Biblical command to 'turn the other cheek' doesn't mean Christians should 'tolerate tyranny'

[Vambram]

Kirk Cameron: Biblical command to 'turn the other cheek' doesn't mean Christians should 'tolerate tyranny'

Kirk Cameron has some thoughts on what it really means to turn the other cheek

www.christianpost.com

Kirk Cameron has some thoughts on what it really means to "turn the other cheek."
The actor said intolerance, at least when it comes to evil and tyranny, is, in fact, a “very essential Christian virtue,” one which, he added, America’s founding fathers espoused.

In a Feb. 21 appearance on the “Timcast IRL” podcast with Tim Pool, Cameron touched upon a number of topics, including his fight against “religious viewpoint discrimination” in public libraries and Noah Webster’s Christian influence on education.
But it was in response to Pool’s apparent reference to a Christian Post story earlier this month about his comments on conservative Christians playing a role in America's decline by being “tolerant and accepting” that led to a lively conversation between Pool and Cameron.

Crediting a 2023 speech by entrepreneur Patrick Bet David for his comments, Pool summarized David's speech as essentially saying, “Christians in this country are good people who keep saying OK to these people, being tolerant, allowing them to live the way they want to live.
"But what happens is they push more into the institutions, they introduce dangerous, bad ideas, they start targeting kids, and now we're here where we are today."

Cameron responded by saying “turn the other cheek” and “love your neighbor” were never intended to allow for the tolerance of evil.

“… I see so many who are just tolerating evil and that’s not loving your neighbor,” he said. “At the end of the day, the two great Commandments of Christianity are to love God with all of your heart, mind, soul and strength, and the second is like it, to love your neighbor as yourself.

“If you 'tolerate' the kinds of things that bring misery to your neighbors and ultimately strip them of their liberties, you're not loving them.”
As an example, he cited Just War Theory, followed by most Christians for over a thousand years, which states that if you believe your enemy is preparing to attack, you are justified in defending your own people by attacking first.

Cameron said the Constitution is another means of mitigating against overreach by tyrants.
“We don't tolerate tyranny, either from the outside or the inside, and that is a very essential Christian virtue, is to not tolerate that type of thing,” he added.

 

[A2SG]

Kirk Cameron has some thoughts on....

Surely other members of the cast of Growing Pains have some thoughts on the matter.

Has Boner weighed in yet?

-- A2SG, what about Leonardo DiCaprio?

 

[stevil]

Is the point of this thread to inch Republican supporters closer to wanting to pick up their guns and attack the other half of USA?

Putin would be proud.

 

[DaisyDay]

Turn the other cheek is pretty clear. When you have to bloviate for paragraphs to explain that the plain phrase doesn’t actually mean what it clearly says, perhaps you are substituting your own theology for that of Christ.

Where in the New Testament does it say that killing in self defense is allowed?

 

[public hermit]

Turn the other cheek is pretty clear. When you have to bloviate for paragraphs to explain that the plain phrase doesn’t actually mean what it clearly says, perhaps you are substituting your own theology for that of Christ.

Where in the New Testament does it say that killing in self defense is allowed?

I think the point is that we need to appropriately qualify turn the other cheek and love your neighbor with just war theory. This is a culture war, after all.

 

[Larniavc]

Kirk Cameron: Biblical command to 'turn the other cheek' doesn't mean Christians should 'tolerate tyranny'

Kirk Cameron has some thoughts on what it really means to turn the other cheek

www.christianpost.com

Kirk Cameron has some thoughts on what it really means to "turn the other cheek."
The actor said intolerance, at least when it comes to evil and tyranny, is, in fact, a “very essential Christian virtue,” one which, he added, America’s founding fathers espoused.

In a Feb. 21 appearance on the “Timcast IRL” podcast with Tim Pool, Cameron touched upon a number of topics, including his fight against “religious viewpoint discrimination” in public libraries and Noah Webster’s Christian influence on education.
But it was in response to Pool’s apparent reference to a Christian Post story earlier this month about his comments on conservative Christians playing a role in America's decline by being “tolerant and accepting” that led to a lively conversation between Pool and Cameron.

Crediting a 2023 speech by entrepreneur Patrick Bet David for his comments, Pool summarized David's speech as essentially saying, “Christians in this country are good people who keep saying OK to these people, being tolerant, allowing them to live the way they want to live.
"But what happens is they push more into the institutions, they introduce dangerous, bad ideas, they start targeting kids, and now we're here where we are today."

Cameron responded by saying “turn the other cheek” and “love your neighbor” were never intended to allow for the tolerance of evil.

“… I see so many who are just tolerating evil and that’s not loving your neighbor,” he said. “At the end of the day, the two great Commandments of Christianity are to love God with all of your heart, mind, soul and strength, and the second is like it, to love your neighbor as yourself.

