What would Jesus buy?

I ask this question as a rhetorical question because Jesus would buy little if anything. Jesus was or is (depending on your story) an anarchist -- stateless. There should be no doubt about this observation. It is written: "Give unto . . . . "
He would not, could not recognize man-made borders, for example.

The logic of Jesus Christ is monumental when you get beyond the evangelical money goons' pitch for bucks; their pitch for power over the State's repressive apparatus, foreign and domestic, proves their lust for State power in the here-and-now, a project Jesus ignored as a revolutionary of boundless proportions.

It is true that if every one on our planet were to act like Jesus, the Earth would be a paradise, for certain. Can you imagine every human being perceiving every other human being as Jesus perceived humanity from the cross? Alas, deviancy is the curse of social process, social control, society.

"But Eddie," my so-called "left-wing" readers will declare, "Jesus is used for social control of the masses to exploit their labor and their minds!" And I must respond that "It need not be so, in all cases." "And never mind, anyway," I declare in my own reservations about their claims. Jesus is about personal control at the very least (Which reminds me to return to my blog-spot on George Herbert Mead.).

I am asking, "Would we starve as confirmed followers of Jesus Christ?". This is an old question that I do not hear discussed or let alone argued today in money-grubbing-evangelical-money-worshiping circles. We need to ask these questions because there is this possibility of starvation without the production of surplus wealth, which real Christians need to be asking and discussing, in my humble opinion. I mean, after all, Global Warming, nuclear warheads proliferating across the planet, HIV, and not to forget greed, avarice, and the rest!

It all comes to this: If we do not produce for exchange value, then what becomes of our market system of production and the reproduction of our capitalist society? I mean, what happens to the way we produce and buy food and shelter? What becomes of the media and our education system without the profit motive for personal gain? In fact, what becomes of the crime scene! Does it vanish when the motives for crime are diminished 99 percent, at least in terms of the "rational" criminal's mind because Jesus' revolutionary message became generalized in human behavior? What would become of terrorism?

I am asking this very fundamental question, "Will humanity starve as followers of Jesus' message?". At the very least, someone out there needs to ask this question in the commercial media at least once! We do not learn the answer in Sunday school, for sure. The possibility of starving by being kind and giving unto to those with less than ourselves is real.

So "What do we know about Jesus's work in terms of political economy?", I am asking. We know that as a carpenter, Jesus produced wealth through his labor. This tells us, at least, that production for use value must be acceptable when we explain the ways of God to mankind. I mean that Jesus was producing for use, at least. We are not told if he was producing for exchange value. We can at least surmise, judging by his comments, that exchange of labor value was not on his agenda. At the very least, again and again I say, "Jesus was pounding nails to give the production of his labor to someone else, not to exchange it for something else."

So we do know that sharing is part of the Jesus message, part of our explanation of the ways of God to mankind. Again, we do not know that exchange values were part of Jesus's message, at least not as a means to personal gain. Use, yes. Profit, who knows?

There is nothing that I can find in the story of Jesus to suggest adding to the greater glory of God through the accumulation of personal wealth, then. There is much to suggest the obverse, which creates a perplexing issue for those of us interested in exploring space, our planet, and ourselves (The last of which Socrates insisted upon at the very least, first and foremost, as the reader will recall.) Consider that without the surplus in wealth held by either the individual, State, or society, where would the surplus time, surplus leisure arise for learning? After all, some of us must be fishermen and sheep herders so that others can be artists and literary critics.

What becomes of this idea of economic and social "progress" when we all follow Jesus faithfully? I mean really follow Jesus!

I am reminded by one so-called follower of Jesus that "Jesus bought salvation for our souls with his life." Well, "Good enough," I think. Now, in terms of more tangible objects, what would Jesus buy, and for whom? Would he buy bombs for George Bush?

So it goes.
Eddie Evans
Crime Scene Cleaners