Taker

Don't ever insult my ability to interpret the Bible! Especially if you have no way of backing it up! You only addressed 2 verses that I provided. The verse In Matthew is clear as day, If you judge others than you will be judged, and on the same measure I might add. How can you possibly say that punching someone couldn't be seen as judging them? A punch is a physical (rather than verbal) way of saying guilty! Reading more into Romans chapter 12 only further backs up my point. We are not to take vengeance! Violence:behavior involving physical force intended to hurt, damage, or kill someone or something. <-- The definition of violence. Just to be clear. This is what I am referring to. Violence is not Love. Violence is darkness. Darkness will never drive out darkness. Violence leads to more violence. More violence leads to hatred, hatred leads to rage, rage leads to revenge, and revenge leads to the dark side young padawan!

Man invented medicines for diabetes too. Would you advocate stopping those and seeing if God keeps you alive? Such violence in tone, all I can say is that for me I hate the concept of "life support". I don't need machines to delay my ascent to heaven.

I haven't seen the film yet, however, my brother has. He says that on the boat Noah considered killing his whole family to end the "curse" of human existence. Why the heck would he build the boat in the first place if it was just so he could murder his family? My brother also says that the movie makes up a bunch of horse poop when it comes to story. Stuff about fallen angels, stone statues, Cain's descendants representing all evil. Seth's descendant's representing good. The man who made this movie may have very well been taking the same drugs that those who invented Greek Mythology took long ago.

Very simple, man invented the plug.

So, I have meditated on some of the scripture that has been mentioned in this discussion. I now fully believe that no sin committed by another human being can justify the use of violence against them. "Do not judge others, so that you will not be judged" (Matthew 7:1) is very clearly written in the New Testament. So, how in the world could punching a guy in the face (or shooting him with a gun) possibly not be considered judging him? By committing an act of violence, you are telling another human being "you are wrong, I am right." Can Christians claim that when you sin you become so much less of a person that all evil can be justified if used to stop you? "Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable." (Romans 12:17). To live in a way where you ask yourself, "what would I do if someone attacked my family?" makes it sound like you lack faith in the God of the universe who's love is infinite. There isn't a single thing that has ever happened in the world that God couldn't have stopped. Suffering is destined to come to those who sin, but Christians aren't called to take matters into their own hands. Remember what happened in Genesis chapter 19, the lord had plans to wipe out Sodom and Gomorrah. However, there was a righteous man living in Sodom and his name was Lot. Lot had been living in Sodom despite just how corrupt the citizens who surrounded him were. God sent 2 angles to Sodom. These angles were there to personally protect, warn and help Lot (as well as his family) escape Sodom. During the story, men from Sodom surround Lot's house while the angels are inside the house with Lot. These men get very angry and there are even threats of rape! Let us remember, that even though the house is surrounded by corrupt men who deserve destruction, neither God nor the angels told Lot to attack any of the men. Instead, the angels blinded all of the men. God can protect you no matter what, to say "I need a gun, or else God will allow my family members to get attacked right in front of me in such a way that I would wish that I had a gun." Sounds like a message that comes directly from the devil himself. Please take another look at the scripture in my original post. He who uses the sword will die by the sword. Not, he who lives by the sword will die by the sword. Now, I must address all of the violence that was committed in the Old Testament by Christians for the sake of God. If a Christian killed a non-Christian in the bible (and the act wasn't condemned by God) then that means that God deliberately told that Christian to kill a specific person or group of people. Joshua was told by God to lead a violent military campaign against the Canaanites. This was God's will for Joshua, and God made it clear to Joshua that this was his will. God told Joshua that it was his duty to lead the Israelites in battle against the Canaanites. I want to make this point clear, unless God tells you to, you do not have his permission to kill or hurt anyone. "But I must carry a Gun on me at all times. I cannot afford to drop my guard. If my Gun is at home and I am enjoying myself on vacation at the beach, then I have sinned by not being prepared to protect my family at this moment. Lord, please forgive me for not having an appropriate weapon on me at all times that I intend to use against my enemies." I do not endorse this way of thinking. If you tell me, "I need to be armed at all times!" then I will ask you "Why? Do you find the armor of God to be in-adequate?" To summarize all of my above points: 1. To commit violence against an enemy is to judge them, Matthew 7:1 tells us not to judge others. 2. Sin doesn't justify sin. Evil doesn't justify evil. "Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that." - Martin Luther King, Jr. 3. God will protect the righteous. (Genesis chapter 19, or look to Acts 7:54-60) 4. God never gave man the ability to decide when it was right to kill or not kill another human. Unless you get direct orders from God, you should not kill or harm another human being. 5. The armor of God is sufficient! The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these. - (Mark 12:31).

Wow! You guys have changed my mind about violence whole-heatedly. I've always WANTED to believe that violence could be justified if it was for the purpose of protecting peace. Now I have reasons that can be traced back to scripture. Patriot, thank you for sharing John 2:15. I think it might be my new all time favorite verse. Also, because the lord has blessed me with an interest in weapons, warfare, and history, I now realize that it's okay to enjoy thinking and philosophizing about these things (which I do all the time). Thank you all very much for your insight. To anyone else who isn't convinced that violence can be justified from a biblical perspective, start reading the book of Joshua. I just started reading it and it is quickly becoming one of my favorite books of all time!

