Standing With the Good Samaritan Against So Many "Christians"

I was brought up Christian--baptized Anglican and enrolled in Roman Catholic Sunday School. That was my mother's bargain: dad could chose the baptism, but mum got to choose the Sunday school. Smart woman.

I can't say I'm Christian anymore, though I still have a ton of respect for Jesus from those early days. Like most schools for beginners, my Roman Catholic Sunday School concentrated on the basics. The basics I received were:

* God is Love
* Jesus wants you to take care of those less fortunate than you
* Love Thy Neighbour as Thyself.
* Do Unto Others As You Would Others Do Unto You
* Better to be a Good Samaritan than a Pharisee (i.e., better to not believe and do good deeds, than to believe and not do good deeds)

Now, I'm no theologian, and unlike with some other disciplines I know I haven't read enough to have a really informed position. But I do know a few things, a few simple things. I know that when Jesus talked about judgment, he said this:

35 -- For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,

36 -- I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

37 -- "Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?

38 -- When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?

39 -- When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

40 -- "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

Whenever I read these words I think that Jesus is a man I could love and respect. And whenever I read these words I am saddened by how few of his followers today are worthy of the word "Christian."

Marx once said "I am not a Marxist." I wonder if today, Jesus would say "I am not Christian."

Oh, certainly there are many good Christians, like the priest who taught me so many years ago, or the priest who regularly visited me when I was in hospital even though I wasn't one of his flock. Many, many Christians feed the hungry and visit the prisoners and the sick.

But so many seem to suffer from the sickness descended from Calvin, this diseased thinking that to be Christian all you have to do is believe in Christ, that belief and not works matter more. Once "saved," once "reborn," well, after that you can do whatever you want: be a Pharisee and still call yourself a Christian.

I stand with the Good Samaritan. I'll take my chance with God, and Jesus, for that matter, with all my doubts, but at least understanding that it's my deeds in life that mattered and that what I did to help the least of Jesus's brothers is what I'll be judged on, not whether or not I "believed" the correct piece of doctrine about who Jesus was, or what the afterlife is like, or whether being gay is bad.

Because I'm not a Christian. But I hope I'm a good Samaritan.

And if Jesus is God's son, I hope he'll recognize me as such when that time comes when I have to account for the life I lived.

(Originally published at FireDogLake.)

Comments

[twofish]

Isaac Asimov (a Jewish atheist) once wrote about the Good Samaritan. Because of this parable, we tend to think of Samaritans as people who help others. But he pointed out that, in Jesus' time, Samaritans were looked down on and despised. So a phrase like "good Samaritan" had the same flavor as "good N-word" (or any other member-of-­despised-g­roup). Not understanding this takes away from the impact of the story on the original listeners, which Jesus certainly intended.

I'm guessing the term Pharisee has undergone a similar reversal -- at the time of the story, they were probably respected community leaders, now the word is pretty much a synonym for "phony."

[fuzzywuzzy6]

As a Jew, I am troubled by the use of the word Pharisee. Most people are unaware of the differences between the 2 major religious parties of the time--the Saducees and the Pharisees. The Saducees were the hereditary class of priests. Many (not all) of the priests were hellenized, devoted to the status quo, and uninterested in the welfare of the bulk of Jews. The Pharisees were the reformers. They were the rabbis, who over hundreds of years, composed the Talmud, the great body of jewish law and interpretation, primarily of the Torah, but also of other Jewish religious writings. The rabbis were literate. The rabbis came from different economic backgrounds. They were democratic. They were attempting to modify a body of law and mythology that was already outdated by 30 BCE. They tried to work with the Saducees. They voted on what works would be contained in the Jewish "canon". They had lenghthy discussions on what constituted morality and on the proper ways to fulfill the laws and the religious requirements. They interpreted the Torah in a way that revealed G-d to be a lot more loving and examined the psychological flaws of humanity. The first part of the Talmud is oral, the vast majority is written, but it has all been written down, with the discussions set down in a way that lets people trained in hebrew follow the reasoning of the different speakers.

Modern Judaism is rabbinic Judaism. The Pharisees were reformers, not hypocrites.

[torrrep]

You make some good points about so called Christians. The problem I have with people like you is that you take the worse you see in "so called Christians" and apply it to those who actually do what Jesus called them to do. Those "so called Christians" will meet their fate on the day of Judgement. However, your statement that "you will take your chance as a good Samaritan" shows how naive you are. Jesus specifically states what it is you must do to be saved. No where does he state that "being a good Samaritan" or doing good deeds is enough to get into heaven. When you face judgement you will have to answer for the life you lived. There is no middle ground. You either did what what was required for salvation or you didn't. There will be no negotiations.

