Jesus Was Above Political Labels, Arguments

By Tony and Nerina McKenna

B.L. Conway’s column, “Jesus was dark, liberal: Why fear Obama?” [A9, Aug. 24] begs for a response. For one thing, identifying the church he attends and ministry in which he there volunteers is gratuitous, and perhaps misleading.

Reading it, some might believe church members and staff all share or endorse his views. This is untrue. My husband and I are members of the same church, also serving in ministries, and do not believe as he does.

Our church is primarily interested in helping people to know Christ and to fulfill God’s purpose for their lives. It is equally welcoming to those of all – or no – political persuasions. Volunteers in our information ministry, where Mr. Conway serves, perform vital functions, among them: informing people of times and venues for different services, conducting sign-ups for classes and activities, and answering any logistical questions visitors may have (such as where the restrooms are located). The individuals serving in this ministry do not, however, formulate or promulgate church doctrine or beliefs.
Neither do we. Any opinions expressed herein are our own.

We agree that Jesus was born into a poor, Nazarene family, an Afro-Asiatic Semitic Jew, and swarthy of complexion. We also agree that Mr. Obama, of Afro-Caucasian heritage, is swarthy of complexion. We emphatically disagree with most of the rest of Mr. Conway’s assertions and conclusions, and question his biblical interpretations.

Yes, Jesus spent his formative years in Egypt. But the assertions that Jesus was “exposed to Egyptian mysticism” and “that Jesus learned his magic in Egypt“ are ludicrous. What “magic” would that be? Would this refer to the very real miracles Jesus performed?

Mr. Conway states his source for this bit of nonsense is non-biblical. There’s a reason this was not included in the Bible, and it’s not some ridiculous DaVinci Code-type conspiracy theory. It’s because it’s not true!

We also cannot find scriptural basis for Mr. Conway‘s repeated contention that “Jesus is a liberal.” Rather, we find that on some things, Jesus took a stance that in today’s world might be viewed as liberal and, on other things, as conservative. We happen to believe that the warning, “See that you despise not one of these little ones,” includes aborting an unborn child – something most liberals embrace as a “right” and most conservatives abhor. That’s one aspect of Jesus that strikes us as conservative. Or it would if we didn’t believe that Jesus is God, pure and simple, and unneedful of a political label from the likes of us.

Jesus was against the death penalty? Jesus was definitely against murder, as in the 6th Commandment in which the Hebrew word used is “ratsach.” So the Bible actually states, “Thou shalt not murder.” Capital punishment is justly sanctioned retribution enacted by the state, consequence for the lawfully judged actions of an individual, and as such is certainly killing, but is decidedly not murder.

It flummoxes me entirely how a liberal can fight so tenaciously to save an unrepentant child rapist and murderer from death by a painless injection, yet just as self-righteously seek to snuff out the life of an innocent babe by plunging a pair of scissors into its brain.

Mr. Conway is again mistaken when he says Jesus “warned of the danger of wealth and possessions.” What Jesus warned against was the love of material things above the love of God and one’s fellow man, not the mere possession of goods in and of itself. Likewise, Jesus did not reject strict enforcement of the law whilst shouting, “Power to the People!”

In fact, he said, “I have not come to deny the law, but to fulfill it.”

He rejected the Pharisee’s perversion of the law into a religion in and of itself, whereby they assumed they could earn their way into Heaven by their works, with no need of God’s grace.

Paul’s Damascus Road transformation is representative of the great change that takes place in a person’s entire life when he accepts Jesus as his Lord and Savior. Grace is extended to even the most vile of us – and our sin is all vile in God’s sight – and we are redeemed. This is why Paul was able to plant so many churches, not because he believed in the inherent “goodness and potential of all men” as Mr. Conway conjectures.

Such a belief may indeed be a “liberal principal,” as he states, but it is certainly not a biblical one. “For all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God.”

Mr. Conway tells of Jesus making a whip out of cords and driving the money lenders from the temple, while several paragraphs on he smugly implores us to turn the other cheek as Jesus would do, since “Jesus is a liberal.” Well, which is it? Did Jesus right a wrong through the use of force where he deemed necessary, or not? Since he did, is he ipso facto, a – gasp – conservative? Or, again, is he simply God, and beyond all pigeon-holing?

While liberals might wish to co-opt mercy and declare it a solely liberal attribute, we see no justification for allowing them to do so. Look at the consequence of the liberal faction screaming for the civil rights of the mentally ill to not be abused by “forcing” them to take their medication or to be hospitalized. This has resulted in untold numbers of paranoid, psychotic or delusional individuals being reduced to homelessness. They wander the streets, leading miserable existences, and often inflict harm on themselves and others. Many of us consider this anything but merciful.

Why “the sexual exploitation of slaves that we know from the American and Mexican experience” has been dragged into this discussion, we have no idea. But we’d like to point out that sexual exploitation of slaves has not been exclusive to the New World, being mentioned in that same Bible that gives us Jesus’ Afro-Asian genealogy. I have not heard of Mr. Obama’s family having endured slavery, at least in this country, as his father was African born and a student sojourner here in the latter part of the 20th century.

Whether Mr. Obama’s American mother was sexually exploited by his already married African father, who impregnated her with Mr. Obama and then deserted them both to return to his wife and children in Africa, is for them to say, not me or Mr. Conway.

Most people not voting for Obama do not fear him because he is dark complected or shares a name with a terrorist leader. If he is “feared” at all, it is because he is seen as, yes, liberal – or progressive, or beyond – and with little leadership or real-life experience. And where he might take us, as president of these United States, we don’t want to go.

Finally, Mr. Conway declares, “Jesus was crucified because he was a liberal.” Sorry to rain on this self-aggrandizing liberal delusion, but Jesus was crucified because he was the Son of God.

Nerina Poli McKenna and Tony P. McKenna are Abingdon residents. They have served in the U.S. Navy in the South Pacific, lived in Europe five years, traveled the United States, been in executive management, taught English in a British Institute in Italy, worked in child advocacy, and been community volunteers. They will soon start their home school year with their three teens, and spend five weeks in Mississippi, where their Bible group will build a home for a family still homeless from Hurricane Katrina.