“If you 'tolerate' the kinds of things that bring misery to your neighbors and ultimately strip them of their liberties, you're not loving them.”
As an example, he cited Just War Theory, followed by most Christians for over a thousand years, which states that if you believe your enemy is preparing to attack, you are justified in defending your own people by attacking first.

Cameron said the Constitution is another means of mitigating against overreach by tyrants.
“We don't tolerate tyranny, either from the outside or the inside, and that is a very essential Christian virtue, is to not tolerate that type of thing,” he added.

This whole mess of Christians trying to force other people to think, feel and act just like them could be solved in an instant if they would just stop doing that.

If you don't like what America is leave.

 

[Larniavc]

I think the point is that we need to appropriately qualify turn the other cheek and love your neighbor with just war theory. This is a culture war, after all.

I keep thinking that your avatar is Agent Smith from the Matrixes.

 

[public hermit]

I keep thinking that your avatar is Agent Smith from the Matrixes.

I can see that. It's a painting by Alex Katz.

 

[Vambram]

Surely other members of the cast of Growing Pains have some thoughts on the matter.

Has Boner weighed in yet?

-- A2SG, what about Leonardo DiCaprio?

Kirk Cameron is well educated and has promoted Christian values for decades. Do you have a problem with that?

 

[Vambram]

This whole mess of Christians trying to force other people to think, feel and act just like them could be solved in an instant if they would just stop doing that.

If you don't like what America is leave.

So when Christians say that we shouldn't support tyranny, that means we don't love America? Is that what you are saying?

 

[Vambram]

Where in the New Testament does it say that killing in self defense is allowed?

Are you suggesting that Jesus Christ and His apostles taught that Christians are not allowed to defend themselves or their loved ones?

 

[Vambram]

Is the point of this thread to inch Republican supporters closer to wanting to pick up their guns and attack the other half of USA?

Putin would be proud.

So, when Christians say that we should stand up to different forms of tyranny in America, all of a sudden you think we are talking about an armed civil war? That is a ridiculous thing to suggest in my opinion.

 

[JustOneWay]

This entire thread is determined on what Cameron thinks tyranny and evil is. Since he was not defined the terms or given specific examples, all this is is some general statement which means little.

Tolerance of evil? What evil is he describing? weak and generalized. It appears that Cameron is looking for some added attention.

 

[wing2000]

Are you suggesting that Jesus Christ and His apostles taught that Christians are not allowed to defend themselves or their loved ones?

Self-defense was not the argument being made.

… I see so many who are just tolerating evil and that’s not loving your neighbor,” he said. “At the end of the day, the two great Commandments of Christianity are to love God with all of your heart, mind, soul and strength, and the second is like it, to love your neighbor as yourself.

What does it mean to "love your neighbor as yourself"?

“If you 'tolerate' the kinds of things that bring misery to your neighbors and ultimately strip them of their liberties, you're not loving them.”
As an example, he cited Just War Theory, followed by most Christians for over a thousand years, which states that if you believe your enemy is preparing to attack, you are justified in defending your own people by attacking first.

What "kinds of things"?

 

[Handmaid for Jesus]

Are you suggesting that Jesus Christ and His apostles taught that Christians are not allowed to defend themselves or their loved ones?

Oh come on! What Jesus taught was live by the sword, die by the sword. Sometimes I wonder if people are reading and understanding what Lord Jesus taught. take some time and read the Gospels!
Matthew 26:52
“Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.

 

[DaisyDay]

Are you suggesting that Jesus Christ and His apostles taught that Christians are not allowed to defend themselves or their loved ones?

I am very clearly asking for where Christ taught that Christians (?) are allowed to defend themselves and their loved ones with violence. I seem to recall that blessed are those who lose their lives in His name.

 

[Handmaid for Jesus]

Lord Jesus taught love not hate. He did not condemn sinners, He brought the love of God to them which was Himself that all may be saved. He did not force anyone to believe in Him, but left the choice to the individual. The only people He condemned were the religious nut jobs that denied Him then crucified Him. I see so many Christians acting and behaving/hating like those who refused to love.

 

[BCP1928]

So when Christians say that we shouldn't support tyranny, that means we don't love America? Is that what you are saying?

I don't know if that's what he meant but there certainly seems to be some truth in it. Because the "tyranny" that Christians say we shouldn't support is usually equal rights under the law for all, not just for Christians.

 

[Handmaid for Jesus]

So, when Christians say that we should stand up to different forms of tyranny in America, all of a sudden you think we are talking about an armed civil war? That is a ridiculous thing to suggest in my opinion.

The rhetoric coming from the "right" suggest exactly that.

 

[Fantine]

Is the point of this thread to inch Republican supporters closer to wanting to pick up their guns and attack the other half of USA?

Putin would be proud.

Only problem is that the tyrant waiting in the wings is their leader, DJT.