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They would call Jesus “woke”

I do believe the right-wing conservative Christians would call Jesus “woke.” In a round about way, they are doing exactly that.

Two evangelicals have published books in the last year claiming that the Democrats are carrying empathy too far… and furthermore, that’s a sin.

I won’t name them here, because I don’t want to give them or their books free publicity. I’ll just share my thoughts on the subject.

Early in the second Trump Administration, Elon Musk stated, “The fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy.” It’s sad to see people who profess to be Christians jumping on that bandwagon.

Is that why all the right-wing conservative Christian “faith leaders” who gather in the Oval Office for photo ops with Trump remained silent when his Administration dismantled USAID?

There was great fanfare when Trump established a so-called Faith Office in the White House, but what has the office done except hold an expensive banquet for themselves and their ilk – all the big names in tele-evangelism and such?

Where was that Faith Office when USAID was destroyed?

Where was that Faith Office when medical research funding was slashed?

Where was that Faith Office when childhood cancer research was halted?

Where was that Faith Office when ICE agents arrested 20-year-old nursing student Allison Bustillo and held her for more than six months in a detention center 350 miles from her home and never gave her due process. Her “crime” was fleeing violence in Honduras as an eight-year-old child, coming to America, studying nursing at a university, and caring for her younger brother who has autism. With no grounds for deportation, the U.S. Justice Department just kept her in limbo in a detention center for months on end.

The silence from the so-called Christians in the White House has been deafening.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t think there should be a right-wing Christian “Faith Office” in the White House or in any other government building. There’s a reason the Constitution of the United States of America does not establish a State Religion.

Photo by Patrick Fore on Unsplash

But if you establish a Faith Office in the White House and fund it and advertise it and brag about it, maybe it should put its money where its mouth is and speak up for common decency that most world religions claim to be rooted in.

If you think Jesus is in favor of taking food and medicine away from sick and starving children, I believe you need to start reading a different version of the Bible. None of the versions I have paint that picture of Jesus.

Janet

34 thoughts on “They would call Jesus “woke””

  1. Wonderful post Janet. These people are not Christians. Jesus said that by their fruit you will know them. And we see bad fruit being produced by these, therefore, using Jesus’ own definition, they are not Christians. They are being followed by those who also do not have true faith or love in their hearts. Again like Jesus said, the world will not accept you and will hate you because you are not of this world. I think it is about time that everybody knew and understood the position of these people who are more Trumpists than Trump and who have no clue as to what a civilised, secular, and free society is all about. Thank you Janet, and all the best to you. And as an aside I have to tell you that for the past 9 or 10 days the weather here in the Aegean region has been absolutely perfect. Sunny warm days, but breezy cool nights, no A/C needed, no fan, just a cover as the nights get chilly. Hope the weather in your area is good and comfortable too.

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  4. Thank you, Francisco. Yes, they have lost their way. They have a “holier than thou” attitude and claim that the Democrats hate Christianity. It goes on and on. They are the ones spewing hate and voting against any and all government programs that help the least of those among us. I find it very offensive that the White House Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, always wears a cross necklace for the daily press briefings even as she belittles people, calls people names, and defends everything Trump has done or said — no matter how heinous. I find her cocky attitude offensive, but the fact that she dares to wear that cross necklace makes it all 1,000 times worse. As tension rise in Poland, Venezuela, and Qatar, we wonder what lies ahead, but I am trying to concentrate on my writing. I hope to finish creating the companion journal for my devotional book within a week, and I continue to edit my historical short stories as I hope to publish 15 of them in a short story collection book before the end of the year. With nights in the 50s and afternoons in the 70s, it is beginning to feel like fall. Warmer afternoons and sunshine are predicted, though for the next week. Highs in the 80s sound good to me!

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  9. I fully understand what you are saying and I did notice the cross on the Press Sec. and I too thought it was rather ironic. A swastika would suit her better. In any event, I am glad to hear of your literary plans. I think that with your discipline and the way you approach hard work, you should have no problem in accomplishing your goals. I look forward to your achievements. And your weather sounds like ours in this part of the world. All the best..

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  10. I could not agree more, Janet. This is one of my subjects of interest, and I’ve been tracing this issue back to see where it started. For now, my sense is that it began in the early ’80s (possibly in the ’60s) with Jerry Falwell Sr. and the Moral Majority movement. The Moral Majority wanted power and influence in government. They first pushed the issue of traditional family and morals, but when that didn’t gain the traction they wanted, they came out in force against abortion.

    Abortion became the single issue that rallied Christians and gave the far right the hook it needed to get what it wanted. They used that issue to convince Christians to vote for a president who would change the Supreme Court and overturn Roe v. Wade, which they ultimately accomplished. Now they have so much power that they’ll continue shaping things to their liking.

    Sadly, this has turned into a cycle where right-wing conservative Christians need Republicans to advance their causes, and Republicans need the right-wing Christian vote to stay in power. The New Testament is a big problem for some of these Christians, and many of the so-called “faith leaders” are only interested in power and money.

