthew. 11.25
 
"This is my commandment: love one another, as I have loved you." John. 14.22
 
"When you pray, enter into your closet, and when you have shut the door, pray to your Father, which is in secret."  Matthew 6:6
 
"I give you a new commandment: love one another; just as I have loved you, you also must love one another. By this love you have for one another, everyone will know that you are my disciples." John. 13.34
 
"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which on the outside look beautiful, but inside they are full of the bones of the dead and of all kinds of filth. So you also on the outside look righteous to others, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness."  Matthew 23:27
Indeed, Jesus said these things over and over again.  No matter how "the name" of Jesus has been used, it is still clear that this was the core of his message.
 
Notably, Jesus never said:
If you fear somebody will strike your cheek, strike their cheek first.
 
If you don't like the way somebody else lives, throw stones at them, for this will make you pure in the eyes of God.
 
Cut taxes for the rich, let the poor fend for themselves, and avoid national healthcare and other slippery slopes toward socialism no matter what.
 
Gay people.give me the creeps, persecute them in my name.
 
Discover new continents, tell their people about heaven, and kill the ones who refuse to believe in me.
 
Carry out a few inquisitions and crusades in my name, that'll keep the non-believers on their toes.
 
Say one thing, and do another.
 
Root out and burn all witches, execute abortion doctors and stem cell researchers, and watch out for the Jews: most of them are against me.
 
For every one of our people that they kill, we should kill 50 of "them."
 
Pray in schools, on television, and every public place you can, for then the non-believers will know that you are better than them.
 
Hypocrisy is not that bad; I've been misquoted on that one.
 
In about 2000 years, global corporations and the NRA, working through the United States of America's government, will bring about heaven on Earth.
 
If you disagree with any of my teachings, interpret them, bend them, re-shape them however you like, till they fit your needs.
The tug of war to invoke Jesus as a spearhead for backward social thinking is hardly new.  Whatever your own religion, or lack thereof, the weakest link for these hypocrites is the words of their own prophet and the ways they have perverted those words to rationalize intolerance, aggression, subjugation, greed, even slavery (followed by segregation), in our own recent past.  Here is a snapshot of just one such flash from the past, the Civil War era, 5 religiously based rationalizations for slavery.  
"Slavery was established by decree of Almighty God...it is sanctioned in the Bible, in both Testaments, from Genesis to Revelation...it has existed in all ages, has been found among the people of the highest civilization, and in nations of the highest proficiency in the arts."   (Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America)
 
"There is not one verse in the Bible inhibiting slavery, but many regulating it. It is not then, we conclude, immoral." (Rev. Alexander Campbell)
 
"The right of holding slaves is clearly established in the Holy Scriptures, both by precept and example." (Baptist Reverend.R. Furman of South Carolina)
 
"The hope of civilization itself hangs on the defeat of Negro suffrage." (A prominent 19th-century southern Presbyterian pastor)
 
"The doom of Ham has been branded on the form and features of his African descendants. The hand of fate has united his color and destiny. Man cannot separate what God hath joined."  (United States Senator James Henry Hammond)
Progress is often a little choppy, two steps forward, one step back.  Right now it's a step back.  Let's all start working today on the next steps forward.  In this age of super communications, ignorance can be defeated.  I, for one, will keep speaking out until they tape my mouth shut.


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