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Pacifism
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ViaCrucis
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- Oct 2, 2011
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I found St. John Chrysostom's commentary here quite useful. He points to the hardships that the disciples will face after our Lord has ascended--as we can read about in the Acts of the Apostles. But Christ dismisses the swords, because certainly two swords among a group of twelve (soon to be eleven) men would hardly be enough to actually use against a real confrontation. And we know that the apostles never made use of the sword against their persecutors. The Lord's words are meant to indicate that they must make prepare themselves for the long haul as His apostles--before He had told them to carry nothing as they went among the towns and villages, that they would be provided for. But now, now the time was at hand that they must face the long journey as His ambassadors among the nations.
He was sending them out among hungry wolves; that life that awaited them was going to be the cross He Himself had told them to carry. It wasn't the purse, or daggers, etc that was what really mattered; but rather what mattered was that He was telling them that things were going to get dangerous for them, and they should be prepared for that.
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PloverWing
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One of the important principles here, which Jesus emphasized repeatedly, is that we are to love our neighbors as ourselves, and this includes those neighbors who are trying to harm us. We are called to actively work for the good of all the people that our life touches, even our enemies and persecutors.
I don't know if there are rare exceptions in which violence is consistent with this principle. Occasionally, violence seems to be the least among evils, and I truly don't know what Jesus would say to that.
But it's hard for me to see how taking up arms against the people of another nation is consistent with loving them and working for their good. So, yes, I see pacifism as the purest implementation of the teachings of Jesus.
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James_Lai
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Leo Tolstoi is one of the most famous proponents of Christian non-violence. He spent many years studying the Gospels and the NT and came to the conclusion that the only solution to solve the perpetual vicious cycle of violence is rejecting all forms of violence based on Jesus’ “turn the other cheek” principle.
He believed that people are not violent if they have love and compassion in their hearts, not because they’re scared of punishment. Instead, punishment only increases violence.
Tolstoi’s teaching came down to: never use violence against anybody, don’t serve the government, don’t serve in the army or the police, don’t take part in armed fight against the government. Be concerned only with your moral self-improvement. He believed this is the only worthy path for a human being that Jesus Christ has called us to follow.
People criticized him for utopism. However, Mahatma Gandhi studied Tolstoi’s views and put them into practice. He asked the Indian people to stop all violence. Instead, he asked them, do not serve the British, do not pay them taxes and do not engage with the British administration. This brought down the British rule over the subcontinent in only three years.
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I have been thinking this quite a lot.
I mean, personally I think we should never use violence (words can be violent too) against anybody BUT I struggle to find out is it ok according to bible to defent for example your friend or family members with violence if they are attacked? We obviously can’t just sit and watch when things like that happens? Or do we? What I want to believe, is that God will fight for us, ( “The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.” )
and there is several verses supporting this, and that’s the way I would want to live. (And I have been living like this and also felt God is fighting for me)
So, im not sure?
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