Today's True Blue Liberal Bible Lesson for the "Christians" Gathered in Orlando This Weekend

It's been too long since we posted a True Blue Liberal bible verse here on this blog, but the golden T***p statue displayed in Orlando this weekend at #CPAC2021 demands a reference to Exodus chapter 32.

 

Exodus Chapter 32

When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron and said unto him, Up, make us gods which shall go before us : for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. 

  2   And Aaron saide unto them, Breake off the golden earerings which are in the eares of your wives, of your sonnes, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me.

  3   So all the people brake off the golden earerings, which were in their eares and brought them unto Aaron.

  4   And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving toole, and he had made it a golden calfe : and they said, These are thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt!

  5  And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it, and Aaron made proclamation, and said, Tomorrow is a feast to the LORD.

  6  And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings : and the people sate downe to eate and drinke and rose up to play.

This is taken, of course, from the 1611 King James Version, known here at trueblueliberal.org as "The Real Bible For Real Christians."

More video of the overstuffed golden calfe of 2021:

Where's the Biblical Citation for the "God-Given Right" to Brandish Guns?

During last night's opening session of the Trump Crime Family Reunion that is officially known as the Republican National Convention, the McCloskeys of St. Louis, Missouri, spoke about their "God-given right" to brandish firearms at Black Lives Matter protestors outside their home.

This is not the first time that this outlandish claim has been addressed on this blog. Last September I asked about Press Secretary (#2 of 4) Sarah Huckabee Sanders' tweet stating that "we have guns because it's our God-given right enshrined in the Constitution." And back in June 2012, in a discussion of a Texas Republican Party Platform with a number of very strange planks, I also asked about the origins of a claim that Texans had a right to own guns and "their God-given right to carry that firearm" (incidentally, when you see how much bizarre crap the Texas GOP was able to cram into its platform, it was probably good that the national party punted on the process at the 2020 RNC). 

So, to get to the point, there's still an open question. Where in the Bible is this "God-given right" enunciated? I was able to find a September 2019 article in Politico from National Review editor Rich Lowry titled "Yes, Gun Ownership Is a God-Given Right" that cites John Locke and Noah Webster and the Declaration of Independence, but no sources dating back to the Torah, Koran, or Bible. Maybe we have to get America's leading biblical scholar, the Bible-verse-tweeting @MarcoRubio, involved to find the answer to this nagging question. If he can't find the biblical basis, then maybe Republicans should stop repeating this lie.

TBL Tweet of the Day for 12/7/2016

THE @JoyceCarolOates tweeted the following about the history of fake news this morning:

Original fake news known as "The Bible" in which conspiracy mongers can pick & choose their favorite outrages & persecute enemies.

— Joyce Carol Oates (@JoyceCarolOates) December 7, 2016

Today's Bible Verse for Willard "Mitt" Romney and Donald "J." Trump

As long as taxes, their routine avoidance by rich American businessmen, and hidden tax returns are back in the news, this quotation from the Gospel of Mark seemed to be the appropriate True Blue Liberal bible lesson for the day.

Mark 11:13 And they send unto him certaine of the Pharises, and of the Herodians, to catch him in his words.
14 And when they were come, they say unto him, Master, we know that thou art true, and carest for no man : for thou regardest not the person of men, but teachest the way of God in truth. Is it lawfull to give tribute to Cesar, or not?

15 Shall we give, or shall we not give? But he knowing their hypocrisie, said unto them, Why tempt yee mee? Bring me a penny, that I may see it.

16 And they brought it : and he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? And they said unto him, Cesars.

17 And Jesus answering, said unto them, Render to Cesar the things that are Cesars : and to God the things that are Gods. And they marvailed at him.

This is taken, of course, from the 1611 King James Version, known here at trueblueliberal.org as "The Real Bible For Real Christians."

Today's reading from the only book Donald J. Trump claims to like more than The Art of the Deal

Mark 10:21 Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest; Goe thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poore, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come, take up the crosse & folow me.

22 And hee was sad at that saying, and went away grieved : for hee had great possessions.

23 And Jesus looked round about, and saith unto his disciples, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!

24 And the disciples were astonished at his words. But Jesus answereth again, and saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches, to enter into the kingdom of God!

25 It is easier for a camel to goe throw the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

This is taken, of course, from the 1611 King James Version, known here at trueblueliberal.org as "The Real Bible For Real Christians."

