Can we really "turn the other cheek" in this day and age?

IamAdopted said:

Self defense.. ?? Or Christs Defense??? I think this is the question here..

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Under no condition like I said previous. It still says turn the other cheek.

Christ is our perfect example about self defense. He did not fight back!

That's also where faith comes in, God says he will protect us, so trust that he will do so.

My point exactly... When being reviled He never reviled back.. That is what I am saying.. He even rebuked the disciple whom tried to defend Him with the sword..

Jesus did have a trial, and the accusers crucified him. However, I still believe in self defense, cuz we are allowed to, regarding our laws of the land, which we should follow.

RccWarrior said:

Yes, the Amish. Such courage and trust in God. Such a tragedy. Those children are with God now. Sometimes I often wonder why God gives such power to Satan..

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One way to look at this is that GOD was glorified by this event. Look at the example of humility and Christian love the Amish gave to us because of this terrible occurence.

Satan's work "backfired" on him... again.

Asking for your prayers,
Chacci

You Christians don't want to go and be with Jesus? You like it better here on this earth?

RccWarrior said:

Do you feel that in this century with life being hard enough, and people being rude and obnoxious, that Jesus would still hold to the "Turn the other cheek" statement? Was this just meant for the days He walked the earth? I know if I am driving, and some pick up truck cuts me off, I get very upset and want to curse this person. But I always think that Jesus would say no. I realize he said to "Love our enemies", but admit it, that today it is very hard to do. Should we still try and practice this?
If someone hurt my child, should I forgive and embrace this person?

Just interested in some of your views on life today.

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I have a quick temper and am pretty intollerant of B.S.
BUT...we can't use this day and age as an excuse not behave Christlike..
I don't see how it is any harder in this day and age than say in Jesus' time.
When people wanted to stone a lady caught in adultry...well...that is pretty harsh, and slavery that was acceptable...casteration of a human being was acceptable.

Today, though, I think we are stuck trying to put many tasks into one...like call waiting, or three way calling, or telephone service in the car.

I think we need to slow down a little but I wouldn't say it's any worse or better.

Perhaps those who are quick tempered (like me) and quick to flick someone off in traffic need to form an online group, here, maybe and exchange ideas about behaving Christlike is not so Christian situations. I would benefit from such a group.

Yes, I believe that the principle still applies today. Implementing it, however, can be difficult. One difficulty, of course, is that we just don't want to. In that respect, there's nothing new under the sun.

Another way that it's difficult is that there is a conglomeration of issues that overlap: Turning the other cheek, forgiveness, justice, preventing harm to others, legal process... etc.

An example: Some years ago, I was the target of an online stalker. He sent me sexually threatening anonymous messages -- well, not really anonymous, because he had disguised them to look like they came from people I knew (he was an expert hacker apparently). It became clear that he knew the details of my life and was watching me daily. Well, it took a few weeks, but they traced the messages; it turned out it was the guy who lived right across the hall from me. I picked up the pieces and got back to life as usual (I had moved to a separate location for safety reasons). The one thing I did was tell the police that yes, I would like to press criminal charges. Well, I got thoroughly attacked by a group of other Christians who accused me of being "unforgiving" because I wished this man to be answerable for what he did. They interpreted "turn the other cheek" to mean "let him get away with it;" I interpreted "turn the other cheek" to mean "allow the law to do its job but don't seek your own vengeance." It was a matter of how to interpret and apply this principle, and we differed significantly. (And let me say that, oh yeah, this was a great time period for me to be attacked by fellow Christians! )