Wednesday, September 27, 2017

Practise non-violent resistance to evil

Morning: Psalm 119:97-120; 2 Kings 6:1-23; I Corinthians 5:9-6:8
Evening: Psalm 81, 82; Matthew 5:38-48

Jesus teaches to not resist; but he is recommending non-violence, not subservience.  “If anyone strikes you on the right cheek,” it’s a demeaning backhand slap; experiment with it. When you “turn the other cheek,” you are saying, “I will not use violence, but I will not be demeaned by you.”  If someone sued you for your coat and you gave your cloak too, you brought shame on him for leaving you naked.  Any Roman soldier could force you to carry his pack one mile; but two miles, and he would be punished. Resist, but non-violently, and with your dignity intact.

Graham

2 comments:

  1. A friend had this to say in response:

    Of course I agree with the words of Christ...but it seems to me that the Christian in the Canadian society today has not responded to the prejudice against Christians i.e. as seen in teaching in schools (evolution), anti- christian talk in our media, and even on a social basis where the Christian opinion or positions tend to be put down rather than at least respected for their principles etc
    Anyway Tim, I just listened to CBC for a while (which has a lot of good stuff) and wound up feeling this way....the non Christian in Canadian society in many situations is very vocal in putting down the Christian and the Christian voice is very quiet in defending their faith

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    Replies
    1. Upon privately communicating this to Graham, he replied:

      "... to this comment ... I would probably respond with more questions:
      - How is the “I agree with Christ ... but” statement not self-contradictory in this case? Either you agree with Jesus' non-defensive stance or you don’t. If you don’t, you have to take the matter up with Jesus. I do not feel the need to defend Jesus’ stance against the disagreements Christians have with it.
      - Or coming at it from another angle … Wouldn’t it be wiser for us to dig more deeply into what Jesus has to say to us about how we should respond to those who attack Christianity? Defensiveness is itself often a projection of our own doubts and fears onto those who attack us. Maybe we are really defending ourselves when we defend Christianity? Perhaps we are uncertain about Jesus’ Way. If we were not, we would not need to defend ourselves against those who attack us for being on the Way of Jesus. Now if we want to invite them to join us on the Way, that’s not a defensive stance at all … so, perhaps the response to those who attack Christianity is always … 'Come and see'?"

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