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outsider
02-13-2008, 01:52 AM
...What do you see the term resist as? When it says do not resist an evil person, do you interpret it as do not resist fighting back against an evil person, or do not resist them entirely.

If someone hits you and you put up a fight you are resisting them. It is my take that when Jesus said to not even resist that he meant to not even fight the person. Let them have their way. Did Christ resist the cross, Pontius Pilate or the men who brought him to trial? I try to apply a holistic view to the New Testament in as much as I can and so I recall what Jesus resisted and what he didn't resist. He never resisted force.


Neither supercedes the other. Both are part of our Biblical history. Jesus's teachings are the new school yes, but his Sermon on the mount again returns to the fact that he kept saying "You have heard it here" and so on. Speaking directly to his deciples with the term "You". I strongly believe that when he said turn the other cheek he was referring to those who would persecute them on their journey of teaching.

Like I completely see your stance on this, but our entire argument is stemming from our two interpretations of the exact same text we have to agree on that. We can sit here for a 1000 years and neither of us is going to budge.

The prophecies in the OT that predict a messiah, Jeremiah 31:31-34, or Ezekiel 37:26, that will bring a new covenant and peace. Hebrews 8:13 states that the old covenant is obsolete. This is why we can eat non kosher food, don't have the rules of Leviticus to determine what the fabric of our clothing is made of, don't need to sacrifice animals to remove sins or get circumcised. The old rules have had new ones put in their place. They are both of our Biblical history and there is still plenty to learn from the OT but the rules and the covenant given there no longer apply to us.

His Sermon on the Mount was addressing the difference. He was telling them the new rules. He is telling you to sacrifice your ego so that Christ's light might shine on the offender. To live how Christ lived and to move people how he moved them. It isn't to beat someone into submission for attacking you.

Neither of us have to budge to have a discussion. Both of us will come out with new insight at the very least.

Armedmadillo
02-13-2008, 03:30 AM
See the way I understand "Do not resist" is like resisting eating cake. When you resist it, you turn your back to it, you dont want to have it. So when it says Do not resist evil men, Im understanding that you should be frontal with the evil, have at it, fight the evil.

TheZenMan
02-13-2008, 02:17 PM
Should you let someone murder your family because Jesus wouldn't kill someone to protect them (but at the same time I know everything happens for a reason and God really can protect your family if that is his will)?

How do you know Jesus wouldn't kill someone to protect another? And what if God's will is only realized through our own will?


Should no Christian be in the military even if they never take up arms? Should Christians not be involved in the government at all because of the force the government uses either directly or indirectly? I wonder about these things probably too much

That line of thinking seems to demonize both the military and the government.
From my understanding of Christianity, God told Jesus that in order for Him to be the light, He must go into the dark.

So as a Christian who seeks to live like The Son, wouldn't you willingly go into places that you see as dark, like battlefields, or government, to shed light?

Isn't a willingness to die for the sake of others also something Jesus had?

Lil Rock N
02-14-2008, 01:24 AM
Take sometime to learn Hebrew then reread the Tanach.

djangojazz
02-14-2008, 02:47 AM
For those of you who are Christian how can you justify war?

I see many who call themselves Christian take up arms about abortion but who show no remorse if a children's hospital is bombed. I see no difference.

If we are to take the Bible literally should we not take literally such parts as these:

Love is the supreme law for the Christian (Romans 13:10).
Peace is the Christian's obligation (Romans 12:18).
Retaliation is to be avoided (Romans 12:19)
You should not resist an evil person, but whoever smites you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also (Matthew 5:39)
We are to love our enemies—and are to bless those who curse us, do good to those who hate us, and pray for those who spitefully use us (Matthew 5:44)
If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all. (Romans 12:18)
Now is my kingdom not from here. My kingdom is a different kingdom; My kingdom operates by higher laws; those who are members of My kingdom do not fight.If love and mercy are how Jesus defeated death and the devil and by using the name Christian implying you follow Christ, how can you reconcile having everything but love and mercy?

If the greatest commandment after loving God with all your heart, soul and mind is to love your neighbor as you love yourself why would you hate another?

If you aren't willing to show love and mercy even to those who do you evil why do you call yourself Christian? That's what Jesus tasked you with.



Shrugs.....

Jesus was a liberal, I think that's something most devout Christians just will never get.

TheZenMan
02-14-2008, 12:18 PM
Well then, it's good that you get it so well for them.

The poor fools.

fibula
02-14-2008, 09:03 PM
Everyone knows jesus was bipartisan

outsider
02-14-2008, 09:18 PM
See the way I understand "Do not resist" is like resisting eating cake. When you resist it, you turn your back to it, you dont want to have it. So when it says Do not resist evil men, Im understanding that you should be frontal with the evil, have at it, fight the evil.

As I read that I pictured you shooting a cake with an Uzi so that you could resist it.

TheZenMan
02-14-2008, 09:28 PM
A cake with an Uzi?

flol

Armedmadillo
02-15-2008, 01:34 AM
The Cake is my biblical enemy.

BillyBobRedneck
02-15-2008, 03:06 AM
There is no cake.

Especially since ice cream cake doesn't count, because we got tons of that shit.