Dec 11th 2008 By Asylum Staff

Bill O'Reilly's Jesus Quote -- Controversy or Consistency?

Rapper Chuck D once claimed "They got me like Jesus." And John Lennon infamously compared the Beatles to the holy man from Nazareth. Now the pundit America loves to hate is getting in on the Jesus sound bites.

In an interview with NPR this week, O'Reilly discussed how his detractors consider him "evil." To which he retorts, "Some people thought Jesus was evil; they nailed him to a cross."
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Least and Most Favorite Talking Heads

Least Favorite #10: George Stephanopoulos

Scott Olson, Getty Images

Least Favorite #9: Charles Gibson

Charlie Riedel, AP

Least Favorite #8: NBC

Least Favorite #7:Chris Matthews

Michael Buckner, Getty Images

Least Favorite #6: Sean Hannity

Nancy Kaszerman, ZUMA Press

Least Favorite #5:Keith Olbermann

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Least Favorite #4: Rush Limbaugh

Bill Pugliano, Getty Images

Least Favorite #3: Fox News

Least Favorite #2: Katie Couric

Scott Gries, Getty Images

Least Favorite #1: Bill O'Reilly

Nancy Kaszerman, ZUMA Press

After O'Reilly threw out the J-word, NPR's Renee Montagne got to wondering if Fox's favorite talking head really thinks he's on the same level as a figure worshipped by over 2 billion people on the planet. "No, but I'm giving you an analogy that's vivid," he finished.

Maybe. Or is this just yet another example of Mr. O'Reilly's up-to-now perfectly successful strategy for gaining attention, drawing high ratings and clocking mad dollars? The interview, after all, was a vehicle to promote his new memoir, "A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity."

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Thursday 11 December

By Me

Neutral

What a disgusting piece of inhumanity you are and you just very convincingly proved Bill O'Reilly's point.

Thursday 11 December

By Stan

Neutral

Right on

Thursday 11 December

By geri

Neutral

You are a moron posting something so vulgar!!! You are a seriously deranged individual to think the rest of us want to read your filth!!

Thursday 11 December

By john

Highest Rank

The funny thing is all these people are getting mad at you for your comment but.... IT REALLY DID HAPPEN. read the freakin story, inform yourselves people. It really did happen, he was also sodomizing himself!! you're golden boy... the sinner and sodomist!!

Thursday 11 December

By David Robison Sr.

Neutral

Bill O'Reilly is a nut who should of been taken off the air years ago, I'd like to have the money Murdock spent on legal suites on his behalve.

Thursday 11 December

By BUD

Neutral

GO GO MR O ,THE DIFFERENCE IN TV NEWS. TH MAN LIBERSLS HATE AND REAL AMERICANS LOVE . IF WE DIDNT HAVE FOX NEWS ALL THATS LEFT IS ALL TALKING HEADS OF THE LEFT. TO BE A NEWS MAN TODAY IS TO BE A LEFT WING NUTCASE. TO LIE EXATURATE, BE PRO ABORTION AND ANTI CRIST, SNTI CHRISTMAS,PRO BIG GOVERNMENT ANTI GUN, THANK GOD FOR B.O AND OTHERS RUSH INCLUDED " THE VOICES OF REASON"

Thursday 11 December

By Truthsayer

Lowest Rank

Let's get something straight about this story from the beginning. Jesus was
not from Nazereth. If you would take the time to go look it up, there was not such a town or area at him time in history. The translations were wrong when you assume that he was of Nazereth...he was referred to as a
Nasserene, which is an Essene sect not a place

Thursday 11 December

By Dianne

Neutral

Was that word necessary?

Thursday 11 December

By do

Neutral

NAZARETH

(Naz′a‧reth) [probably, Sprout-Town].

A city in Lower Galilee where Jesus lived most of his earthly life, along with his half brothers and half sisters. (Lu 2:51, 52; Mt 13:54-56) Both Joseph and Mary were residents of Nazareth when Gabriel announced the approaching birth of Jesus. (Lu 1:26, 27; 2:4, 39) Later, after their return from Egypt, they took up residence in Nazareth again.—Mt 2:19-23; Lu 2:39.

Location. Most scholars identify Nazareth with En Nasira (Nazerat) in Galilee. If this view is correct, Nazareth was situated in the low mountains just N of the Valley of Jezreel and approximately halfway between the S tip of the Sea of Galilee and the Mediterranean Coast. It was in a mountain basin with hills rising 120 to 150 m (400 to 500 ft) above it. The area was well populated, with a number of cities and towns near Nazareth. Also, it is estimated that one could walk from Nazareth to Ptolemais on the Mediterranean Coast in seven hours, to Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee in five hours, and to Jerusalem in three days.

