Pro-Trump Pastor Cites Bible to Suggest Violence Needed to Take Power

[sheshe2]

Pro-Trump Pastor Mark Burns cited the Bible to suggest that violence is needed to take power as he preached in front of a crowd attending a ReAwaken America event this week.

"You got to get to the point where you realize that when they smack you in the face you smack them back two times harder," Burns said, quoting Matthew 5:38-40, which reads, "If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also."

The pastor then suggested violence as he noted that the "Bible says the violent take it... and we take it by force," in reference to Matthew 11:12, which reads, "And from the days of John the Baptist until now, the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force."

The ReAwaken America Tour is a conservative conference in favor of former President Donald Trump that travels across the United States and features several high-profile conservative speakers including former national security adviser Michael Flynn and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell. The tour has faced criticism over its embrace of right-wing conspiracy theories and Christian nationalism, with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) describing it as "a series of controversial far-right conferences."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/pro-trump-pastor-cites-bible-to-suggest-violence-needed-to-take-power/ar-AA1b9kck?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=3295a92093ca4ece8476bff674d7640f&ei=8

Religion in the hands of the far right has become a very dangerous tool.

These people are frightening.

[unblock]

1. So basically, an American bin laden

[SouthernDem4ever]

2. Yes

They are the American Taliban.

[sheshe2]

5. Exactly.

[vlyons]

3. Well so much for Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, where he says

"Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God."

[ExWhoDoesntCare]

21. Which was always hypocritical of him

Given how he took a whip to those people in the Temple over a non-violent offense.

But keeping defending the guy who wants to torture people for disagreeing with him.

[The Unmitigated Gall]

4. So, what Mullah Mark is saying

Is that because of a two-thousand year old biblical passage which speaks of violence to take the "kingdom of heaven", thousands, maybe millions should die in political conflict here in the U.S. because of that.

These fucking people are unbelievable. The Taliban would be proud.

This is as un-American as it gets.

[bucolic_frolic]

7. un-Christian as well.

[The Unmitigated Gall]

8. Yes. Thank you

This far-right extremist wouldn't know Jesus if he crawled up his leg.

[ExWhoDoesntCare]

23. Lie

It's entirely in keeping with the religion that has a demigod who:

Assaulted business people because where they were working offended him--i.e., acting like a violent vigilante over a NON-VIOLENT offense.

Destroyed a tree because it wouldn't give him the fruit that he wanted when diddums wanted it.

Bragged about bringing a sword to create conflict among people, even family members.

And repeatedly called for torturing people who disagree with him.

If you have a violent deity, you'll get a violent religion.

Try learning more about their long history of slavery, rape, kidnapping, torture, murder, mass-murder, warmongering and ethnic cleansing.

Because it ain't pretty.

[bucolic_frolic]

6. Prepare for the worst,it's coming

we need to organize better

[GenThePerservering]

9. Now do othe book of Judith

cutting off Holofernes's head and delivering her people by "the hand of a woman", only Trump.

[Baitball Blogger]

10. Let's get something straight. This is a white conservative American's version

of the bible. Definitely doesn't speak for every Christian.

[Martin Eden]

17. Mark Burns is Black

Which only proves that no one is immune to this poisonous ideology -- or to the perceived rewards for pushing it.

This does not erase the vile racism of other groups allied with the movement to transform America into a fascist state under the guise of Christian nationalism.

There is nothing Christian about a movement filled with hate and violence. The malefators of extreme wealth have allied themselves with religious charlatans in their pursuit of more wealth, power, and control.

They claim to love America while trying to tear down its highest ideals and Constitutional rule of law.

They are a very real threat, and must be stopped.

[ExWhoDoesntCare]

24. You must be joking

Have you READ the book? At all?

Because it is full of violence, culminating in the ultimate violence of the christian demi-god calling for torture of anyone and everyone who disagreed with him in his private sadomasochistic chamber known as hell.

He beat up people for selling stuff where he didn't want them to. I realize it made him angry, but that was a non-violent offense, and he acted like a deranged vigilante about it--just as bad as one of the Bundy clan or any right-wing terrorist.

