Dylan at Right of Center Ice comments on Politique Vert's (probably facetious) assertion that Jesus would vote NDP.
There all kinds of things that I can object to in Dylan's post, but I want to focus on one point.
The Good News is a social gospel, first and foremost, and anyone who denies this hasn't spent enough time reading their bible.
I've read the Bible plenty, especially the New Testament.
And it's clear to me that while the Gospel has lots of social implications, it's not social gospel, per se.
The point of Jesus' mission was not to redesign society. It was not to make humanity harmonious, although it has the potential to do that.
The point of Jesus' mission was to give life.
If you read the Gospels, you will see a preoccupation with life, and by life, he does just mean existence beyond death, although that is included. He means the fullness of life.
The fullness of life is perfect joy that comes from being one with God. Jesus came to create a relationship with humankind, a relationship of faith that would simultaneously satisfy God's justice and produce beatitude.
That was the core of his teaching, and that's how to the early Church understood his mission.
Of course all this has social ramifications. But those are effects, not the principle objectives.
While I do think that there are hierarchy of truths,and some platforms come closer to upholding those than others, I don't think any one party can have a monopoly on the name of Jesus.
We can't really know how Jesus would vote, because he's not here. We can certainly be guided by divine revelation on how we should vote, and I do belive that, given our system, some ridings would vote differently on others, because there are many factors that come into play in each locality.
Jesus' mission was first and foremost a mission to save man from his own limitations and imperfections. Jesus was focused on saving the individual, not saving society.
_________________________
Visit Opinions Canada
a political blogs aggregator
_________________________
