I'm no longer a Christian but when people tried to get jesus to weigh in on hot button political issues of his day (probably to entrap him into saying something that would piss off either the zealots or the romans) he told them "render unto Caesar what is Caesar's; render unto god what is God's". The meaning, I take it, is that he was there with a spiritual message, not a political one
this post was submitted on 23 Jun 2025
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The New Testament has been around for a couple of thousand years. The concept of socialism has only been around for less than 200.
I wonder, if religion survives for another thousand years, what will people then say Jesus taught regarding various other isms that have yet to be constructed.
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Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's
That's pro dictatorship in perpetuity, aka fascism.
Jesus wants people to help each other voluntarily and not by the power of the state.
Christianity is incredibly easy to fake. Anyone can call themselves a Christian with little, if any, blowback. It's the whole 'sinner saved by grace' schtick - which is, essentially, "Yup, I'm a Christian but I don't really have to act like one."
There are evangelical thought leaders that preach the opposite. They say liberals are wrong about all of that.
And people believe up is down.
More than that, giving food and drink to the hungry and thirsty, welcoming strangers, clothing the naked, caring for the sick, and giving comfort to the imprisoned, is literally the same as doing those things for Jesus Christ, himself, from his perspective. And, moreover, those who do those things will earn their place in heaven, and those who fail to do those things will be eternally damned to hell. It's not subtextual. It's not ambiguous and up for interpretation. It says very clearly that Jesus separated those who are going to heaven and hell to either side and the distinction between the groups was how they treated "the least" of his brothers and sisters. Matthew 25:31-46.
So, bad news Christian Republicans. Might want to correct yourself now before it's too late.
They aren't. In fact, many of the MAGA Republicans have been pushing their pastors to stop being so "woke" and to teach "real" Christian values, i.e. oppressing people.
The sad thing is that these pastors are giving up their values and acquiescing.
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The early church was actually kinda communist, having all things in common.
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People care about helping people.
Its had a billion different names throughout history and each of them has been or will be subverted into something bad by people who seek control.
what I'm amazed by is that those who would benefit most from socialism are the ones who call it "handouts" and vote against it
yhea, because making a society liveable and comfortable for everyone would also include "them", you don't want them to be ok.
so better suffer under a system that lets you make "their" world even worse
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Do we really know what the real Jesus was like, what his teachings were, and that they are not just fairy tales created by someone? or changed by someone. I don't think there is/was much socialistic in his teachings.
No sense imagining a hypothetical Jesus, but if you go by what the bible says, Jesus said "it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom is heaven." He said sell all of your possessions and then follow me. The bible talks about how people in the church shared what they had in common. If someone had a need someone would sell their property and distribute it to those who needed it.
Of course they also thought Jesus was going to return soon, within their lifetimes, and bring a perfect world. Not wait over 2,000 years
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Jesus also teached to devote live to a fictional character and to respect judaism traditions. And in the apostols carts there're homophobic rants.
That's not socialist in my book.
And in the apostols carts there’s homophobic rants.
Saulus/Paulus. Yeah it all went downhill pretty quickly.
For all their “christianity”, republicans in the US are pretty hypocritical
No, no, you were indoctrinated by people with agenda
Jesus was saying, and everyone was obeying, like a good person does
/s in case it's not clear
Religion isn’t about actually helping people. It’s used to control the masses with shame, guilt and the threat of eternal damnation. It’s used to abuse and fleece the weak and the poor.
People holding onto “that’s not what Jesus would do” are just in denial about the cult they participate in.
Jesus is just a tool used to dupe rubes. If you need a fictional character to tell you to act like a decent human being then you’re not a good person.
Religion isn’t about actually helping people. It’s used to control the masses with shame, guilt and the threat of eternal damnation. It’s used to abuse and fleece the weak and the poor.
There are a lot of different religions and beliefs in the world, right? Christianity and similar religions are not the only ones that exist, and many religions originated from ancient human primitive tribes.
Yes and we don’t practice many of those anymore because we know we don’t have to sacrifice people to make sure the sun rises. These primitive ceremonies and practices go away with education and science.
What’s left are grifters, pedos and people abusing those that are desperate and superstitious.
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Harsh but true.
But a little besides the point OP is trying to make - which is about Jesus' teachings themselves, not the cult that grew up around it - as far as we can deduce what Jesus actually did and said of course. Which isn't much but enough to come to a similar conclusion as OP claims.
Which is why he had to be made an example of and executed. It took a few hundred years for his brand to be perverted into funding a gilded palace in Rome.
IMO it made sense in the times when enforcing the law was harder to do. But a lot of time has passed since then, religions (as in whole communities, priests and followers) somehow made it their point to not change much
"Enforcing the law" a.k.a. "opressing people"
Not necessarily. Punishing theft or manslaughter is not oppression. And it makes sense to have systemic safeguards against those
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From my purely anecdotal experience, the people who actually want to follow Jesus's teachings don't go to church. Says a lot.
go to church
And how many have read at least one testament? Reading is not rare anymore
You'd be surprised. I read the Bible cover to cover in high school (one of the reasons I no longer have faith), and it amazed me how many people in my life that were also Christian that were entirely unfamiliar with entire books or lessons....
Similar story here except for the longest time I didn’t realize that my fellow church goers didn’t know what the Bible said, and thus couldn’t distinguish between biblical lessons and purely made-up ones
That's my point, I wouldn't be surprised, unfortunately
To be fair, I couldn't get through it either. But I'd guess if one decides to take something as their guidance, it would be a good idea to read it at least once
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Didn't go into so much detail with most people of faith I've met, but I know for a fact mum read both the Old and New Testaments and decided she didn't* (still getting used to it...) want to have anything to do with the Church's interpretations, because they focused on essentially anything other than empathy and being human.
On the other hand, grandma wasn't that big on the Bible, but went to church weekly (for as long as she could). She was also domineering, aggressive, two-faced, and manipulative. Also loved to visit the village witch (no, I'm not joking), which was... kinda' contradictory if one asks me, but nobody did, so that's that...
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