Browse Items (16 total)

Part 6 of Jesus and the Disinherited on the topic of fear. Reads Clive Benson's "The Centurion" and from George Bernard Shaw's "On the Rocks," "the greatest of Rome is nothing but fear." Fear is an emotional response to danger. Even those in power show fear by devising so many creative ways to insure the status quo. Example of Pliny the Elder requesting and being denied the organization of a firefighting unit, because those in the unit might organize against the government. Story of French…

Part 7 of Jesus and the Disinherited on fear. Thurman contrasts fear of God versus fear of man. Fear pushed far enough becomes a courage that is destructive, like a light bulb burning out. Fear causes biological changes in the body and he gives the examples of bees and beekeepers. Fear as fight is destructive courage. Fear as flight leads to no escape. Jesus attacked the experience of fear by inviting people into their self worth as children of God, in spite of the stereotypes and judgments of…

In his eighth talk, his Easter message, Thurman turns to the issue of Deception and how it can be a tool for the weak. He discusses how morality prevents chaos, and how easy it is for us to call darkness light if we want to excuse something we are doing. In this talk he gives several examples of deception, but ponders whether or not it is morally acceptable to deceive. From his own life, he gives the example of his job as the "door boy" for his older sisters and it was his job to open the door…

Thurman discusses the idea of brotherhood. He talks about the exclusiveness that is associated with brotherhood and the difference in how Jesus and Paul view it. Paul says that you have to be a follower of Christ to be part of the brotherhood, and Jesus says you just have to be born to be a brother. The basis of the Jesus doctrine of brotherhood is that God is the creator, so everyone is a part of God, and therefore all are brothers because of that virtue. God never discriminated, so neither…

In this commentary and conversation on Jesus and the Disinherited, Thurman states that to be part of the brotherhood of man one has to be a believer of Christ, which a person becomes once they believe. Christians have a way to clean themselves of impurities, or in other words, have a permanently saved soul. Thurman speaks to Jesus’ definition of brotherhood and the fact that it will destroy civilizations because it’s different from the natural brotherhood that human societies have created…