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One of the most overrated and trite phrases believers ultimately shout at atheists and skeptics, in their frustration when we retort with our evil reason and logic to their attempts of proselytizing is “Jesus loves you!”
Jesus loves you? What does that even mean?
When someone loves you, they go out of their way to show you their love for you. Think of your parents, your siblings, your closest friends, your life partner. Think of the people you love, you worry about their wellbeing, you do things to please them, you want them to be healthy, content, their needs taken care of, in a word — happy.
What could Jesus ever do for you? Does he look after you? Does he feed you when you’re hungry? comfort you when you’re sad? heal you when you’re sick? or at least if not magically, does he remind you to take your meds? Does he stay up until you get home to heat up dinner for you, and keep you company while you eat? Does he worry about you and give you a call when he hasn’t heard from you in a while? No, he doesn’t.
These are some of the things that anyone would do for the people they care about, and you probably do some of these things for the people you care about. Even if Jesus had existed, and was a real person and demigod two thousand years ago, he can’t do anything for you today. Heck! If Jesus had had the power the bible says he had, he could have done so many amazing things for all mankind; instead of healing a couple of blind men and a couple of lepers, he could have eradicated blindness and leprosy, and done so with much less effort than our scientists eradicated poliomyelitis; instead of turning water into wine for a wedding, and feeding a few hundred people with bread and fish, he could have appeared a freaking river full of fish for all Ethiopians to feed off; wouldn’t that be something awesome and worthy of someone with such powers and love?
If I had the power that the bible says #Jesus had, I wouldn't cure one person of blindness, I'd make blindness impossible. #atheism #atheist—
Monica (@Monicks) December 07, 2011
But Jesus loves you.
According to the Christian doctrine, no matter who you are, whether you believe in him and his heavenly father or not, whether you’re good or bad, if you’re worthy or not of his holy love, Jesus loves you just the same. Deservedly or not, you are loved by Jesus. Jesus loves everyone, and does exactly as much for everyone — nothing.
Love without a single demonstration is not love, it’s just a word. Now is when I should remind you of the millions of people suffering and dying from disease and famine in the world, right? I don’t think I need to.
What makes love meaningful and wonderful is precisely its uniqueness; you are loved because you are special to the one who loves you.
Jesus loves everyone.
Jesus’ love is meaningless.
You think differently? Prove me wrong, and I’ll change my mind.
We love you Monica, we read your tweets, we follow you, keep on.
For some reason telling someone who pisses you off that “Jesus loves you!” is posited as a positive alternative to “Fsck you!” but it amounts to the same thing. I remember tossing that phrase around a few times as a teenager thinking that I was being a “good witness.”
I don’t recall when I decided that it was better to actually swear, or simply say nothing at all. At some point I decided it wasn’t for me, though I still thought it sounded cute for a while when I heard girls say it. (Much later it just made me think that they must be airheads if that was the best that they could come up with. I can be such a dick sometimes.)
As a child, I asked my pastor why Jesus didn’t just eradicate hunger, disease, and all that if he could turn water into wine. He replied, that the miracles weren’t the point. He wanted US to do a lot of that work.
Fine.
But a lot of the conservative churches – and they’re the ones who throw around a lot of that “Jesus Loves You” jazz – focus more on the miracles and recruiting than they do feeding the hungry, standing up for justice, or simply not saying something hateful to someone “on the outside”. It must be easier for them to say Jesus Loves you so they themselves won’t have to.
It’s not “love”, it’s “wuv”.
Hello Monicks,
Along the same lines,, Just watched Clerks two and Jay and Silent Bob explained the electrical power of Christ shields them from relapse. And Silent Bob displays the Holy Bible. At the same exact time, Jay dances to ‘Good bye Horses’ from the motion picture Silence of the Lambs. Silent Bob/Silences of the lambs, how are these elementary Christian themes described?
Thanks
Like Steven says, ‘Jesus loves you’ basically means, ‘We’ve got nothing, f*ck off’.
Jesus never gave me anything so I don’t believe he loves me, but Santa Claus gives me presents every year, so she surely loves me, and I love her!!!
Well said.
Jesus loves us so much he gave his life to torture us forever if we don’t love him back. How deep is your love?
This is how I think of it: Jesus taught by parable, and the Bible speaks as allegory. Corinthians 3:6 says, “the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”
When Jesus died, he went back to heaven. Since he’s not here on earth, the hands God must use to feed the hungry and touch the sick now are yours and mine. In other words, we are the “hands of God” which Jesus personified. We are responsible for loving one another as the Bible showed Jesus loving and caring for others. Allegory.
Just like religion itself, the phrase “Jesus loves you” is a reflection of both the speaker and the addressed. It can be an extrememly positive or negative sentiment. It can simply mean, “I wish only the best for you”, as “God Bless You” means after a sneeze. Or it can mean nothing.
The actual experience of Jesus’s love, or any love for that matter, can be extremely powerful. It can move a person to be better. It can even move a person to overcome one’s greatest obstacles in life where nothing else will help. For example, surrendering yourself to a “higher power” is an indispensable tool in overcoming addiction (AA and 12 Step programs).
We all experience life differently. I appreciate the ideas and discussion here.
That’s deep and well thought out Chris but I sincerely doubt that most believers give it even a fraction of that much consideration. Rather they take religion at face value. When they say that “Jesus loves you” they think of a literal Jesus person who literally love you and not of some figurative universal love.
That’s why I find it condescending and ill considered to say such things.
I’m not as nice. You’re making an apologist argument for a load of bullshit. Nazarene didn’t even exist when Jesus was supposedly alive.
The word of god, is in contradiction or flat out in error ….often.
What in world would make you think the ethereal Santa exists?
It can only be hope and desire, there is nothing to even to begin to suggest it’s truth or reason.
“the hands God must use to feed the hungry and touch the sick now are yours and mine.”
God didn’t need us, as hands, to create the universe, why does he need us, as hands, now? Can’t he do anything without a human intermediate?
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