Morning Joe took an interesting twist this week when they decided to lecture American conservatives on the teachings of the Bible. Joe Scarborough used the tired old liberal tactic of citing Matthew 25 and said Christians 'miss the point' of Jesus' teachings. Completely unoriginal point - and also completely wrong.
Scarborough said, "I don't actually do this. I'm going to do it now because it seems that Christianity is constantly being thrown into primary debates. It happened again this past weekend. And how fascinating that despite the fact that many on the right have brought religion up over the past 30, 40 years, they somehow miss the core of Jesus' message,"
"I'm trying to remember all of the writings of the founders. I'm trying to remember all of the important speeches from Abraham Lincoln. I'm trying to remember all of the important speeches by MLK, all of the important speeches at the important times in our country where God was the driving force," Glenn said.
For reference, below is Matthew 25:
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
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 hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
"That was Jesus talking about when asked what his ministry was about, it was about taking care of the poor. We don't see that from the very people who carry their Bibles around the most," Scarborough said after reading the chapter.
"We do have evidence that shows that Christians are more charitable than anybody else," Glenn countered.
"It's weird because some would say this is the Bible specifically saying giving is not about compulsion," Stu added.