The religion has a very long, sordid and ugly history of violence against Jews, atheists, pagans, Muslims and even their own people. You could ask the Cathars about that--if christians hadn't exterminated them, long ago. And exterminated is precisely the term that applies. For crying out loud, they burned down a church with some 20,000 innocent people inside because Cathars dared to have a different interpretation of the same religion. They forced Cathars to wear yellow crosses on their clothes wherever they went, so that people could identify, harass and ultimately kill them.

And the Jews--good grief, I can't name one single evil that christians haven't committed against them.

How is any of that history any different from what this wicked thug is threatening?

[Martin Eden]

28. Jesus preached hate and violence?

Never said turn the other cheek, or blessed are the peacemakers? Overturning the tables of the money changers at the temple erases everything else?

There's always been a huge difference between the central message of Christ and those who claim to be Christians.

Throughout history, hypocrisy on an epic scale.

[Mariana]

37. The point is that Jesus practiced violence, even if he preached the opposite.

Jesus is portrayed in the Gospels as racist, sexist, violent, destructive, and as putting his own comfort above the needs of the poor. Examples:

Racist: Matthew 15:21-28, in which Jesus is hateful toward a woman who asked him to heal her child because, he said, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel" and she was of a different ethnicity. He compares her to a dog begging for scraps, and only relents after she grovels enough to suit him, and agrees with his dehumanizing characterization of her.

Sexist: Zero of his disciples were female.

Violent: John 2:13-22, in which Jesus flies into a rage, constructs a weapon and attacks people because he disapproved of their activities on the temple grounds, even though they had permission to do what they were doing.

Destructive: Same story, in which he vandalizes the place. Also Mark Chapter 5, in which Jesus causes a herd of pigs to run off a cliff and die, after which the locals begged him to leave the area. This might also be a racism story, because the owners of the pigs would have been Gentiles, and "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel."

Put his own comfort above the needs of the poor: Mathew 26:6-13, in which Jesus is anointed with very expensive perfume. His own disciples are disturbed by this, and protest that it should have been sold and the money given to the poor. Jesus rebukes them, saying, "The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me."

Jesus also taught his followers to hate their families, and he set the example by rejecting his own family in favor of his disciples.

Luke 14 : 26 - "If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters--yes, even their own life - such a person cannot be my disciple.

Matthew 10 : 34-36 - “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’

Matthew 12 : 46-50 - While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him. Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.” He replied to him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”

[Martin Eden]

32. Another thing

You are apparently attributing all the violence of the Old Testament to Jesus Christ. Did he openly condone and advocate those atrocities?

BTW, I personally hold no religious beliefs.

[Mariana]

38. Yes, he did. Matthew 5:17-19.

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven."

[sinkingfeeling]

11. What a contortion of the Bible and religion.

[ExWhoDoesntCare]

25. You obviously haven't read that book

To make such an absurd assertion.

The book averages an incident of violence per page of the standard editions.

https://skepticsannotatedbible.com/all/cr_list.html

It exhibits even more injustice.

https://skepticsannotatedbible.com/all/inj_list.html

And poor intolerance--the book only gets around to 1 incident every two pages.

https://skepticsannotatedbible.com/all/cr_list.html

So much for that barmy assertion of contorting the book.

And one only needs to look at the history of how the religion gets practiced to see that violence has been its favorite tactic and strategy for centuries. Do you think the Crusades, the Inquisition, their many evils committed against the Jews leading right to the Holocaust and etc etc etc were mere tiffs and spats?

That you can claim violence goes against the religion given that bloodthirsty history is appalling.

[sinkingfeeling]

29. I have read it, cover to cover, several times. This 'man of God'

Is not follower of Christ.

[gratuitous]

12. You and I read the Bible very differently, Mark Burns

We should talk. Or, failing that, you should take advantage of the opportunity to shut up more.

[ExWhoDoesntCare]

26. Maybe you need to read it to see that it is every bit as

Violent as he says.

Because it is.

[gratuitous]

34. You and I read the Bible very differently, too

[sanatanadharma]

13. Some people can read the words, but fail to uderstand the message

When Jesus becomes a propagandist for murder and God becomes the reason, all reason is lost.

