James Talarico is a candidate for U.S. Senate and he aspires to represent the Great State of Texas.
The media frequently identifies him as a Biblical scholar. That is curious because he makes puzzling claims about what the Bible does and does not say and he backpedals on the importance of Christianity.
His claim (paraphrasing, here) that Christianity is one way to find truth but there are at least a half-dozen ways that are just as good is the statement that gets the most attention.
The literate Christian is quick to respond with John 14:6
"Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
Another puzzling statement by Talarico got much less attention. He said "Nowhere in the Bible does Jesus tell us to worship him."
The only way you can get snookered into this argument is if you believe every verse in the Bible must stand alone with no connection to anything else written in the Bible.
There are many times in the Gospels where Jesus announces his divinity (i.e. tells his listeners that he is God). He was using language that was powerful and direct for his listeners (who were pious Jews) but might bounce off of us. One example: "I am the good shepherd..." in John chapter 10 is a direct reference to Psalm 23 which starts out "The Lord is my shepherd..."
When asked by a contemporary, Biblical scholar "Which is the greatest commandment" in Matt chapter 22, Jesus immediately responded "“You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind"
To love "with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind" is an excellent definition of "worship", in my mind.
So, for a person with multiple years of study in a seminary to claim that Jesus never told us to worship him is either totally ADHD or has difficulty telling the truth when it doesn't serve his purposes.
Given Talarico's current profession, I am more inclined to attribute his mental-lapses to the second cause.
I'm curious to know how ADHD would lead to defective theology. I'm more inclined to believe he is a leftist ideologue: everything is filtered through the "path to political power" sieve. They say what they think will garner support.
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