    I think these are the very people to whom Jesus’ words will apply when He says: “Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’”

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  12. Very concerning. Trump emboldened Putin with the outrageous meeting in Alaska. I can’t help but think Trump is in cahoots with Putin. There is a backstory there that no one has been able to crack. I don’t trust Trump any more than I trust Putin, which is not at all. What a horrible way to feel about the President of the United States!

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  14. I think you are exactly right, Edward, and you have concisely summarized the progression of this marriage between the Republican Party and the conservative Christians and their co-dependency. I think you are right in tracing it back to Jerry Falwell, Sr. and the Moral Majority. Throw in the Tea Party Movement and Roe v. Wade and you have the recipe for the disaster we are witnessing today. I think Jesus’ anger at the money changers at the temple probably pales in comparison to how Christ feels today. I think the far-right should thank their lucky stars Jesus isn’t walking the Earth in human form today to confront them in physical form. It will forever baffle me how they genuinely believe Trump or the Republican Party care about them or their Christian beliefs.

    I appreciate our exchange of ideas.

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  15. You’re very welcome, Janet, and it’s truly a pleasure to read your posts. I read The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind by Dr. Mark Noll, and that book opened my mind to what is happening in our Christian circles today. The lack of study and discernment among today’s Christians began decades ago, and it’s only getting worse.

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  18. Yes… it feels stifling when such leaders are the ones steering world politics. It leaves you with a powerless feeling, watching how things happen behind closed doors, beyond our control.

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  20. It’s only getting worse here. Yesterday’s assassination of the conservative podcaster Charlie Kirk in Utah is building up to be a powder keg. People are coming out of the woodwork on social media now to blame every political assassination or attempted assassination in the history of the world on the “left-wing radical lunatic Democrats” — of which I guess I’m one. I always thought I was pretty much “middle of the road.” I never thought of myself as left-wing, radical, or a lunatic, but anyone who doesn’t support Trump is now being lumped into that bucket. Every crime committed is now the fault of the Democrats. This Charlie Kirk guy apparently made a career out of speaking to college students. I’d never heard of him until this week and now Trump has called him a martyr and is going to give him the Medal of Freedom. He ordered the flags to be lowered to half-staff through Sunday. It’s obvious who gets such honors, and it’s not the Democrat legislator and her husband in Minnesota who were assassinated a couple of weeks ago. If you aren’t loudly supporting what Trump says, your assassination counts for nothing. On this 24th anniversary of 9-11, we are more divided than ever in our history since the Civil War (1861-1865) and I don’t know how we find our way out.

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  21. No argument from me. I can probably count on the fingers of one hand, the number of people who are in national politics who are are the service and not the ability to fleece the public.

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  23. Powerful insight Janet. You are right on target my friend! 👍🏼 I never saw the increase in such hypocrisy and selling their souls to diabolical forces in my lifetime! Yep, Jesus was empathetic and that is never overreach in my book. Some folks have forgotten what empathy means. They don’t care and their actions scream a “dog eat dog” society. Pathetic! 😣😱😡

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  24. Like you, I can’t believe the speed with which this has happened. Empathy and compassion have become “four-letter words.” I’m glad I don’t go to the churches they go to, if this is what is being preached.

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  26. Janet, if “woke” means awakened to reality and responsibility, then Easter is the original scandal of wokeness. The Church’s first headline wasn’t “stay calm”—it was “He is risen,” which is to say: wake up. “Awake, O sleeper, and rise from the dead” (Eph. 5:14) isn’t partisan; it’s the summons to see the hungry, the sick, the stranger, and act. If a “Faith Office” can’t rouse itself for the least of these, it’s hitting snooze on the Resurrection.

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  27. Well said! That’s how I feel about it, too. I’m “woke” and I’m glad I am. I am sad over what has happened to our country but even sadder over the derailing of so many Christians. A family with elementary age children were interviewed on CNN after the shooting on Wednesday. They had been seated near the stage. The mother wore a t-shirt that said, “Pro God, Pro Guns, Pro Life, Pro Trump.” Her young children don’t have much of a chance to grow up to be good citizens or good Christians. For the life of me, I don’t get the connection between God and guns. And I don’t consider having absolutely no regard for the welfare of children once they are born “Pro Life.” They are “Pro Birth,” but they aren’t “Pro Life” as far as I have observed.

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  30. It is beyond my ability to understand it. There was a woman on TV last week wearing a t-shirt that said, “Pro-God, Pro-Guns, Pro-Life, Pro-Trump.” I wanted to cry… or scream. The saddest part of all was that she had two young children with her. How are they supposed to grow up to be Christians and good citizens with a mother like that?

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  32. I agree, Beverley. I was appalled! What is frightening is to think where she bought the shirt… was it mass-produced? How many other people are wearing such a shirt? How many millions of Americans think that shirt demonstrates their beliefs? What kind of pastor or church does she have? How can anyone believe in God AND the rest of that list? I will never understand.

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