I Don’t Have a Skinny Bible

"I Don't Have A Skinny Bible. Show me where in the Bible, Jesus is pro rich and pro war, "Dr. Joel Gregory has stated. My knowledge certainly does not match his, but I do not find these seemingly central testaments of the Religious Right in my Bible as well. Perhaps, they are not there and the Christ who gave the Sermon on the Mount would not appreciate a false characterization of his word and his message. For those that can’t remember what is listed as a direct quote that information is below!

Sermon on the Mount (A Real Christian Message)

Both versions of the BeatitudesSource: New American Bible
Matthew 5:2-12

He began to teach them, saying: Matthew 5:3
- "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is thekingdom of heaven.Matthew 5:4
- Blessed are they who mourn, for they will becomforted.Matthew 5:5
- Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land.Matthew 5:6
- Blessed are they who hunger and thirst forrighteousness, for they will be satisfied.Matthew 5:7
, for they will see God.Matthew 5:9
- Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be calledchildren of God.Matthew 5:10
- Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake ofrighteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.Matthew 5:11-12
- Blessed are you when they insult you and persecuteyou and utter every kind of evil against you (falsely) because ofme. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven."

Luke 6:20-26
And raising his eyes toward his disciples he said: "Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours.Blessed are you who are now hungry, for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who are now weeping, for you will laugh.
Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude andinsult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son ofMan.
Rejoice and leap for joy on that day!
Behold, your reward willbe great in heaven. For their ancestors treated the prophets in thesame way.
But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.But woe to you who are filled now, for you will be hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now, for you will grieve and weep.Woe to you when all speak well of you, for their ancestors treatedthe false prophets in this way."

Catholic Encyclopedia Entry:http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02371a.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beatitudes

Beatitudes
The Beatitudes (from Latin, beatitudo, happiness) is the name given to a well-known, definitive and central, portion of the Sermon on the Mount, recorded in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. In this section, Jesus describes the qualities of the citizens of the Kingdom of heaven (It refers to the reign or sovereignty of God over all things, as opposed to the reign of earthly or satanic powers), showing how each is/will be blessed. The Beatitudes do not describe many separate individuals, but rather the characteristics of those who are deemed blessed by God. Kodjak believes that this opening of the sermon was meant to shock the audience, as a deliberate inversion of standard values, but that today this shock value has been lost owing to the commonness of the text.

Each of the blessed individuals are generally not considered blessed according to worldly standards, but with a heavenly perspective, they truly are blessed. The word traditionally translated into English as "blessed" or "happy" is in the Greek original μακαριος; a more literal translation into contemporary English would be "possessing an inward contentedness and joy that is not affected by the physical circumstances." Each of the Beatitudes presents a situation in which the person described would not be described by the world as "blessed," yet Jesus declares that they truly are blessed, and they are blessed with a blessing that outlasts any type of blessing this world has to offer.

These verses are quoted early in the Divine Liturgy of John Chrysostom, which continues to be the liturgy most often used in the Eastern Orthodox Church. Similar sayings are also recorded in a few of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and are found in Jewish sources that pre-date the Christian era. Four of the beatitudes are found also in Luke's Sermon on the Plain, which many scholars feel is the same event as the Sermon on the Mount. In textual criticism, these beatitudes are seen as originating in the Q document, and the large Sermon they appear within as Matthew and Luke to provide an reason for quoting them. Luke's Sermon has four woes in addition to the four beatitudes, and Matthew uses the woes elsewhere for use against the Pharisees, so some scholars, such as Gundry, see Matthew as having wanted to keep the eightfold structure and consequently having to create four additional sayings

Jefferson & The Danbury Baptists

Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God; that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship; that the legislative powers of the government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between church and State. Adhering to this expression of the supreme will of the nation in behalf of the rights of conscience, I shall see with sincere satisfaction the progress of those sentiments which tend to restore man to all of his natural rights, convinced he has no natural right in opposition to his social duties.

Jefferson & The Virginia Baptists
Because religious belief, or non-belief, is such an important part of every person's life, freedom of religion affects every individual. Religious institutions that use government power in support of themselves and force their views on persons of other faiths, or of no faith, undermine all our civil rights. Moreover, state support of an established religion tends to make the clergy unresponsive to their own people, and leads to corruption within religion itself. Erecting the "wall of separation between church and state," therefore, is absolutely essential in a free society.