I've been puzzled by some of the most recent religious protests in a number of predominantly Christian countries, so maybe someone more tuned in to their spiritual side could tell me, given the following options, which do you think would have the King of Kings/Number One Son/El Christo up in arms the most?
1. Fictional movies like The Da Vinci Code and The Last Temptation of Christ - one of which has the temerity to suggest that Jesus got married and had children, the other only showing it in a dream sequence.
2. Madonna's latest tour, in which she warbles a 20-year old song while suspended from a cross.*
3. The removal of a feeding tube from a woman whose brain was all but non-functioning, the act of which neverthless managed to mobilize both state and federal governments with a speed not seen since some washed up singer flashed a boob during the Super Bowl.
4. The development of a vaccine which could prevent the development of 70% of HPV-related cervical cancers. The kicker: it may be more effective when administered to girls at puberty.
5. The Catholic Church's sustained pattern of obfuscation and buying off the victims of decades of systematic child abuse committed by members of the clergy.
Now guess which one(s) have garnered the most passionate response from church and "family" groups? I'll give you a hint: it's not #5.
*I'm 100% in agreement with Scott; if she really wanted to be edgy and provocative, she'd hang herself from a Muslim crescent.
According to Pat Robertson, hallowed be his name, you're asking the wrong question here Pete. The real question is who would Jesus assasinate? I think it is pretty clear that it would be all the no talent ass-clowns out there passing themselves off as Christian while forgetting that the most important message of Christianity is to love your brother and sister.
Jesus would be bothered by all of the above. I think he would be most bothered by his Catholic Church showing so clearly that it is filled with sinners. But, thank God, it is guided by the Holy Spirit and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. In the end, we have to remember that the truth and authority of the Church are guaranteed, not by the sinlessness of it's members, but by Jesus.
Pax
Really, Jesus would be bothered by the development of a vaccine to prevent disease? Huh, interesting.
Sort of an aside here. I checked out the lyrics to Live to Tell to see if maybe there were some sort of Judeo-Christain Liturgical tie-in that would explain and possibly justify the whole cross thing.
Man, what shitty lyrics! I read them three or four times and it seems like four people wrote the two verses and two choruses. How does crap like that get sold?
As far as What would Jesus Protest? I'm not sure he would. Protesting, IIRC, is too passive. He didn't wave a sign about the money changers in the temple. He didn't walk a picket against the hold of sin over man. His approaches were pretty direct.