What’s your opinion about” if anyone strikes you on the right chee

[missmuffet]

To "turn the other cheek" does not mean pacifism,or does it mean we place ourselves in danger.It means not to return insult for insult in retaliation which is how worldly people act.Responding to hatred with love might get someone's attention.Jesus was the perfect example.He was silent before his accusers.

[manford]

Peter followed Jesus and carried a sword as Jesus had permitted him via Luke 22:36.  That's how the Roman soldier's ear was cut off.  Jesus just does not want  you as he did with Peter in that passage to take the liscense to carry a weapon to belligerence.  And the two witnesses were mentioned earlier in Revelation.  They were also given special abilities with which to protect themselves until they were overtaken.  And as far as Jesus being a passivist.  I don;t believe that is true.  In the book of matthew out right he was very aggressive and almost abrasive to the Jewish aristocracy.  He didn't fight back when he was being crucified because he was fulfilling a necessary purpose for the time being.  The bible makes it very clear that he will avenge himself (Revelation 1:7).  If he was passive, this would not be the case and there wouldn't be a such thing as armageddon.

[OakWood]

Scripture can only be analyzed as a whole picture and not by cherry-picking certain verses, Some verses appear to contradict other verses, but they don't if you read the whole story.

 

If a man strikes you in anger then try not to lose your temper and retaliate. It is too late to defend yourself, the deed has already been done. Vengeance is not yours but belongs to God.

 

However, if the man intends to strike you again and possibly strike your loved ones too, then you have every right to defend yourself. If you cannot reason with him (by offering him your cloak) then what else can you do? Jesus told Peter to put his sword away, but he never told him to throw it away. Peter was still allowed to carry the sword. Jesus must have been aware that Peter carried a sword - this information was not a surprise to him.

By the way, swords were not considered to be farming implements or tools for cutting food. The purpose of a sword is for fighting or defending oneself!

The fact that Peter never used his sword to defend himself again is irrelevant. He had a special role to fulfill which made him an exception (just like the other apostles).

 

We must always be prepared to forgive our enemies, and as Jesus himself said, we should love our enemies. At the end of the day, though, they are still our enemies, otherwise we would call them our friends.

 

Christianity is peaceful, but it is not pacifist. There is a big difference. If Christianity was pacifist, it wouldn't have survived today and Christ's sacrifice would have been in vain, because very few people would have heard his word.

If European Christendom had not fought against the Muslim invaders then today we would all be reading the Koran. This would have affected North America too.

The U.S.,A would either never have been discovered (due to sluggish and restricted Muslim innovation) or it would have had no First Amendment and no free space for Christians to worship.

If the Allies hadn't fought against Nazi Germany then European Jews would be completely extinct and there would be no nation of Israel. Christianity would also be extinct or severely restricted in Britain, France, Germany etc.

 

Pacifism is tolerant of evil under the pretense that evil will stop being evil if we ignore it or show that we wish it no harm, Evil does not think this way. Evil needs to be fought. You can't turn the other cheek where evil is involved. You can try and reason or compromise with the people who are behind the evil and you can help, comfort and nurture those who have escaped evil and sometimes even those who participated in it.

But, you can't ignore those who are deliberately assisting or propagating evil.

[silviawang]

My doctrinal question is still here:

Who will be the 2 witnesses, nobody knows ,but very clear ,they are the testimony of JESUS, bcs REV is the end of BIBLE, especially the END OF NT,

But what they will do :

“And if anyone wants to harm them, fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes; anyone who wants to harm them must be killed in this manner”

Will be directly contradict to

Matthew 5: ³⁹But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also;

Luke 6:27 ‘But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, ²⁸bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.

-------

So even they appear, and what they do will not match the teachings in gospel, and obviously they will disobey JESUS, so how can they be the testimony of JESUS,bcs when they be harmed ,they fight back, and to the enemy ,they kill,that’s  not JESUS’ teaching.

[Elhanan]

My doctrinal question is still here:

Who will be the 2 witnesses, nobody knows ,but very clear ,they are the testimony of JESUS, bcs REV is the end of BIBLE, especially the END OF NT,

But what they will do :

“And if anyone wants to harm them, fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes; anyone who wants to harm them must be killed in this manner”

Will be directly contradict to

Matthew 5: ³⁹But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also;

Luke 6:27 ‘But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, ²⁸bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.

-------

So even they appear, and what they do will not match the teachings in gospel, and obviously they will disobey JESUS, so how can they be the testimony of JESUS,bcs when they be harmed ,they fight back, and to the enemy ,they kill,that’s  not JESUS’ teaching.

There is no contradiction at all - Jesus will kill those who oppose him at his 2nd coming, so obviously Matt 5 & Luke 6 cannot mean what you take it to mean.

And the rest were killed with the sword which proceeded from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse. And all the birds were filled with their flesh. Rev 19:21

[clontzjm]

Matthew 05:39 - Turn the other cheek

Philo - ON HUSBANDRY [based on the cross references in the Comprehensive New Testament]

XXV. (111) Do you, therefore, my friend, never enter into a contest of evil, and never contend for the pre-eminence in such practices, but rather exert yourself with all your might to escape from them. And if ever, being under the compulsion of some power which is mightier than yourself, you are compelled to engage in such a strife, take care to be without delay defeated; (112) for then you, being defeated, will be a glorious conqueror, and those who have gained the victory will have got the worst. And do not ever entrust it to a herald to proclaim the victory of your rival or to the judge to crown; but do you go yourself and offer to him the acknowledgment of victory and the palm, and crown him, if he will, and bind him with wreaths of triumph, and proclaim him as conqueror yourself, pronouncing with a loud and piercing voice such a proclamation as this: "O ye spectators, and ye who have offered prizes at these games! In this contest which you have proposed to us of appetite, and passion, and intemperance, and folly, and injustice, I have been defeated, and this man whom ye behold has gained the victory. And he has gained it by such a superabundance of excellence, that even we, who might very naturally have envied our conquerors, do not grudge him the triumph." (113) Therefore, in all these unholy contests, surrender the prizes to others; but, as for those which are really holy, study yourself to gain the crown in them.