i will drown

   ⁴¹ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. ⁴² For I was rich and you did not give me a tax cut, ⁴³ I was well-dressed and you did not compliment me on my awesome sweater vest, I was a prison guard and you did not imprison enough stoners and terrorism suspects for me to guard.’

   ⁴⁴ “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you rich or wearing a sweater vest or guarding a prison, and did not help you?’

   ⁴⁵ “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the greatest of these, you did not do for me.’

   ⁴⁶ “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

I think that might be a different translation than I’m used to. :P

Oh, and it goes on:

   ⁴⁷ “And then they will say ‘But wait a minute, you didn’t even pay any taxes, because you paid off Congress so that you’d know where all the loopholes were! How were we even supposed to give you a tax cut?’

   ⁴⁸ “And he will reply, ‘Stop trying to bring logic into this.’

I am actually relatively conservative politically, but I’m in a bit of a contrarian mood tonight after hearing a Bible study take the first chapter and a half of James and pretty much turn it into a tea party manifesto. Which, I do have to admit, kind of impressed me in a morbid way. That someone could take this:

⁵ Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?⁶ But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? ⁷ Are they not the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of him to whom you belong? 

 and come away from it saying “Y’know, the rich really don’t get enough say in today’s culture” is a rather amazing mental feat. Or to say that the God who said 

When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and for the foreigner residing among you. I am the LORD your God.

and instituted the Year of Jubilee (every fifty years, all property ownership is reverted) would today say that government redistribution of wealth and property is morally abhorrent.

I’m just gonna put this here:

 ¹ “Shout it aloud, do not hold back. 
   Raise your voice like a trumpet. 
Declare to my people their rebellion 
   and to the descendants of Jacob their sins. 
² For day after day they seek me out; 
   they seem eager to know my ways, 
as if they were a nation that does what is right 
   and has not forsaken the commands of its God. 
They ask me for just decisions 
   and seem eager for God to come near them. 
³ ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, 
   ‘and you have not seen it? 
Why have we humbled ourselves, 
   and you have not noticed?’

   “Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please 
   and exploit all your workers. 
⁴ Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, 
   and in striking each other with wicked fists. 
You cannot fast as you do today 
   and expect your voice to be heard on high. 
⁵ Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, 
   only a day for people to humble themselves? 
Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed 
   and for lying in sackcloth and ashes? 
Is that what you call a fast, 
   a day acceptable to the LORD?

 ⁶ “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: 
to loose the chains of injustice 
   and untie the cords of the yoke, 
to set the oppressed free 
   and break every yoke? 
⁷ Is it not to share your food with the hungry 
   and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— 
when you see the naked, to clothe them, 
   and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? 
⁸ Then your light will break forth like the dawn, 
   and your healing will quickly appear; 
then your righteousness will go before you, 
   and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard. 
⁹ Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; 
   you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.

   “If you do away with the yoke of oppression, 
   with the pointing finger and malicious talk, 
¹⁰ and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry 
   and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, 
then your light will rise in the darkness, 
   and your night will become like the noonday. 
¹¹ The LORD will guide you always; 
   he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land 
   and will strengthen your frame. 
You will be like a well-watered garden, 
   like a spring whose waters never fail. 
¹² Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins 
   and will raise up the age-old foundations; 
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, 
   Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

 ¹³ “If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath 
   and from doing as you please on my holy day, 
if you call the Sabbath a delight 
   and the LORD’s holy day honorable, 
and if you honor it by not going your own way 
   and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, 
¹⁴ then you will find your joy in the LORD, 
   and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land 
   and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.” 
            For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

(Isaiah 58)

(Source: fuckyeahjenna)