A simple, yet extremely important question. Can violence, in any form, be justified from a biblical perspective? As of now, I am leaning toward no, in reference to Jesus' direct words to peter. "Put away your sword," Jesus told him. "Those who use the sword will die by the sword." (Matthew 26:52 New Living Translation (NLT)). Please consider this question from all angles, from a potential 1 on 1 fight with a bully to a world war. Happy chatter!

If everyone's heart belonged to Jesus, I would: 1. Build a literal fence that separates a church and a state, then tear it down. 2. Build a playground out of bamboo for all to enjoy (including me). 3. Sing, I would sing whenever I am in the mood. 4. Fourth and foremost, ensure that no-matter how far you travel that you can never be further than 10 miles from a church. No matter how small that church has to be. And yes, this does mean (by extension) that there must be a church located 10 miles from the top of every mountain peak, (including Mt. Everest). The song "go tell it on the mountain" would have a whole new meaning!

To be honest, I like it when a women dresses modestly. It makes me feel like she respects herself and doesn't roll around in the mud with pigs.

Men need to learn not to lust. Women struggle with the issue as well, but in a different way. Both must learn how not to lust.

I don't know anything about madea movies, but I do like films with christian values. I like it when the main-character is a good guy and not an anti-hero. Its okay if the hero has flaws (just like every human being) but you know that even when they screw up they are still good.

For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander. Matthew 15:19 NLT The very idea that "all men lust" comes from the idea that it is ok to master-bait. I have struggled with this issue many times myself. But once I gave up masturbation it was like the temptation to lust was lifted from me.

I recently discovered that in Peter 1: 4, 12-19 the NIV and NLT and King James versions of the bible mention the word Christian.

There's nothing wrong with technology, but relying on it is a problem. I've recently decided to stop carrying my cell-phone around with me and it actually makes me happier.

^ Thank you Nebula, You have answered my questions in a way that makes sense.

Typically If a demon is present in any act you can feel it. Especially if your soul belongs to Jesus.

Okay, so my parents obligate to the Mosaic covenant. I am born. I have Judaism in my genes? As soon as I walk into a synagogue I renounce the Jewish faith, and devote my life to Buddhism until I die. Do I still die as a Jewish man?

So, If my parents decided to become Jewish before I was born does that make me Jewish?

So I've been doing some thinking. Please, these are only thoughts that pertain to the origin of the word "Christianity". And hopefully you can accept this news openly. So an interesting question was raised to me a long time ago. How come the Jews don't believe in Jesus if Jesus was a Jew? The answer is a little hard to explain to a non-believer. I mean why are we "Christians" the ones who believe in a Jew calling ourselves this? As far as I know the word "christian" doesn't appear in the bible anywhere. The answer is, orthodox Jews Believe the lie that Jesus was not the son of man and, therefore, had no authority over scripture. So why aren't we who believe in Christ called Jews? Or why did we allow a division like this to occur? If you ask most people a simple question, "was Jesus a christian". They would most likely answer "yes" without much thought. They wouldn't realize that Christianity would Imply that we follow Jesus Christ. Jesus saying "I am a devout Christian" would mean that he devotes himself to himself. Only a sinner would devote themselves to themselves. I think that a common miss conception is that when Jesus died he stopped being a Jew and became a christian. Or, he followed himself to heaven per say. All I am asking is, why did we allow orthodox Jews to take the title of "We are the real Jews, God's chosen people" when we know that they believe a lie rather than the truth?

Kay Lay, your post is very interesting. When you come to Christ it is easy to expect a feeling of "I'm fully healed". But we all have weaknesses. We all have stuff to work on. What it seems like is that you may feel a little distant from God right now. I am always hesitant around doctors and medications that make you "feel" better about "voices" or bad dreams. I feel like we really don't have enough knowledge about the human brain to truly say that we can make pills that make voices go away. Could a pill really stop a demon? I actually struggled with very scary dreams at one point. They started out normal but would always end with this feeling that was almost like someone physically holding me down to my bed. It was scary and was unlike any other feeling. I'm not sure how I got these dreams to stop, maybe it was prayer, reading scripture before bed or just some act of faith I can't say for sure. Just remember that you CAN struggle with these issues and still have salvation.

Thanks guys. (Sincerely) I think I will just beat up someone whose made me mad a lot. (Sarcasm)

Hello Worthy, I'm relatively new here and I would like to talk about an issue that I struggle with often. I grew up with a dad who can get angry very quickly and I feel like I have inherited that trait. I am very sensitive so it is easy to set me off. Over the years I've gotten better at not making foolish decisions due to my anger. But I still feel like I have a problem. In a way its hard to describe, I just feel like no matter how hard I try I just can't avoid getting really angry really fast. What should I do?

I've watched SpongeBob for quite some time now. The new episodes are just dull but the old ones are funny. If there were innuendos I didn't really notice them. It always seemed like a clean show to me. By the way MorningGlory, they are "Crabby Patties". And yes, I always have wondered why they sell Crabby Patties when the boss of the restaurant is a crab. I think its some kind of joke.

Islam: Peace through constant warfare.

Boxes are the best invention of all time.