[keepingfaith]

Jesus stands with the naive, the hopelessly lost, the tax collectors and sinners of all kinds. Jesus also stands with the legalistic and self-assured, offering each of them the gifts of God's amazing and merciful love and God's reconciling peace. The dividing walls that separate both group come tumbling down through faith in Christ who came as one called to serve rather than be served.

[mamacat]

Every different Christian sect that believes in salvation has a different interpretation of what it takes to achieve it. What does that tell you?

Should we believe that if Christ were to walk the Earth today he (or she) would go straight to your sect's leaders and adore them, and exclude all others? Is it not more likely that he (or she) would look around and ask, "What are you folks doing with all of these religions? I never told you to form this, that, and the other religion."

To emphasize one or the other sentences in the New Testament is generally how different religious sects justify their separateness from other sects. But even the modern New Testament is biased. It was assembled long after Christ left, and it was a group of powerful people who chose which teachings would be included, and which excluded. Some have made strong arguments that there are scrolls which used to be part of the New Testament, and which still should be part of it, which take positions very different from some of those expressed in the four books that have survived til today. Among other things, there is evidence that Christ preached much more about equality between the sexes than what is taught in today's New Testament. The point is that even the New Testament is probably very different from what Christ would have written, because it is very different from what was originally used to spread and codify Christ's teachings.

[ScienceLady]

How do you know this? How can you be so sure what happens when you die? What about the billions of people on the earth that are not Christians? How will they be judged? How about the dirt poor doctor in India who helps people in his village for little or no pay? He doesn't get to go to "heaven" because he was born in a country who is indoctrinated into Hinduism? How about an agnostic, electrical engineer who quits her career to take care of her family and volunteers in her community? She tutors math and science to children for no pay. Will I, I mean she, get to go to heaven?
Don't confuse a man-written doctrine for revelation. Unless Jesus/God spoke to you directly, how could you know the truth?

[knighthowl]

torrrep,

"There is no middle ground. You either did what what was required for salvation or you didn't. There will be no negotiations."

If you believe this, you must have a great fear of death. Do you imagine that any among us would meet a strict standard? If so, what standard do you believe that to be?

[TheBlackCat]

If God actually was the way born again Christians would have us believe- sentencing billions of his children to Hell for no reason other than worshiping him in their own way- I would be a Satanist. Anyone deity who sentences 6 million Jews to Hell after dying in a Holocaust BECAUSE OF THEIR FAITH AND DEVOTION TO HIM is no kind of deity I would ever worship.

I just hope that non Christians realize that not all Christian sects think this way. I was brought up Catholic and taught catechism in college, and was always taught that there are different paths to God, and that the Bible should not be taken literally but as a product of the times that it was written in. I never was told that only Christians go to Heaven. When 9/11 happened I was living in Gainesville, Fl and while the Christian evangelicals were marching with ten foot high crosses and carrying signs that said "KILL THEM ALL, LET GOD SORT EM OUT" the Jewish temple, Muslim mosque, and St Augustine Catholic Church had a unity peace rally.

Which of these two groups was a better example of Jesus's message and spirit? I'd say definately the one that was comprised mostly of people who are not actually Christians. If that group then goes to Hell and the war mongering hate filled evangelical group all get into Heaven...how good can Heaven really be?

[fuzzywuzzy6]

I posted an earlier comment on the use of the term Pharisee, but I don't know if it will be accepted, It was an attempt at public education.

I am a Jew who has lived in majority-Christian communities, including Ogden, Utah. I took a course in the Life and Teachings of Jesus when I was in college, taught by a noted German Lutheran NT interpreter. Instead of teaching the NT, he said everyone would have to learn the history, the varied religious influences and the socio-political milieu of the time. While he believed in the divinity of Jesus, he also stressed how political the writings in the NT were. Mark was anti-Jewish and anti-Israel because of concerns about Roman oppression in that area. John, written down about 250 ACE, was very mystical and denigrated good works. My favorite gospel is Luke, because it stresses decent human behavior and charity. I have also read some of the Pauline epistles.

I think the opinion piece was excellent. We currently have a president who poses as a gnostic Christian as a way of claiming his actions are blessed by G-d. There are all too many people out there who think that accepting Jesus means they can do anything and everything they want. That is not my understanding of Christianity. Martin Luther was opposed to the "good works" of the Catholic Church that involved indulgences and other methods of buying one's way into heaven, not to charity.