On one occasion people of Nazareth sought to throw Jesus from “the brow of the mountain upon which their city had been built.” (Lu 4:29) That is not to say that Nazareth was on the very brow or edge, but that it was on a mountain having a brow from which they wanted to hurl Jesus. Some have identified it with a rocky cliff some 12 m (40 ft) high located SW of the city.

Prominence of Nazareth. It is difficult to say with certainty just how prominent Nazareth was in the first century. The most common view of commentators is that Nazareth was then a rather secluded, insignificant village. The principal Biblical statement used to support this view is what Nathanael said when he heard that Jesus was from there: “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (Joh 1:46) This has been taken by many to mean that Nazareth was looked down upon, even by people of Galilee. (Joh 21:2) Nazareth was near trade routes of the area but not directly on them. It was not mentioned by Josephus, though he referred to nearby Japhia as the largest fortified village of all Galilee, leading to the idea that Nazareth was eclipsed by its neighbor.

On the other hand, Nathanael may simply have been expressing surprise that Philip would claim a man from the neighborhood city of Nazareth in Galilee to be the promised Messiah, for the Scriptures had foretold that that one would come from Bethlehem in Judah. (Mic 5:2) Josephus did not mention many of the settlements in Galilee, so his not mentioning Nazareth might not be particularly significant. It is noteworthy that the Bible does not call Nazareth a village, but always a “city.” (Lu 1:26; 2:4, 39) Furthermore, close-by Sepphoris was an important, fortified city having a district court of the Sanhedrin. Nonetheless, whatever its size and prominence, Nazareth was convenient to important trade routes and main cities, and so its inhabitants would have had ready information about the social, religious, and political activities of the time.—Compare Lu 4:23.

Attitude of the People. As Jesus grew up, he progressed “in favor with God and men.” (Lu 2:52) He and his half brothers and half sisters were known by the people of Nazareth, and it was his “custom” to attend the local synagogue each week. (Mt 13:55, 56; Lu 4:16) When he was about 30 years of age, Jesus left Nazareth and was baptized by John. (Mr 1:9; Lu 3:23) Some months later, near the start of his Galilean ministry, Jesus returned to Nazareth and in the synagogue read aloud Isaiah 61:1, 2, applying it to himself. The people manifested a lack of faith and attempted to kill him, “but he went through the midst of them and continued on his way,” taking up residence in Capernaum.—Lu 4:16-30; Mt 4:13.

Over a year later, Christ again visited Nazareth. (Mt 13:54-58; Mr 6:1-6) Though some have thought this to be the same occasion as in Luke 4:16-30, the order of events in Matthew, Mark, and Luke indicates otherwise, as does the fact that Jesus’ activities and the results were somewhat different. His fame may have grown by this time so that a somewhat more hospitable reception was granted him. Though many stumbled over the fact that he was a local man, there is no mention of the people’s trying to kill him this time. He performed some powerful works, but not many, because of the people’s lack of faith. (Mt 13:57, 58) Jesus then left and began his third circuit of Galilee.—Mr 6:6.

Thursday 11 December

By do

Neutral

(Naz‧a‧rene′) [probably from Heb. ne′tser, “sprout”].

A descriptive epithet applied to Jesus and later to his followers. The names Nazarene and Nazirite are not to be confused, for, though spelled similarly in English, they stem from altogether different Hebrew words with different meanings.
It was natural and not particularly unusual to speak of Jesus as the Nazarene, since from infancy (less than three years of age) he was raised as the local carpenter’s son in the city of Nazareth, a place about 100 km (60 mi) N of Jerusalem. The practice of associating persons with the places from which they came was common in those days. —2Sa 3:2, 3; 17:27; 23:25-37; Na 1:1; Ac 13:1; 21:29.

Frequently Jesus was referred to, in widely scattered places and by all kinds of persons, as the Nazarene. (Mr 1:23, 24; 10:46, 47; 14:66-69; 16:5, 6; Lu 24:13-19; Joh 18:1-7) Jesus himself accepted and used the name. (Joh 18:5-8; Ac 22:6-8) On the sign that Pilate had placed on the torture stake he wrote in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek: “Jesus the Nazarene the King of the Jews.” (Joh 19:19, 20) From Pentecost 33 C.E. forward, the apostles as well as others often spoke of Jesus Christ as the Nazarene or as being from Nazareth.—Ac 2:22; 3:6; 4:10; 6:14; 10:38; 26:9.

Prophetic. Matthew pointed out that the name Nazarene was prophetically foretold as another sign identifying Jesus Christ as the promised Messiah. He called this to the attention of his readers when he told how Joseph brought Mary and her child back from Egypt following Herod’s death. “Moreover,” Matthew wrote, “being given divine warning in a dream, he [Joseph] withdrew into the territory of Galilee, and came and dwelt in a city named Nazareth, that there might be fulfilled what was spoken through the prophets: ‘He will be called a Nazarene.’”—Mt 2:19-23.

