"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 Beatitudes
Source: 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 the
Kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 5:4 - Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be
Comforted.
Matthew 5:5 - Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land.
Matthew 5:6 - Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for
Righteousness, for they will be satisfied.
Matthew 5:7 - Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown
Mercy.
Matthew 5:8 - Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God.
Matthew 5:9 - Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called
Children of God.
Matthew 5:10 - Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of
Righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 5:11-12 - Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute
you and utter every kind of evil against you (falsely) because of
me. 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 and
insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of
Man. Rejoice and leap for joy on that day! Behold, your reward will
be great in heaven. For their ancestors treated the prophets in the
same 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 treated
the false prophets in this way."
Catholic Encyclopedia Entry:
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02371a.htm
http://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.
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02371a.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beatitudes
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