Christmas rolls around and all the churches are filled once again. They come to worship the baby Jesus... "Son of God" into this world. It is a joyous time... And rightly so. After all, perhaps one third of the world recognizes Jesus of Nazareth as their Savior.

This is not meant to be a piece about Christianity, or any religious way of thinking for that matter. Rather, this is to begin to look into what Jesus of Nazareth stood for... And how that reflects (or should reflect) upon what his followers should stand for. We are presently in a horrific worldwide financial crisis. No need to go into the details... Most of you reading this can feel the hurt, or at least see it all around you. Houses being foreclosed, abandoned; joblessness all around, businesses closing up, boarded up... Real estate signs everywhere for just about everything: For Sale, For Rent, For Lease... Will take any offer... Six Months Free Rent... Utter hopelessness. Simply said: " We're going into a depression." With any economic depression comes the personal depressions. Marriages and long time relationships ending... Crime increases... Fraud, embezzlement... Higher debt... Arguments... Nastiness... Failure! We see a handful in each community doing so well while 99% of their neighbors are suffering. We see banks, insurance and oil companies showing lots of profit. Their top management are earning multi million dollar bonuses while school districts lay off teachers, police and fire personnel are dismissed... Libraries cut hours and staffing... All city and state services are being cut. What would Jesus say about all of this?

In the Aquarian Gospel, an unabridged New Testament, we can read what the man from Nazareth had to say about wealth: And Jesus went his way, and as he went a young man ran and knelt down at his feet and said "Good Master, tell me what to do that I may have eternal life." And Jesus said "You shall not kill, not steal; you shall not do adulterous things; you shall not falsely testify; and you shall love your God with all your heart and you shall love your neighbor as yourself." The young man replied "These things I have observed from youth; what lack I yet?" And Jesus said "One thing you lack; Your heart is fixed on things of earth; you are not free. Go forth and sell all that you have, and give your money to the poor, and come and follow me, and you shall have eternal life." The man was grieved at what the master said; for he was rich; he hid his face and went in sorrow on his way. And Jesus said "It is so hard for men with hoarded wealth to enter through the door into the kingdom of the soul... That they who trust in riches cannot trust in God and cannot come into the kingdom of the soul... Yea, it is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye than for a man with hoarded wealth to find the way of life."

In many ways, the Pharisees, and other religious leaders at the time of Jesus, would be analogous to not only the ministers and priests of our day... But to our politicians. The reason being that in Jesus' time the political leaders of his people were in fact the religious leaders. Jesus criticized them with statements like "These scribes and Pharisees are not the scions of the tree of life; they are not plants of God; they are plants of men, and every foreign plant shall be plucked away... Let all these men alone; they are blind guides that lead a multitude of people who are blind." Much the same could be said for those who presently lead our nation, and most of the nations of this planet. When Jesus arrived in Jerusalem, and saw what was going on within the temple, he acted. Seeing the "Courts converted into marts of trade, and men were selling doves and lambs for offerings in sacrifice, Jesus called the priests (today's politicians) and said 'Behold, for paltry gain you have sold out the temple of the Lord.'"

So, in essence, if Jesus of Nazareth were here today in the flesh, how would he react? Would he support the bank bailout? Would he give approval to the invasion and occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan? Would he give the Bush/Cheney crew a pass on torture? Would he stay silent as the government was being held hostage by rich donors? Would he say something when they had the nerve to give Mr. Obama a Nobel Prize for ... Peace? Methinks that Jesus would find the time to come stand with us on those street corners of America, as we " Bear witness to truth." Methinks that many would still find the chutzpah to call him a "Commie ****." Finally, methinks that Jesus would not care what they said or did to him.

Happy birthday Jesus... May we all walk in your path
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About author
Philip A. Farruggio is a sales rep, free lance columnist and activist. Since the 2003 invasion of Iraq he has been standing on the street corners of his town .... Once a week. Philip's recent work can be found on www.populistamerica.com. You can reach him at paf122@bellsouth.net.
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/25479

Since communism is based on atheism, I rather doubt that Jesus was a communist.

His miracles would put him more in the class of a socialist. Free medical, share th wealth, give back to Ceaser, the money, what belongs to him.

Happy Birthday, Jesus

communism has always been linked with atheism but I dont know that they are mutally dependent

communism without human intervention would prolly be a good system. but as soon as you allow humans to interfere they'll usurp and pervert the system for personal gain

as did Stalin and the Communist Party in the Soviet Union. that wasn't real communism, it was just in name

The basic premise of communism and to a lesser degree, socialism, is that there is no higher power than government. If there is a God, then our rights come from Him and not from government, thus government can't take those rights from us.

The author has a very shallow understanding of the teaching of Yeshua. Dr Gary North, a Christian economist, has numerous books and articles explaining how Christ's teachings only lead us to laissez-faire capitalism. Check out garynorth.com and his archive of articles here-http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north-arch.html

This is also a good one-The Libertarian From Nazareth?(http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig9/butler-b1.html)

wonderful. The leftists liberals continue to dig themselves deeper by pouring politics over religions and try to compare various government formats to a time when the Roman empire was spreading across the continents and various small nations tried to come up with a defense and keep the roman influence out.

