What Would Jesus Do?
The Easter 2024 edition of the Status Quo: An Electronic Newsletter is dedicated to the memory of a
childhood friend who took his own life four decades ago. Raised in a home where a drunk pretended to be
a father and schooled in a place where men of the cloth pretended to be a servants of Christ, he never had
a chance in life. How does a boy have a chance in life when he is beaten at home and raped in the
basement of St. Jude? The answer is he never had a chance because those who knew what was happening
did not care enough about him to give him one. If they had, maybe his short life would not have been so
painful that his only option was suicide.
What Would Jesus Do?
Everyone hates child sex abusers but hating them does nothing to stop them. Everyone hates serial rapists
especially those whose mother, daughter, sister or wife was raped by one. Yet hating them will not stop
someone else’s mother, daughter, sister or wife from being raped by them. Instead of acting to stop them,
we simply trust our hapless governments to stop them when we know they cannot stop them. They cannot
stop them because they do not care to stop them. They simply turn the other cheek.
We have created a society where the criminal has gained the upper hand and law enforcement are
powerless to stop them. It is not a society Jesus knew growing up in Nazareth and it is not one He would
accept. This article poses and answers the question of what Jesus would do if confronted by a man
everyone knew raped 11-year-old boys. Would He advise the parents to turn the other cheek? Or would
He remind them of their primary duty: to keep His little ones safe? To this Christian, the answer is
obvious. Jesus would not advise that we turn the other cheek when the issue is the rape of His little ones.
Jesus would demand that we, as a society, ensure the rapists do not rape again.
An equally compelling question is how would Jesus react if confronted with the evil that walks our streets
and trolls the internet today? The evil that exists in our societies today is unlike any in human history. The
money available for perverted pleasures and the ability of those with money to subjugate the weak and
victimize the defenseless continues to grow exponentially over the past twenty-five years. Moreover,
greed seems to have grown in line with our national debt. The greed of the career politician to raise
campaign funds tracks the growing number of bank and commercial practices aimed at charging
consumers late fees, penalties and other “special fees” perfectly illustrates the greed that now permeates
America. The evidence to prove this assertion can be found almost anywhere on the internet.
In the mere 25 or so years since its inception, the World Wide Web has become one of the most dangerous
places to visit. This Newsletter first appeared on-line nearly 25 years ago and has chronicled just how
dangerous being “on-line’ has become. Children are preyed upon while the elderly are defrauded in
numbers not imagined just a few years ago. Every entry “on-line” has been monetized. Yet governments
seem unable or unwilling to regulate the criminals who regard the internet as their sanctuary. As for what
Jesus would say about this pandemic of crime, Jesus would first and foremost admonish any parent who
allows their child to access the internet. Permitting a teen-age girl unfettered access to the internet is
tantamount to giving her a self-help guide to suicide.
As for those Christians who preach that we must be like Jesus and “turn the other cheek” in the face of
every assault upon the person, this Christian asserts the last thing Jesus would do is turn away from such
cruelty. Teaching that Jesus would promote inaction in the face of evil is nothing more than centuries of
Church dogma intended to keep the masses passive before Church authority and silent under Church
abuses. Organized religion is often cited as the opiate of the masses and it might be, but Jesus Christ is no
more about organized religion than He is about political affiliation. Jesus Christ’s life was one of speaking
truth to power. His life was lived engaging others in the hope of spreading the word of God. His message
was about love, charity and compassion. What He was not about was allowing the weak to be victimized
and the poor abused. He would demand we act to protect the innocent and turning the other cheek in the
face of evil was never His message.
The Light of the World
According to scripture, Jesus is reported to have proclaimed that no greater love exists than that which
finds a friend sacrificing his or her life for a friend. It is also reported that Jesus taught us to love God
above all others, and to treat each other as we would want to be treated. These words are not just good
advice. They represent a code of conduct that enriches society and promotes civility among citizens. It is
also good advice because when one rejects this code of conduct or way of life one’s life is degraded.
Jesus’ life was a testament to the idea that sacrifice and selfless commitment to others, especially
the needy and sick, was how we should live our lives. Jesus knew that His gospel of love and
tolerance was the recipe for peace and harmony among men. If one adopts his teachings, their
life is enriched by how they enrich the lives of others. Indeed, it seems too simple an explanation
to explain the value of His message, but it is that simple.
According to the gospel of Matthew, Jesus said “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the
least of my brothers, you did it to me.” This is the essence of His message. Those who take
advantage of the weak, abandon the sick and cheat the poor are the enemies of Christ. What
happens to a person when they take advantage of the weak, abandon the sick and cheat the poor
can be seen by all who care to see. They end up alone. They have no real friends. They begin to
wallow in their own misery striking out at the world blaming others for their misfortune. To
embrace a life of greed, indifference to the suffering of others and self-promotion is to grow old
alone, without true friends while a darkness descends upon your heart. We are witnessing this
phenomenon in the fake former President of the United States. His life of greed, bullying, lying
and stealing are taking its toll. That toll will be paid in full soon.
The teachings of Jesus have been rejected by many in political life but none as thoroughly as the
former fake President of the United States. It is this realization that compels this Christian to
inform evangelicals across the nation to the error of their ways. It is imperative that evangelicals
who have embraced this servant of himself understand how they have been taken for a ride.
Despite his countless lies, manipulation of others and betrayal of those who served him,
evangelicals still cling to him like groupies to an aging rock star and as such must understand that
they are being led away from the light and into darkness.
Many evangelicals believe he made possible the reversal of Roe v Wade by his appointments to
the once respected but now disgraced United States Supreme Court. Yes, his appointees gutted a
half-century of established federal law protecting a woman’s right to privacy and made possible
the reversal of Roe v Wade. Yet what is left in the wake of that reversal is not the utopia many
sought, but a nightmare evangelicals will have to live with the rest of their lives.
There never has been more abortions occurring in America than there are today. The previously
semi-regulated mifepristone terminates a pregnancy will soon flow into markets in America,
Canada and Europe thus assuring that no state will be able to stop that medication from entering
their states. What is even more heartbreaking to this Christian is how the focus of the Right to
Life movement and the evangelicals who comprised many of its volunteers went from promoting
adoption and counseling women about options to terminating their pregnancy to unbridled
adoration of a heretic.
Your crusade was a grass roots movement among Christians who worked to preserve life without
abandoning a woman’s right to privacy. It was a crusade upon which many Christians were
united. That crusade is over. OnDemand abortions will become the order of the day in a large
part because you believed government was the answer to your prayers. The Light of the World
guided the Right to Life movement until the Right to Life embraced government as the answer to
its prayers. Shame on you for placing your trust in government and not in Him. And shame on
you for being fooled by heretic who will betray Jesus again if it is a “good look” for him.