[dogman44]

Like you, I concider myself a samaritan. I try to follow the ways of Jesus and Buddha. As for the
metaphysical god character I don't spend much time pondering it nor do I worship anything. I
think god is everything we don't understand. A name we attach to the unknowable.

[wakeup804]

Touche!!!! It is one thing to talk the talk, totally different thing to walk the walk. I cannot count the number of times I have seen friends, strangers, talk about being a Christian, then in the next breath do some of the most unChristain things, I have ever seen. Deeds not words, are what makes a spiritual person (no matter what your religion may be). What you do for the least of them, you do for me, words to live by.

[mrbadmood]

In Kurt Vonnegut's book A Man Without A Country, he made a distinction about Christians and modern Christianity that has stuck with me for some time. He noted that Christians in general were strict adherents of the Ten Commandments, which of course is the law of Moses, not Jesus. These Christians were prepared to scream, protest, cry, and demand that the Ten Commandments be displayed in courthouses and other public places. Yet Vonnegut said he had never heard any of them being even remotely interested in demanding Christ's Beatitudes be posted anywhere, even though they are central to Christ's message. I paraphrase: "Blessed are the merciful in a courtroom? Blessed are the peacemakers in the Pentagon? Give me a break!"

Since that time I have pondered the distinction between Ten Commandments Christians and Beatitudes Christians, even to the point of doubting whether those evangelicals who are concerned primarily with the law of Moses even deserve the moniker of 'Christian' at all. Perhaps 'Mosian' would better suit them, because 'Christian', as often as not, just doesn't fit the bill.

[racom]

Insightful comment, so much today is taken for granted. To claim to be Christian means nothing. To live as a Christian means one doesn't need to make claims, their life demonstrates that he/she is Christian. Christian claims generally prove false, Jesus himself stated, 'you will know them by their fruits'. Matt 7:16.
Another mis-understood belief you have correctly featured, the 10 commandments were contained in all the law given to Israel, exclusively, through Moses. It has never applied to the Christian congregation. As for the moniker of Christian, again Jesus made it clear. 'Not everyone saying Lord, Lord' but the one doing the will of the father is the true Christian.

[wordvarc]

.

Agreed.

The beatitudes are antithetical to the actions of the RNC/GOP who claim to have Christian votes in their pocket.

.

[jagoneely]

Very well said. I wish I could voice it as well as you did. I do, however, feel just as you do - that Jesus Christ and mainstream Christians resemble eachother so little. Republicans so hate for people to protest, rock the boat, or question laws and country. Jesus was the type to do all of those things. When I left Christainity behind, it was Jesus that was hardest to leave - so i didn't. I kept Jesus, and left the intolorance behind. It feels much better.

[fuzzywuzzy6]

Please don't insult the Jews. Most modern Jews (including mainstream Orthodox Jews) do not take the OT literally, and believe in science and evolution. They are not legalistic. Those who obey the 613 commandments do so because they help them to be disciplined and are rich in symbolic content about ethical and spiritual behavior.

The Ten Commandments Christians you refer to are very careful about what they pick and choose to take literally The Lutheran Church of American split into two, the conservative, literalist group, who were upset that the liberal (socially and politically) did not take stories like Jonah and the whale literally. There have long been liberal evangelists in the u.s., they just are not getting the press. Even the Methodists have liberal congregations. And the Southern Baptists had a big struggle between the religious moderates (some of whom were liberal and some of whom were conservative, religiously and politically) and those who were in love with repression, oppression, xenophobia, and the tv evangelists.

I'll give you one example: the literalists believe that Jesus said that it would be easier to thread a camel thru a needle than for a rich man to get into heaven. The true quote involves threading a needle with rope. But who heeds the call for social justice in that metaphor? The religious liberals and moderates, many of whom are evangelicals.

[mommadona]

"But so many seem to suffer from the sickness descended from Calvin, this diseased thinking that to be Christian all you have to do is believe in Christ, that belief and not works matter more. Once "saved", once "reborn", well, after that you can do whatever you want: be a Pharisee and still call yourself a Christian."

Precisely.

ChristianISTS.

[fuzzywuzzy6]

Not all the countries that are primarily descended from Calvin in terms of religion are hate-filled or xenophobic or socially irresponsible in regards to the poor and the outcasts. Just look at the Netherlands. Not all the Reformed Churches are religious right-wingers, quite the contrary.

[S1m0n]

Wouldn't He say, "I'm a jew" ?