New World Order

Mark Chapter 12

This chapter has some very interesting things to say about the “New World Order”.  First, Jesus starts with a parable about the judgment against Israel.  This is the “Parable of the Tenants”.  The chapter then moves onto the separation of church and state.  This is a particularly relevant topic for today.  Then we have a rather odd question asked by the Sadducees.  I say this because of what little is known (Jewish Virtual Library) about them makes asking this question unlikely.  Jesus then teaches his listeners the 2 “Greatest Commandment”.  Every time I read this section I wish that today’s “Christians” would remember this one section of the Word of God.  Then Jesus uses the opening verses from Psalms 110.  This Psalm happens to be a quite violent praise to the Lord, so adds confusion to Jesus’ ministry.  Finally, the verse which is loved by all religious leaders…the poor giving the Church every last part of a penny up to YHWH.  Without a doubt, this chapter is about the New World Order.

First, I will start with the Parable of the Tenants.  Sharecropping (Georgia Encyclopedia) and tenant farming (Answers.com) have been one step away from slavery for thousands of years.  Rarely do they benefit the workers; most always the landlord reaps all the reward for the labor of the tenants.  When Jesus compares Israel to tenant farming he is saying much more than the reader might think.  YHWH is the landowner and he is the one who has reaped all the rewards from Israel’s farming.  When YHWH wants payment the tenants beat and kill his messengers.

This is also a warning about not listening to the prophets, YHWH’s messengers.  Here Jesus is directly referring to himself as the son of YHWH.  I particularly like Jesus using a Psalms (118:22-23) that was written to celebrate victory over great odds in battle.  I love how Jesus takes verses out of context and uses them to strengthen his ministry.  But what is worse is that this only strengthens his followers to believe that Jesus is there as an earthly messiah.  By using this Psalms Jesus’ listeners will be looking for freedom from the Roman occupation of Israel.

The next part of the chapter is of great interest to most Atheists.  Jesus flat out says that there is a difference between government and religion:

Mark 12:17 Then Jesus said to them, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.”

Our money today is identical to the denarius of Rome.  Jesus clearly states that our governments deserve separation from what belongs to YHWH.  Even though the question is about paying taxes…it can be applied to ownership as well.  Nowhere in this section does Jesus say that government should give money to YHWH.  Make note of that…the money to religion is not to be taken from the government; it is to come from the followers of Christianity!

The third part of this chapter is quite strange.  The Sadducees did not believe in the afterlife, so for them to ask this question is rather suspect.  That the Sadducees (New World Encyclopedia) were active in Jerusalem is also suspect, most of the people despised the Sadducees.  But the two most interesting things about this section of the chapter are first that Jesus clearly states that in the afterlife families will not be reunited!  Second, that Jesus would tell the Sadducees this:

Mark 12:27 He is not the God of the dead, but the living.  You are badly mistaken!”

The Sadducees did not believe in the afterlife, they only believed in the living world.  Jesus would have known this.  But the writer (John Mark) might not have known this, or possibly scribal error in later centuries changed the story.  Without a doubt, there is an error in the inerrant Word of God.

Continuing with the concept of a New World Order…Jesus gives a lecture on the two greatest commandments.  The first:

Luke 12:30 Love your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.

Here is a commandment that Christianity needs to focus on.  Jesus clearly says that you can’t do it half assed.  Your heart, soul, mind, and strength must be involved.  I have not seen any sign today that christians obey this commandment.  The second commandment is even less visible today:

Mark 12:31 the second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’.  There is no commandment greater than these.”

Christians: get with the program this is the New World Order.  Your YHWH comes first and loving your neighbor (no hate crimes) is second.  Act like you even have read this and understood these verses!

Near the end of the chapter Jesus questions how he can be the son of David.  He really does not answer this question…a common thread to Jesus’ teaching (Mark 9:12-13, Mark 9:49-50, and Mark 11:33).  In fact, Jesus changes the topic.  He finishes his lecture on the topic of being pretentious.  He warns the people about wanting praise from other people and pretentious displays of religiosity.  He ends this section with a dire warning to those people:

Luke 12:40 They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers.  Such men will be punished most severely.

Here is a warning to the Televangelist:  stop taking the widow’s property, ignore the desire to be well-known, and quit making long pretentious prayers.

But to muddy the water, John Mark finishes the chapter with the story about the widow letting the religious leaders of the day “devour widow’s houses”.  She has given everything she has to a religious offering.  And Jesus praises her for it.  Contradiction within three verses, I think we have a winner on the shortest space between contradicting verses in the Word of God.

So this is the New World Order that Jesus attempted to create.  First is a world full of sharecroppers where God reaps the better deal.  Second is a world where governments are separate from religion.  Third is a world were in the afterlife people are not reunited with family.  Fourth is a world where people love YHWH and their neighbors.  Fifth is a world where religious leaders are not pretentious.  And finally sixth is a world where the poor give everything they have to those not pretentious religious leaders.  Parts of this New World Order would be wonderful, from an Atheist point of view.  Personally I would love to see numbers two, four, and five be the focus.  Unfortunately, Christians have only accepted two of these requirements for the New World Order: the first and the last.  Not the best out of the six tenants of the New World Order.

This entry was posted on July 24, 2010, 8:37 am at 08:37 and is filed under Word of God, Inerrancy - My Ass, Gospel of Mark, Readings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.

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