True Blue Liberal's Bible Lesson For Conservative "Christians"

With all the proud militarists running for President while holding the cross of Jesus before them, it sometimes gets hard to remember the Vietnam era, when many churches and religious people were in the forefront of the peace movement.

Here's a verse that was popular back then, and is the True Blue Liberal verse of the day for Iowa caucus day:

And hee shall iudge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beate their swords into plow-shares, and their speares into pruning hookes [Or Sythes.]: nation shall not lift vp sword against nation, neither shall they learne warre any more.  --Isaiah, Chapter 2, Verse 4

This is taken, of course, from the 1611 King James Version, known here at trueblueliberal.org as "The Real Bible For Real Christians."

True Blue Liberal's Bible School for Conservative "Christians" Continues

Religion has become a theme in this year's Presidential Sweepstakes, so we might as well continue to speak in religious language here as well. This year we seem to be going beyond the normal hypocrisy; today, for example, Ted Cruz announced his "National Prayer Team" to pray his way into the White House.

This morning's TBL Bible Verse for Conservative "Christians" isn't only meant for Cruz's religious shock troops begging God for electoral success; it's for Trump, Bush, Carson, Fox News, and 289 members of Congress (etc., etc.) calling for anti-refugee measures. It's from the New Testament today, specifically Matthew 25:41-46 (using the 1611 King James Version, i.e., the REAL Bible for REAL Christians), and should be self-explanatory.

41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devill and his angels:
42 For I was an hungred, and yee gave me no meat: I was thirstie, and ye gave me no drinke:
43 I was a stranger, and yee took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sicke, and in prison, and yee visited me not.
44 Then shall they also answere him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sicke, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
45 Then shall he answere them, saying, Verily, I say unto you, inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternall.

{Hat Tip to @TheTweetOfGod who pointed me in this direction; as the author of the book, he should know the most relevant passages.)

Today's Bible Lesson for our Anti-Refugee "Christian" Governors, Congresspeople, and Presidential Candidates

From Leviticus Chapter 19, with no further commentary needed:

33 And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him.

34 But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.

"...no faith teaches people to massacre innocents." Has Barack Obama read the Bible?

President Obama was perfectly correct today to condemn the Islamic State murderers who executed American journalist James Foley, but I have to take exception to some lines in his remarks:

... They [the group known as ISIS, ISIL, or The Islamic State] have murdered Muslims -- both Sunni and Shia -- by the thousands. They target Christians and religious minorities, driving them from their homes, murdering them when they can for no other reason than they practice a different religion. They declared their ambition to commit genocide against an ancient people. So ISIL speaks for no religion. Their victims are overwhelmingly Muslim, and no faith teaches people to massacre innocents. No just God would stand for what they did yesterday, and for what they do every single day. ...
--Barack Obama, 20 August 2014 [emphasis added]

We don't have to search further than the unread books sitting in every American hotel room to find a "faith that teaches people to massacre innocents":

Deuteronomy 13:6 If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers;

7 Namely, of the gods of the people which are round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth;

8 Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him:

9 But thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people.

10 And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die; because he hath sought to thrust thee away from the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.

11 And all Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall do no more any such wickedness as this is among you.

12 If thou shalt hear say in one of thy cities, which the Lord thy God hath given thee to dwell there, saying,

13 Certain men, the children of Belial, are gone out from among you, and have withdrawn the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which ye have not known;

14 Then shalt thou enquire, and make search, and ask diligently; and, behold, if it be truth, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought among you;

15 Thou shalt surely smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, destroying it utterly, and all that is therein, and the cattle thereof, with the edge of the sword.

16 And thou shalt gather all the spoil of it into the midst of the street thereof, and shalt burn with fire the city, and all the spoil thereof every whit, for the Lord thy God: and it shall be an heap for ever; it shall not be built again.

17 And there shall cleave nought of the cursed thing to thine hand: that the Lord may turn from the fierceness of his anger, and shew thee mercy, and have compassion upon thee, and multiply thee, as he hath sworn unto thy fathers;

18 When thou shalt hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep all his commandments which I command thee this day, to do that which is right in the eyes of the Lord thy God.
--King James Version [emphasis added]

We have to stop paying lip service to this god of the three Abrahamic faiths as if he were nothing but a benign and peaceful poltergeist.