I agree, I think Jesus would be all about equal rights for everyone. However, it’s equally hard for me to imagine Jesus endorsing abortion.
You’re not even going to lay out your argument? Sheesh. If you didn’t think there was a debate, why did you post this in a debate forum?
Uhm… I think you’re forgetting the “render unto Caesar” thingy, no?
Why not? The Christian (or at least Protestant) prohibition on abortion is a thoroughly modern invention.
You only count the donations to the* true church*. All those false churches don’t count.
Do people not grasp that it’s never that simple?
People often say that Popes Benedict and JPII were “conservatives” and Francis is a “liberal,” but in reality, all three men said more or less the same things, SOME of which please the Left, some of which please the Right, and some of which please or antagonize both sides.
Jesus would win AND lose followers quickly in modern America, depending on what he was saying at any given moment.
Is it?
Cite - it’s Wiki, but you can trace the cites if you like.
Part of this is complicated because there was no safe, reliable method of abortion available, and some of the distinctions were drawn on disagreements on when the fetus became fully human, just like now.
ETA -
The Protestant view of abortion was pretty much the same -
.
[QUOTE=John Calvin]
…the unborn, though enclosed in the womb of his mother, is already a human being, and it is an almost monstrous crime to rob it of life which it has not yet begun to enjoy. If it seems more horrible to kill a man in his own house than in a field, because a man’s house is his most secure place of refuge, it ought surely to be deemed more atrocious to destroy the unborn in the womb before it has come to light.
[/QUOTE]
Regards,
Shodan
Pope Francis is a social conservative, but I don’t think most people necessarily call him a homophobe.
I do think Jesus would likely be close to Pope Francis. He wouldn’t condone what He considered sinful behavior, but He would love the person regardless (remember when He hung out with prostitutes, He did tell them, “go and sin no more”).
Yes, it is. If one actually reads the article instead of your selective cherry-picked quotes, it’s obvious that there was no clear religious consensus in the past and that the present hysteria isn’t universal either but is mostly limited to fundies. You can start with the first two sentences: “Christianity and abortion has a long and complex history. There is scholarly disagreement on how early Christians felt about abortion.”
The belief that a modern-day Jesus would naturally oppose abortion is a circular argument premised on the baseless assumption that abortion is evil, and since Jesus is a good guy, he’d naturally oppose it.
My own view is that by modern standards Jesus was a freaking revolutionary Marxist (I think the Che Guevara comparison is apt) and socially was a non-judgmental libertarian. If Jesus appeared on earth today and preached the kinds of things he preaches in the Bible, guess which political faction would feel the most threatened and would be the most viciously out to get him? Is it really surprising that history would repeat itself? A modern-day Jesus would be on every NSA and FBI watchlist in existence.
Uhm… I think you’re forgetting the “render unto Caesar” thingy, no?
[/QUOTE]
No 
In an anarchy, the Caesar-coins, like any other coinceivable units of exchange, are meaningless. And en route to an anarchy, you do indeed continue to “render unto Caesar”. Anarchy, then as now, does not involve upending or overturning the imperial government; it entails making it irrelevant and obsolete.
Jesus is a celestial dictator who would tell us to follow religious laws from thousands of years ago on pain of death while maintaining a cult of personality. Sounds like fascism to me, though he probably wouldn’t be big on the corporatism part.
Communist. But the system would work under him.
Party alignment: none.
Fiscal policy interest: none.
- “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”*
and
…(They asked) "Is it right to pay the imperial tax* to Caesar or not? Should we pay or shouldn’t we?”
But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. “Why are you trying to trap me?” he asked. “Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.” They brought the coin, and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”
“Caesar’s,” they replied.
Then Jesus said to them, “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.”*
Social policy interest: liberal.
<multiple references>
Work v handouts: conservative.
To one he gave five talents,to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability…
And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here I have made five talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much." …
He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’
But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents.
For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness.’
Yeah but then he gave handouts to the 5,000 people following Him. THEY didn’t work for those fish and loaves! 
In the defense of Jesus, he may have been misquoted by people trying to use his legend to start a new religion.
Note that even if Jesus is correctly quoted, that would just give his views at one point in time.
He would be quite like our current Pope.
Which is good, and bad.
You jest, but I do notice that a lot of the ones that point at the parable of the talents as an example of Jesus being in favor of conservatism are missing a lot of context.
It is not a tale about how to become rich, not likely when one realizes that the servants were really slaves, a lot of people that want to take the tale literally are followers of Prosperity Theology; but there is no talk whatsoever about the slaves becoming free; (it also assumes slavery should be the normal state of affairs, so it is not a tale about prospering on your own at all) most of the profits that the slaves generated go to the master anyhow, the slaves remain slaves though a few get some perks.
The Talents is a parable (IOW not a real historical event), the master represents Christ and the slaves his followers, the tale is then more related to the number of good deeds a follower has done, not material wealth.
Long hair, sandals, no job. He’s a Hippie!
When I remember the passage about Peter and the rock, one pet theory I have is that Jesus and his followers were actually playing a game of Balderdash that later generations took seriously…
I’m thinking Jesus wouldn’t approve of people donating money to people like Joel Osteen or Rick Warren. And I’m certain he wouldn’t approve of Howard and Roberta Ahmanson, Douglas Coe, and Joyce Meyer.
Donating money so a secular charity can build a clinic for the poor is a lot more in keeping with Jesus’ teachings than donating money so a religious leader can buy a private jet.
You’d think if God was so concerned about prohibiting abortions, he’d have mentioned it in the Bible.
People like Basil the Great and John Calvin may have opposed abortions. But that doesn’t mean Jesus did.