President Biden told a Democratic lawmaker and members of his Cabinet after the State of the Union address that he told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that they will need to ha…
President Biden told a Democratic lawmaker and members of his Cabinet after the State of the Union address that he told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that they will need to have a “come-to-Jesus meeting.”
Biden’s comments, captured on a hot mic as he spoke with Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) on the floor of the House chamber, came after Bennet congratulated the commander in chief on his speech and pressed him to keep pressure on Netanyahu over increasing humanitarian issues in Gaza.
You've received several responses but the meaningful "come to Jesus" story actually relates to Saul (Paul, who is responsible for much of Christianity) on the road to Damascus.
Paul was persecuting primitive Christians and while he was traveling to Damascus to arrest them, he was temporarily blinded by divine intervention that led to his conversion and stopped him from continuing to persecute people. The dramatic intervention disabused him of the errant beliefs that caused him to injure people, in other words.
That's what the comparison is talking about. It's a metaphor that relates to needing a dramatic and often violent wakeup call to snap someone out of doing something wrong. From a Christian perspective you can see how Paul being shaken up enough to change his name, religion, profession, etc was a real "come to Jesus" moment.
That's the key context I think you're asking about. It's not really about converting to Christianity. It's more about having a BIG wakeup call that you're on the wrong path (literally in Paul's case) and you need to change your ways because you're hurting people (or you'll stay blinded if you're Paul I guess).
Just as finding Jesus is said to save a person’s soul, a come-to-Jesus meeting or moment results in new, though difficult, understanding or behavior (i.e., changing one’s ways).
By the the 1990s, the expression had become familiar enough to stand for such a meeting or moment all on its a own (e.g., Our son needs a come to Jesus about doing well in school or People need a come to Jesus about their smartphone addiction).
Come to Jesus is often seen as a business or workplace cliché. Supervisors, for instance, may have a come to Jesus meeting with employees if performance needs serious correction. Come-to-Jesus moment won Forbes’ magazine’s cheeky 2013 Jargon Madness competition, which pitted overused corporate buzzwords against each other à la March Madness basketball brackets.
It's supposed to mean that enough outside pressure has mounted to force the kind of introspection where you reconsider everything you think you know or are. In a way, you are releasing your 'self' in exchange for becoming one with the larger picture.
So you might have someone that let's say has a drinking problem.... They think they are managing and are not cognizant of how their behavior or actions are impacting others. You have an intervention so that the person can learn the weight of the burdens he's made other people shoulder, forcing introspection and a "come to Jesus moment"
I never took it as a biblical thing, because Christianity especially in the United States has very little to do with the bible. A "Come To Jesus" meeting is about demanding conformity in no uncertain terms
With Hamas being very clear about wanting to commit genocide, the choice is this conflict is not genocide vs. no genocide. The choice is about which side is given more opportunity to commit genocide. Horrific that is the choice, but it's not like disarming the Israelis would result in fewer human deaths in that region.
Hamas does not have anything like the resources to actually enact a genocide and they never will. Regardless of this, the people of Palestine do not deserve to be executed en masse for Hamas' crimes.
When you colonize a region and then try to say it's an US vs Them situation like you both should be allowed, it makes your argument a lot less valid. It's not like these 2 peoples just woke up in a cage together. It's a colony. One group forced themselves into the area.
This isn't to say to genocide the Jews or something like your fucked up brain imagines is the only solution. But it does mean that the state of Israel doesn't get to just stop here and keep all its genocidal spoils. It's going to have to give up and lose some of its land and absolute power over these people. It has to stop treating palastinians like subhumans. It has to give up control over some things. As long as it's unwilling to do so, it will continue creating people who hate it to the point of utter annihilation, and it will be the state of Israels fault for treating people that way.