You are absolutely right. It isn't complicated. A fundamental principle from the teachings of Jesus is that everyone should share their "wealth" (i.e. food, housing, medical care, etc.) with those in need. No one should ever be hungry, homeless, or sick without treatment. It follows naturally from the idea of loving everyone, without exception.

I'm not going to argue the questions about whether Jesus was divine or even existed. I am simply talking about the philosophy that is presented as his by the Gospels. That is the core of Christianity, but it is ignored by a majority of those who call themselves Christians. The fact that it is difficult and calls for personal sacrifices is not an excuse. He never said that it would be easy.

I accept that Christian principles can be viewed as aspirational goals and not an absolute code of conduct, but that is not what we see in the would-be Christians. They have no interest in working toward those goals.

Wha wha WHAAAAAAAAT??!

NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

Jesus literally REFUSED to be dragged into ideological politics of his time (John 6:10-15)

He even defied those who tried to put him to test and force a political statement come from him against the current political leader, the Caesar, by trying to have him a forced position on taxes (Mark 12:13-17)

All this makes sense, as he himself said about himself and his followers that they are not part of this world (John 15:19)

He LITERALLY made his teaching revolve around god’s kingdom, not any human ideology (Matthew 6:9, 10)

I mean FUCK, even Satan himself offered him to be the ruler of the whole FUCKING world and he rejected it flat out (John 14:30)

He did care about people, and alleviated the physical suffering of many, but he made clear his and his followers priority should be preaching and teaching God’s word (Mark 1:32-38)

And why wouldn’t he, after all, part of his teachings are that all the world governments and ideologies are to be destroyed. (Revelation 16:14) Every. Single. one.

Yes, including socialism.

So anyone using his teachings to attack whoever and linking him to your ideology, calling him a representative of brand "X" collectivism, should get down from any high horse they think they are, it’s not doing you or them any favor and they clearly don’t know what they are talking about.

Case in point, people talking in here about a hell existing in the bible when there is none. That’s basically all it takes

Yea, but The Church (or, since you're specifically talking about Gringoland, rather, churchES) are capitalist enterprises - hence you can't expect them to criticise capitalism (even less, capitalists).

More than that, giving food and drink to the hungry and thirsty, welcoming strangers, clothing the naked, caring for the sick, and giving comfort to the imprisoned, is literally the same as doing those things for Jesus Christ, himself, from his perspective. And, moreover, those who do those things will earn their place in heaven, and those who fail to do those things will be eternally damned to hell. It's not subtextual. It's not ambiguous and up for interpretation. It says very clearly that Jesus separated those who are going to heaven and hell to either side and the distinction between the groups was how they treated "the least" of his brothers and sisters. Matthew 25:31-46.

So, bad news Christian Republicans. Might want to correct yourself now before it's too late.

I'm no longer a Christian but when people tried to get jesus to weigh in on hot button political issues of his day (probably to entrap him into saying something that would piss off either the zealots or the romans) he told them "render unto Caesar what is Caesar's; render unto god what is God's". The meaning, I take it, is that he was there with a spiritual message, not a political one

100%. I've been reading about early christianity for the last 20 months and a major characteristic was shared meals. They were absolutely following a socialist model. But we do capitalism. Woohoo.

No, but it shows how little progress we did as humanity for the last 2000 years

Jesus also hated the Nicolaitans. And if you want socialism without a revolution, which is also not OK, you need yo go the Nicolaitan way.

Christianity is incredibly easy to fake. Anyone can call themselves a Christian with little, if any, blowback. It's the whole 'sinner saved by grace' schtick - which is, essentially, "Yup, I'm a Christian but I don't really have to act like one."

The early church was actually kinda communist, having all things in common.

what I'm amazed by is that those who would benefit most from socialism are the ones who call it "handouts" and vote against it

Submission to a single all-powerful ruler seems like textbook authoritarianism

Religion isn’t about actually helping people. It’s used to control the masses with shame, guilt and the threat of eternal damnation. It’s used to abuse and fleece the weak and the poor.

People holding onto “that’s not what Jesus would do” are just in denial about the cult they participate in.

Jesus is just a tool used to dupe rubes. If you need a fictional character to tell you to act like a decent human being then you’re not a good person.

The New Testament has been around for a couple of thousand years. The concept of socialism has only been around for less than 200.

I wonder, if religion survives for another thousand years, what will people then say Jesus taught regarding various other isms that have yet to be constructed.

From my purely anecdotal experience, the people who actually want to follow Jesus's teachings don't go to church. Says a lot.

Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's

That's pro dictatorship in perpetuity, aka fascism.

Jesus wants people to help each other voluntarily and not by the power of the state.