Was Jesus 'woke'?

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gpmj12

gpmj12

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I’ve spent too long on Twitter today reading all the negativity but I’m convinced that lots of today’s Catholics, observing the radical things Jesus did… would accuse Him of wokeness. Do you agree?
 
Both sides of American culture war are Pharisees. Both would likely accuse Jesus of being something they despise.

The left side always accuse everybody of being a bully, using all their fancy term describing all possible shades of discrimination and victimization. They never ask if they aren’t being bullies themselves.

The right side always present themselves as guardians of “Western civilization”, just like Pharisees presented themselves as guardians of Israelite traditions.
 
No, he was anything but “woke”.

He insisted upon being accepted as Lord and Savior, either that, or losing one’s salvation. He condemned divorce and adultery, and was severely judgmental towards the Pharisees. He condemned committing even mental sins against impurity. He said to abandon your family, if that’s what it takes, to follow Him.

In the eyes of the world, that would be seen as pretty intolerant. So, no, not “woke” in the least.
 
BlueKumul said:
Both sides of American culture war are Pharisees. Both would likely accuse Jesus of being something they despise.

The left side always accuse everybody of being a bully, using all their fancy term describing all possible shades of discrimination and victimization. They never ask if they aren’t being bullies themselves.

The right side always present themselves as guardians of “Western civilization”, just like Pharisees presented themselves as guardians of Israelite traditions.
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When I was a kid in the 60’s, granted this is Australia, the division really wasn’t noticeable. Social justice issues were just as important across the board as was doctrinal orthodoxy to all Catholics (and other Christians). The Christian churches were the front line of aboriginal welfare and the poor. So you’d find that the same person who was complaining to the Bishop about some kind of abuse of the liturgy was also complaining to the government about social injustices. There really was much more of a connection with the man Jesus described in the gospel that united Catholics in day to day issues. He was the guy who reached out to the types of people that were being shunned and neglected in the community. I believe that that Jesus is not central to lots of Christians today.
 
The culture wars are mostly a boomer issue, they started as hippie vs square and kept evolving. The younger generation just accepts mainstream liberal culture as it is.

I agree that Jesus is not central for many Christians today. They prefer to worship Western Civilization, even if they seldom attempt to define it precisely.
 
Inclusivity as defined by modern Leftists goes even beyond acceptance and proposes actively “making space” for the supposedly victimized, though probably some of these changes are justified. I’m happy that Confederate monuments in Southern US were destroyed, and I wouldn’t dream of saying things like “long time no see” (which originated as mockery of creole English spoken by black slaves). But then many Leftists consider Christianization a form of colonialism, and would like Africans and South American return to their pagan beliefs, which in reality were more warlike and patriarchal than they imagine.
 
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This is the first time I’ve ever heard the popular colloquialism “long time no see” described as having roots in racism. I intend to continue using it without the slightest racial connotation.

In that many leftists hate not only colonialism (read: anything European) but Christianity itself, they might actually be okay with “warlike” and “patriarchal” beliefs, as long as they don’t come from the West, and as long as they do come from those parts and peoples of the world that are favored in their eyes. To criticize those aspects, well, wouldn’t that be… colonialism?
 
When I debated them, they always tried hard to prove that European civilization is the most warlike, imperialistic and patriarchal of all. For example, Taliban attitude to women is apparently derived from Victorian morality brought by the British Empire rather than the will of Allah.

They still want Jesus on their side, but their Jesus is often a gnostic one who was Mary Magdalene’s lover. Everything they dislike in Christianity can be blamed on St Paul.

Ted Kaczynski’s manifesto described Leftist psychology best.
 
I certainly don’t condone his resorting to terrorism, but Kaczynski made some excellent points — not to say I agree with all of them — and was undeniably a brilliant man. He was willing to “think outside the box”, and that is where you get some of your best ideas. Sadly, in Kaczynski’s case, “thinking outside the box” gave him one horrible idea. If that had been today, he could have published his views online, created his own website, done podcasts, and so on, and could have perhaps gained quite a following (think Jordan Peterson or someone similar, and do not take that as an endorsement of Dr Peterson’s views in toto either). Sadly, he went down a very bad path.

The world uses Jesus like a palimpsest, and makes Him into anything they want Him to be. Only the Jews have an issue with Jesus, for reasons that conform to the internal logic of their faith. Muslims revere Jesus deeply, and Hindus and Buddhists acknowledge His wisdom and holiness.

There is a large segment of the world that just plain dislikes the West and Western culture, and it’s like a cold war in slow motion. Westerners aborting and contracepting themselves out of existence (I am a part of that problem, only having the one child delayed later in life, and that was using NFP) doesn’t help matters any.
 
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I’m still convinced right-wing culture warriors are more dangerous. Victor Orban’s Hungary is more oppressive than Justin Trudeau’s Canada. SJWs may insist on the use of inclusive pronouns and “cancelling” people who don’t use them, but they never did anything comparable to 1/6 Capitol riots.
 
BlueKumul said:
I’m still convinced right-wing culture warriors are more dangerous. Victor Orban’s Hungary is more oppressive than Justin Trudeau’s Canada. SJWs may insist on the use of inclusive pronouns and “cancelling” people who don’t use them, but they never did anything comparable to 1/6 Capitol riots.
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They don’t have to. They’ve got the Zeitgeist on their side, and they are able to offer a promise of personal freedom and redress of grievances for past “oppression”, both real and imagined, to corral together aggrieved groups of all types, and to agree to get behind each other’s demands, in exchange for everyone being in lockstep and no dissent from the party line. The US Democratic party elevates this to a fine art, whereas the Republicans, well, it’s like herding squirrels.

I said “in lockstep” and “no dissent”. Depending upon who you are, that can have its limits. This was nowhere better demonstrated than in the socially conservative state of South Carolina, which also happens to have a very large Democratic African-American electorate, not large enough to call the shots for the entire state, but large enough to determine how a party primary turns out. They shied away from voting for Pete Buttigieg, because, you see… the thought of a man all loved up with his “husband”, and doing the things that gay couples do, that was just too much. They might be able to tolerate abortion choice under the rubric of “we know we’re not going to do that, the laws force no one to have an abortion, and besides, that needs to be a safety hatch for poor, frightened women (of all races) who get pregnant and don’t want to be”, but peccatum illud horribile inter christianos non nominandum (from which, bad as it is, no baby ever died on account of it), that was just a bridge too far. Local kingmaker Representative James Clyburn, who represents a largely black district in that state, anointed him as the preferred candidate, and the rest was all she wrote, Biden won the state handily, and most of the other candidates fell out of the race one by one within days.

If it had been white conservative Republicans refusing to vote for a sodomite, they’d have been called “haters”.
 
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