A member of your family is being threatened with a gun. Is free will so important that you would stand by and do nothing in order not to violate the [i]attacker's[/i] free will or would you step in and protect your family?
[i]*For the purposes of this question, don't worry about your personal safety or realistic ability to stop a shooter*[/i]
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I am against violence so I would pray and open my Bible and tell them about Jesus before they kill us. If God so chooses to save me and my family it is his will, or I would die and go to heaven. I don't live for this world, I live for heaven. Jesus says turn the other cheek, forgive 70x7. I want to hear "Good and faithful servant" Jesus said they killed me so can you expect different treatment? So far God has saved me many times over. Praise God!
@Carazaa there is no biblical command to let yourself or others be killed. Quite the opposite in fact. What you are saying is ridiculous, with all due respect.
@Pikachu I didn't choose one of your choices before because I wouldn't personally do anything except pray and witness. I guess praying can be considering "protecting" I assumed you meant protecting as in physically defending with a gun or something like some people might. I pick the second one then.
@Carazaa I'd like to add some context to that quote about turning the other cheek. Folks don't realize that what he meant was not what people take it to mean now.
You see, in those days, only the rich could afford toilet paper, so everybody else just wiped with their left hand and did other shit with their right. (Pun intended; deal with it.) And so if you slapped someone, you made damn sure you slapped them with your right hand, never the left. In addition, an open palmed slap was reserved for people you considered beneath you, whereas a backhand was for striking an equal. So what Jesus was saying was that if someone (i.e., a Roman citizen) struck one of his disciples with an open palm, they were to turn the other cheek, forcing that person to then choose between an open palmed slap with the left hand, a backhand, or walking away. It was a non-violent way of forcing an aggressor into a situation in which only one response didn't lead to an unpleasant result.
@Carazaa I am not saying you aren't a christian. I just think you are picking & choosing what passages to follow based on your desire for a pacifist understanding. Jesus was not a pacifist
@SamInAZ Jesus showed us the way to behave. He was absolutely a pacifist. He came as a lamb to be slaughtered! He will come again as a lion. He is God!
[i]And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables;[/i]
John 2:15
He made a weapon and drove the merchants and money-lenders out of the temple.
Part of that point evidently being that sometimes violence is the answer when the crime demands it? That certainly falls in line with god's various punishment by mass killing that occur throughout the old testament.
[b][c=BF0000]“But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you” (Matthew 5:43–44).[/c][/b]
@LordShadowfire Israel's future is in the Bible, God explains it right there! Before Jesus comes Israel will be surrounded by armies, and the gospel will have reached the whole world. We might be right there, or very close.
[b][c=BF0000]20 “When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you will know that its desolation is near. 21 Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those in the city get out, and let those in the country not enter the city. 22 For this is the time of punishment in fulfillment of all that has been written. 23 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! There will be great distress in the land and wrath against this people. 24 They will fall by the sword and will be taken as prisoners to all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.
25 “There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. 26 People will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. 27 At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”
29 He told them this parable: “Look at the fig tree and all the trees. 30 When they sprout leaves, you can see for yourselves and know that summer is near. 31 Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near.
32 “Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 33 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
34 “Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you suddenly like a trap. 35 For it will come on all those who live on the face of the whole earth. 36 Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.” [/c][/b]
