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Not so very long ago it was common to see the letters WWJD emblazoned on everything from wristbands to coffee mugs. The letters stood for “What Would Jesus Do,” a question that many Christian churches were encouraging their members to ask when faced with a tough decision.
This very question began repeating itself in my own mind recently while watching a televised shouting match between opposing parties in what is perhaps one of the most important social debates our nation has faced in decades: how to improve the way health care is delivered and paid for in the U.S. In the increasingly heated rhetoric between politicians, lobbyists, industry executives, and, most loudly, talk show hosts, about what should be done, I suddenly noticed that a voice was missing – God’s.
Now, let me please make one thing absolutely clear: in our religiously pluralistic society, according to our nation’s founding documents, no one person speaks for God. Each of us holds his or her own belief as to just what the Supreme Power of the Universe says and how it is communicated. However most religions do have specific people ordained, selected, or appointed – be they pastors, priests, rabbis, imams, or roshis – to speak on behalf of that particular faith and to interpret its teachings on matters of great importance.
The trouble is that in the rancorous debate over health insurance reform, there is a great silence on the part of these religious leaders. Only one to my knowledge, the Reverend Jim Wallis, has used his ecclesiastical standing to speak widely to the general public on the question of the need for significant reforms in these areas and, from his interpretation of the Bible, proclaimed the moral necessity of significant reform.
However the Reverend Wallis is only one man speaking from one interpretation of the Christian scriptures; where are the rest? What do other Christian ministers and theologians see as being the course of action recommended in scripture? What do our nation’s rabbis find in the Torah that may help us find the best answer? Can our imams bring in relevant passages from the Koran that can help us to solve this dilemma? What teachings of Buddha can that faith’s monks and roshis share with us that could lead us from division to enlightenment?
As to the separation of Church and State, religious leaders from a range of faiths have in the past few decades alone participated, often with exceptional spirit and strength, in this nation’s great debates – from civil rights to reproductive science to whether or not man is or is not essentially a well-dressed monkey. In fact, throughout our nation’s history, without the voices of religious leaders included in the national discussion during times of great dissention and division, our nation would likely be a very different and far worse one. Slavery might still exist. African Americans might still be separate and unequal. Children might still work in factories.
Our nation is once again faced with a decision to make and bitterly divided about it. The choice we make will shape who we are in the future for generations to come. For our religious leaders not to offer the wisdom to be found in their respective scriptures and teachings makes the chance of choosing poorly all the more likely indeed.
HAHA! What a joke!
I don't think Jesus would steal money from people to do good deeds.
I think He WOULD try to persuade generosity from his neighbors and show the way by example, but to force people to give to charity was not his style.
When coercion enters, charity leaves.
(email verified)
Sat, Sep 12, 2009 at 03:31 PM
Would Jesus say, "This one gets health care, but this one does not"? Not the Jesus I learned about while growing up.
(email verified)
Sun, Sep 13, 2009 at 08:30 AM
First of all, Lisa, Jesus wouldn't endorse gambling, that's all that insurance is.
Insurance is making it impossible for me to pay a reasonable price to see a doctor, I pay in cash and you don't, so you don't have to worry about how much it costs your health insurance...the prices are all jacked up because you'll just charge it to your insurance instead of looking for the best deal in town....my family suffers because of insurance induced exorbitant health care fees.
Second, if you're going at it from that angle, if Jesus could miraculously just hand out free insurance to everyone.....why wouldn't Jesus just give everyone a house? That's a necessity, or a job, for that matter?
...Because he wanted people to learn how to help themselves, to work hard so you enjoy life, and earn what you have, to appreciate it.
He would go to the doctors and hospitals, and ask them to have mercy on the poor, and if they refused, then he would expose them as the greedy heartless businessmen they've become... or maybe he'd put his money where his mouth is and become a doctor himself! (This is the path I'm on now, in case you were wondering.)
He was out in the streets helping people everyday with his own hands, not stealing money for the sick. (and then taking that money to hire people to dole out the funds, and people to collect the funds, and maintain the system and do the paperwork, etc.)
You wanna help the uninsured so bad, what's stopping you???
Get out there and do it already.
(email verified)
Sun, Sep 13, 2009 at 03:21 PM
WWJD?
Jesus took care of it already in His DEATH, BURIAL, and RESURRECTION!
How about "Doing What Jesus Would" instead?
If you are unclear on that, read the red in the New Testament. Those are the words of Jesus. They were written down by those who saw what He did, ate with Him, walked with Him, talked with Him, and performed miracles with Him.
Get that down, and you'll know what to do... "Proclaim the Kingdom of God is at hand; heal the sick, cast out demons, cleanse lepers, raise the dead... For freely you have recieved, freely give."
That is far more powerful and far reaching than some health insurance plan, for we all die. "DWJW" is an eternal life assurance plan. And that can only happen if we have a relationship with Jesus.
(email verified)
Wed, Oct 07, 2009 at 10:53 AM
Martin Kennedy...
Please let me know when you get gravely ill and you have no health insurance. Will your "Jesus" be there then to help pay your hospital bills or pay all the other bills when you are not able to work?? He may have died for you but will he be there for you when the wolf is knocking at your door wanting its money...I think not
(email verified)
Sun, Oct 11, 2009 at 11:54 PM
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Money For Healthcare - Not Profits
Who would Jesus insure?
Which Jesus?
I'm sure benevolent Jesus would insure everybody and his uncle. Benevolent Jesus would soon run out of money.
Vindictive Jesus would only insure Christians at first, and then add people from heathen cultures as they are converted to Christianity.
Does your Jesus abhor all violence or is your Jesus the one we kill people to defend?
Does your Jesus cry or rejoice over the millions of people slain in his name and for his religion?
Sorry, John, religion and politics don't mix.
Please pass this bit of wisdom on to the Catholic Archdiocese.
It is not proper for the Catholic Church to be supporting illegal aliens, simply because almost all of them are Catholic.
"No More Free Healthcare For Illegals"
(email verified)
Sat, Sep 12, 2009 at 02:35 AM