Nazareth is not mentioned in the Hebrew Scriptures. Some suppose Matthew had reference to some lost prophetic book or some unwritten tradition, but his expression, “spoken through the prophets,” is used by writers of the Christian Greek Scriptures only in reference to the same canonical collection of the Hebrew Scriptures we have today. The key to understanding, apparently, lies in equating Nazarene with ne′tser, mentioned above as meaning sprout.

With this in mind, it is evident that Matthew was referring to what Isaiah (11:1) had said concerning Messiah: “There must go forth a twig out of the stump of Jesse; and out of his roots a sprout [we‧ne′tser] will be fruitful.” Another Hebrew word, tse′mach, also means sprout and was used by other prophets when referring to the Messiah. Matthew used the plural, saying that “prophets” had mentioned this coming “Sprout.” For example, Jeremiah wrote about the “righteous sprout” as an offshoot of David. (Jer 23:5; 33:15) Zechariah describes a king-priest “whose name is Sprout,” a prophecy that could apply only to Jesus the Nazarene, the great spiritual Temple-builder.—Zec 3:8; 6:12, 13.

Thursday 11 December

By Carlos R. Lopez, Miami, FL

Highest Rank

Bill O’Ralley is the most distrustful political news commentator, never got his fact straight, jump to conclusion, in most of his accusation, he is bias, twist the facts, makes his enemies(democrats), guilty by association.
I compare and listened to Fox Bill O’Ralley vs. MSNBC Christ Mathews, in one hand you have Bill the bully and in the other the trustful, honest, straight talk facts from both sides, to let the viewer make his own opinion. In the other hand Bill the bully make such of horrendous, unfunded comments, creating anarchy in the minds of a good segment of the audience (the base), eventually getting thick minds do thick thinks. Mr. Bill O’Ralley lets be proactive, for the good of the country.

Thursday 11 December

By liz

Neutral

Arrogance and ego thy name is Bill O'Reilly

Thursday 11 December

By Deuce

Neutral

Are you frickin' kidding me. I've watched Bill almost eveyday for the past 2 years and he always defends or speaks out against to those worthy. He dosn't care what side of the fence your on. He tells it the way it is. These Liberals really need to get a life.

Thursday 11 December

By JO-ANNE

Highest Rank

THEY ARE REDICULOUS !!!! GET A GRIP !!!
THE PUBLIC IS SO WORRIED ABOUT BEING POLITICALLY CORRECT THEY HAVE FORGOTTEN WHAT THIS COUNTRY IS ABOUT. WHAT HE SAID IS TRUE, & NOW TAKEN OUT OF CONTEXT. IF YOUR DIFFERENT & YOU TAKE A STAND PEOPLE GET INTIMEDATED & TURN ON YOU....HISTORY REPEATING ITSELF !!! OH & BY THE WAY, HERES A BIGGY..."MERRY CHRISTMAS"

HANG ME, JUST SHOOT ME....."GROW UP" ITS ALL IN HOW YOU CHOOSE TO HEAR IT !!!

Thursday 11 December

By lmc10dpc

Neutral

I get enough crap from the Boston Globe and regular tv without having AOL contributing to the pile. NPR while entitled to their idiotic opinion, it's really irritating they're using tax dollars to foster their social agenda.

Thursday 11 December

By Allee Katz

Highest Rank

AOL should reevaluate their news media propaganda--Bil O'Reily uncovers the motives of a lot of corruption--the religious bash you are giving him--come off it--there is a war--an economic downturn, and many other problems--and you are going to waste your time on this comment--poor journalism--you just do not like it when he exposes some of the corruption taking place with our government officials--and they are corrupt--stop covering for them

Thursday 11 December

By Ken

Highest Rank

This is an "Asylum" interpetation of the story, not an aol interpetation. What ever your belief of the story of Jesus the Nazareene, he definetly had strong beliefs and the courage to express them. Just like Bill O'Reilly.

Thursday 11 December

By james pruett

Neutral

he is a pompus ass. has to get in the last word, a bully and a know it all. but i still watch nhis show, maybe because its on 4 times a day on satilite tv. go figure, but he also has good looking female stars and host.

Thursday 11 December

By james pruett

Neutral

Thursday 11 December

By Gail

Neutral

If I recall, others were killed by being nailed to a cross. And I mean thousands upon thousands, it was a very popular torture then. So Jesus wasn't the only one and the fact that the church seems to dismiss all those other poor souls who suffered is a lame excuse.