Was jesus liberal or conservative?

1. 60

   pisean282311posted 12 years ago

   Was jesus liberal or conservative?

   replyreport
2. 61

   secularist10posted 12 years ago

   It's difficult to categorize someone who lived in a totally different time and culture, of course. But the Bible and Christian traditions give an indication. If we are working with the American definitions of these words, then Jesus was socially conservative (topics such as premarital sex, homosexuality, abortion, the importance of religion, the importance of the family, the sanctity of marriage, etc) and economically liberal (promoting redistribution of wealth, suspicious of the rich and powerful, lionizing the poor, etc).
   
   It bears mentioning that the bulk of Jesus' actual speaking was focused on liberal economic-related issues i.e. charity, helping the poor and the sick, how people should treat each other, etc. Social issues like homosexuality and abortion occupy a minor role in comparison.

   replyreport
   1. 68

      Farmer Rachelposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Did Jesus ever actually mention abortion?

      replyreport
   2. 74

      lone77starposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      @secularist10, that was beautiful. Well said!

      replyreport
   3. 61

      secularist10posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      He may not have mentioned abortion specifically but he gave indications that he believed a person existed in the womb, which is usually interpreted as anti-abortion.

      replyreport
3. 33

   jacobkuttytaposted 12 years ago

   Jesus is the savior.  Savior of all mankind.    Bible says "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

   replyreport
   1. 60

      pisean282311posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      that was not the question...

      replyreport
4. 57

   kmaskreationsposted 12 years ago

   Because the democratic party is accepted as liberal and their platform holds to the opposite teachings of the Word of God, i.e. same-sex marriage, abortion, and a desire to remove the name of their very creator, it is clear our Savior does not agree with liberalism.  In fact, after the democratic convention, I am now considering adding "christian democrat" to my list of oxymorons.  The Jesus of the Holy Bible was no liberal.

   replyreport
   1. 70

      connorjposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Perhaps the democrats have become demoncrats...

      replyreport
5. 67

   Buzzbeeposted 12 years ago

   Jesus was complex.  Some might argue the most complex person in all of human history.  As such He is difficult to categorize.
   
   There is for every instance of something Jesus said, (not exactly but frequently) another instance of Him saying something quite the opposite or at least somewhat contradictory.
   
   This is a characteristic of his teaching style, his own beliefs/philosophy and His existential reality--(i.e. all humans are by nature inconsistent. Jesus was a human and therefore Jesus was inconsistent.)  Now being inconsistent is not a bad thing.  It merely tallies with the fact that Reality is complex and being a human living in the fishbowl of such a Reality, you will be, at times, inconsistent.
   
   So what does it mean to say Jesus was liberal or conservative?  I would argue that these terms both apply to Him.  There are instances of both throughout the N.T. and that is a solid fact. 
   
   I argue in one of my Hubs: http://buzzbee.hubpages.com/hub/Jesus-W … hy-are-YOU that He was politically incorrect.  But in what way?  Tory or Democrat?  This adds to His complexity.
   
   Surely there are wonderful scholars who have clarified these paradoxes and contradictions of the person Jesus and if we turn to some of them we will get a much better answer than one I might give.

   replyreport
6. 83

   sherrituckposted 12 years ago

   There is no way that we can place human labels on Christ.  Christ is the example that we should all follow. We are the hands and feet of Christ set forth to do His work on this planet.  Seeing the actions as liberal or conservative is only individual perception.

   replyreport
7. 74

   lone77starposted 12 years ago

   I think @secularist10 gave a potent answer.
   
   I happen to think that the labels and pigeonholes of Western culture have been manufactured for sinister and divisive purposes. Not everyone can be so easily pigeonholed.
   
   Liberals have many good things going for them. They are compassionate, though sometimes misguided. How? Frequently, they want the government to dole out the compassion. That's not compassion; that's socialism or communism. The State cannot delivery compassion. As we've seen far too often, this backfires and leads to too much corruption. Just look at government intervention in health issues -- healthcare in America has declined in quality and increased in cost.
   
   I think Jesus was a bit of both and neither.

   replyreport
8. 58

   davidkalugeposted 12 years ago

   I think from Jesus teachings one can easily see that he was liberal in the sense that he did not insist on the laws/teachings of Moses. A conservative will always want to maintain what has been. That is conservatives conserve the known norms but Jesus did not do that. He brought in changes which means he permitted a change and that is what liberalism is all about.

   replyreport