A God of Second Chances

Re “Jesus Was No GOP Lobbyist,” Commentary, April 26: The author hits the nail on the head. In fact, I would take it a step further.

Jesus is neither a Republican nor a Democrat because both political parties fall short in his eyes. If one studies the Gospels you will discover that Jesus tore into not only the liberal religious leaders (Sadducees) but also the conservative Pharisees.

One thing ignored by the religious right is the grace exhibited by Jesus. Grace means second chance, and Jesus was a god of second chances. Each and everyone of us falls short in the eyes of God, and yet we all have the ability to become children of God and experience forgiveness. The love of Jesus and his grace are demonstrated throughout the Gospels. Jesus is not the God of the GOP, big business or the religious right. He is the God of everyone who chooses to have a relationship with him. He wants us to have second chances when we stumble or fall.

Gary Swearingen

Camarillo

*

Jack Hitt is absolutely correct in his assessment that Jesus, in forcing his followers to find their faith through a process of deep thought and reflection, would be out of step with the right’s quickie, black-and-white takes on so-called “values.”

Jesus urged his followers not to be dittoheads, but instead to think for themselves. He would have decried an “ownership society” in which the rich got richer and the poor got the picture, time and again.

A decidedly nonviolent man, he would have abhorred the death penalty -- a government policy of which he himself was a victim. The sad truth about these unenlightened times is that were Jesus to return today he would likely meet the same fate at the hands of his most publicly fervent “believers.”

John DeCure

Long Beach

*

Hitt’s piece is likely to call forth the demons in most of us Christians who feel that it is our duty to have and to hold the right answers. Where did we get that notion? It was certainly not from Jesus, who only answered three questions directly or indirectly out of the more than 100 questions that were asked!

Could it possibly be that Jesus wants us to own our viewpoints and to know that they are just views from a point? Is it possible that when we “know” we have the right answers or the absolute, it gives us the right to lobby against, persecute or even torture and kill anyone who disagrees with us?

John Wynne

Long Beach