[Tickle]

15. You couldn't be more accurate NT

[ExWhoDoesntCare]

27. So you're okay with his advocacy for torturing people forever

For committing a thought crime?

Or how he was okay with violence when those temple moneychangers were going about their business. You do realize that he committed a VIOLENT act against a NON-VIOLENT offense...right?

And that liberals are ostensibly against such a vile practice...right?

Or how he destroyed a tree for not giving him what he wanted.

Well, not every liberal cares about the environment, but I do think even those not concerned with Mother Earth would think it's stupid and VIOLENT to destroy a tree because you can't get what you want from it.

It's like none of you have read the book.

Or learned any of the history of how the religion has gone about its business since its founding.

[LiberalFighter]

14. This is what happens when people create their own church

and become a minister without attending and graduating from a theological university.

[ExWhoDoesntCare]

30. You don't need a theology degree

To see that he's not stating anything the book doesn't say.

Besides, it's always better to read primary sources for yourself rather than relying on what people indoctrinated into a particular agenda want you to see in it.

And that's all that "theological university" study does--teaches the book only from a limited, self-serving point of view.

[LiberalFighter]

36. And ministers do the same thing to their members.

Only a limited part of the Bible.

[malaise]

16. Most religions support killing for greed, power and dominance

Nothing new here.

[dembotoz]

18. wonder when the witches in salem felt gods love

must have been a real burning sensation

[Liberal In Texas]

19. Religion: Responsible for more death and misery than any other cause in the history of mankind.

We really need to start pulling the tax-exempt status on these "churches" that are meddling in politics.

[Karadeniz]

20. Jesus's messages were meant to help people get their souls in such a condition that they could

progress on the other side. That is done by embodying the highest spiritual values in one's life. Violence and imposing oneself on others is not a spiritual trait. Loving and helping everyone is.

[ExWhoDoesntCare]

31. You really want to go to the other side?

Why?

Neither option is anything a sane or decent person would want.

The torture chamber of hell speaks for itself, but the worse torture (yes, I'm going there) is in the one that's supposed to be "good."

You know what's awful about it, beyond the eternal life part--which will absolutely suck?

It's that you're there not to be with your loved ones, but to kiss the arse of:

"The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully."

― Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion

That is what you're allowed to do in "heaven:" Suck up to a complete and utter violent psychopath.

And the christian religion would wither up and blow away if it hadn't been willful and downright eager practitioners of "violence and imposing oneself on others." They've gone out of their way to do it, for nigh on two millennia now.

The willful blindness to this reality staggers.

[Karadeniz]

35. Well... in my out of body experience, I ended up on the other side, one part of it, and I loved it!

Wanted to stay! This is a common reaction to a near death experience, which mine wasn't because I was perfectly healthy. Most religions don't incorporate descriptions of the other side by those who've been there, so you end up with playing a harp for eternity or worshipfully sitting at a God's feet forever. I don't understand the conduct of most religions. They expect people to spend their whole lives going over and over their writings every week. If you haven't got the message after a few years, something's wrong. People should be spending the majority of the time applying the message, by doing good work or exploring things related to the message, like near death experiences, out of body experiences, all the things that happen but can't be explained by the human brain. Very disappointing.

[roamer65]

22. Christian Taliban.

ALL religious extremism needs to be eliminated.

It’s POISON.

[NullTuples]

33. His Bible interpretation seems very...power hungry.

"11 Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. 12 From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence,[f] and the violent take it by force. 13 For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John came; 14 and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come. 15 Let anyone with ears[g] listen!"

Many scholars translated the Greek source of that as, "From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has violently approached". It's important for pastors such as the one in the OP to remember that Jesus of the Bible essentially led a doomsday cult. He and his followers fully expected the End Times to occur...very soon. Maybe within a number of years. Perhaps within their lifetimes. Certainly soon enough that giving up all of one's worldly goods would not be a hardship to one's self or possible future descendants. However, that is an inconvenient narrative for a passage that might be 2,000 years past it's Best By date.

[MissMillie]

39. Not a "swords into ploughshares" moment, I guess (n/t)

.