This isn't much difference as today, except replace the roman empire with USA and Jerusalem with Afghanistan. Of course, for some it's really hard to look into the mirror, because they might see the devil in themselves and show how hypocrites they are.

Keep going, though let's have everybody think just how stupid we can go with politics.

Let's talk about Babylonia next time, or how about Egypt and the socialist pharaohs maybe?

Jesus sure as hell wasnt a capitalist

I see you forgot to read the links and literature I gave you. Silly monkey!

i.e., from the butler article, "Jesus believed in and taught the importance of the following principles: (1) all people must treat others as they would like to be treated (the "Golden Rule"); (2) man’s primary responsibility is to obey God and his conscience, not man-made positivist legal codes; and (3) that state actors who violate God’s will are morally responsible for their actions. Further, Jesus’ parables repeatedly recognize and implicitly support the ownership and responsible stewardship of private property."..."Although Jesus is kind and generous to the tax collectors, including Zacchaeus and his own disciple Matthew, there is no question that he regards them as "sinners" who have violated God’s law and who must acknowledge their sins and repent." -note that a communist not behave in such a manner, as communists don't believe in private property rights. This behavior is more characteristic of a capitalist.

communism without human intervention would cease being communism and be called communalism, as I understand it. All of the planks in Marx's Communist manifesto require some degree of intervention. They are- 1. Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes.
2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.
3. Abolition of all right of inheritance.
4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.
5. Centralisation of credit in the hands of the State, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly.
6. Centralisation of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the State.
7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the State; the bringing into cultivation of waste-lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan.
8. Equal liability of all to labour. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture.
9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of the distinction between town and country, by a more equitable distribution of the population over the country.
10. Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children's factory labour in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production.

are you quoting something . I don't remember jc saying this . Some of it is the 10 commandments but I don't believe in gods that walk the earth or give secret commands to preachers .but I do feel that god is real and that he has giving us the laws to live by . but he doesn't save you YOU DO .

The basic premise of communism and to a lesser degree, socialism, is that there is no higher power than government. If there is a God, then our rights come from Him and not from government, thus government can't take those rights from us.

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WOW THATS MUSLIM TEACHINGS . THATS WHY THEY HAVE SO MUCH TROUBLE WITH GOVERNMENTS

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sure he was . he made his living of of words not material things . he invested nothing and made a living . THAT IS 100% CAPITALIST . I doubt if he was worried about you boxes that you put him in as much as being killed by the holy people he lived by .

Read Luke 14:33. That is pure Communist rhetoric. "...any of you who does not give up everything he has, cannot be my disciple."

When the Commie from Chicago says he is going to take it and redistribute it, that is communism. Jesus gives everyone a choice. Government just takes it.

truly, that is what TAXES are,, mandated money from all to distribute as the government sees fit,, was not an idea created by OBama, and was in place during Jesus time

I also think it is too simplistic to compare the government over Jesus to the American government. Much of the biblical speak of Government applied to people who were largely divided and grouped by their religious beliefs. The government had no SEPERATION of church,, they were the church. What we have now is a system trying to completely remove faith and religion and take no stance on it whatsoever,, which is foreign to the government Jesus spoke about.

Now, you know, Hussein, all those Reps and Senators deserve to live high off our money. They wouldn't be able to handle our reality.

They deserve every nickle we allow them to screw us out of.

Actually,, Obama took a pay CUT, to work harder and be the most scrutinized person in America.

Makin' it up in special interests and bribes.
Where is this so-called working harder??
I've seen nothing but BS speeches and TV commercials Unless it's him working up a sweat beggin' Commie bucks.

Here is your proof China, Husseins best buds, is big on Human Rights abuses.

Growing numbers of human rights activists were imprisoned, put under house arrest or surveillance, or harassed. Repression of minority groups, including Tibetans, Uighurs and Mongolians, continued. Falun Gong practitioners were at particularly high risk of torture and other ill-treatment in detention. Christians were persecuted for practicing their religion outside state-sanctioned channels. Despite the reinstatement of Supreme People's Court review of death penalty cases, the death penalty remained shrouded in secrecy and continued to be used extensively. Torture of detainees and prisoners remained prevalent. Millions of people had no access to justice and were forced to seek redress through an ineffective extra-legal petition system. Women and girls continued to suffer violence and discrimination. Preparations for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing were marked by repression of human rights activists. Censorship of the internet and other media intensified.

Death penalty

Death penalty statistics continued to be regarded as a state secret, making it difficult to assess official claims that the reinstatement of Supreme Court review had reduced the number of executions. Based on public reports, Amnesty International estimated that at least 470 people were executed and 1,860 people sentenced to death during 2007, although the true figures were believed to be much higher.

In June, the Supreme People's Court stipulated that first-instance death penalty cases must be held in open court and that courts must move towards public trials for appeals in capital cases. However, death penalty trials continued to be held behind closed doors, police often resorted to torture to obtain "confessions", and detainees were denied prompt and regular access to lawyers. Death sentences and executions continued to be imposed for 68 offenses, including many non-violent crimes such as corruption and drug-related offenses.