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

BPPLEE said:

Cause you to sin. It’s right there in the NKJV. Didn’t you read it?
Here’s another version
Mat 18:8 - So if your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It’s better to enter eternal life with only one hand or one foot than to be thrown into eternal fire with both of your hands and feet.
Tools
Mat 18:9 - And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It’s better to enter eternal life with only one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.[fn]

I have never heard anyone say that Jesus was talking about a diseased body part.

Click to expand...

ViaCrucis said:

Sometimes Jesus uses hyperbole.

Not everything He said, however, was hyperbole.

It wasn't hyperbole when He said that if you are so much as angry at your brother you have committed sin in your heart, or that having lusted after someone who isn't your spouse you have already committed adultery in you heart. Neither is it hyperbole when He says to turn the other cheek, or take up our cross and follow Him.

The road isn't narrow because you find it by playing a game of having the right set of beliefs. The road is narrow because if we take Jesus seriously it's actually quite hard.

If Christianity isn't difficult, then it's probably not Christianity.

-CryptoLutheran

Click to expand...

Vambram said:

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.

Click to expand...

Grip Docility said:

If the Constitution is altered…

Click to expand...

Pommer said:

It’s supposed to be altered; the founders gave two methods for altering it. They themselves added the “Bill of Rights”. Jefferson supposed that we’d rewrite it every twenty years or so, pragmatist that he was.
Do we want the likes of Majorie Taylor-Greene or Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez fiddling with the innards of our Republic right now?

Click to expand...

Grip Docility said:

Now ….politely go back, reread my post, again… and search for context… please.

Click to expand...

Grip Docility said:

After all, The Good Samaritan actually DID something about the injustice that he stumbled across, in a very direct way! I always think of the worst of the worst scenario on these kinds of matters! I think of the Germans that hid Jews, in the midst of Nazi German rule. I think of how they are heroes of the best sort.

Click to expand...

Grip Docility said:

I think of Rahab, who knew it was worth hiding the Israelite spies. Then, I look to now... and see so many people winking at evil, believing that it will go well. Unfortunately, turning a blind eye to wicked oppression can rapidly lead to enabling the most horrific of evils towards our fellow man!

Click to expand...

Grip Docility said:

Unfortunately, turning a blind eye to government evil can and WILL end in a situation where voices are silenced and goodness is forced underground. Christians around the globe are already experiencing this...

Click to expand...

Grip Docility said:

If the Constitution is altered and the powers that be become "The People, in totality", that very mercy to fellow man that has brought America so very far as a country, will turn to malice.

Click to expand...

Grip Docility said:

[…]One thing is certain... America's voice is being forcibly shifted from the people to a strong centralized government that "claims" to speak for everyone.

Click to expand...

Grip Docility said:

As an individual that served military time to prevent such sorrows, it is a difficult time to observe what is happening in front of our very eyes.

Click to expand...

Pommer said:

If you say so.


The parable, if updated, could be called “the good Nazi”, as Samaritans were considered thusly by Judean Jews of the time. Jesus’ point was that even a “heathen” can work rightousness, how much moreso should those who consider themselves “righteous“ do so?




Rahab was a traitor to her own people, maybe she had just cause?, I don’t know.


Then, somehow, we provide to “government bad”, (without explicitly stating what this might mean in the context of the thread). Christians don’t get their way, all of the time, here, in “enemy territory“? Weren’t you warned of this?

Who’s threatening to alter the Constitution thusly? Your hypothesis isn’t well represented


Not shown.


Historical times are like that, yes.

Click to expand...

Grip Docility said:

Why would a person state a matter without desire to back it up with information?

1) They may be incorrect.
2) They think they are correct
3) The evidence is so in our face that you either acknowledge it or turn a blind eye.

Choose whichever you desire.

Click to expand...

Pommer said:

4) They may be just committing chronocide
5) It’s great to voice an opinion or issue a warning for dire consequences they believe are about to happen but it does not follow that they have the future correct.

Maybe something “wonderful” is about to occur?

Click to expand...

Grip Docility said:

Hard times bread Strong men, Easy times bread Weak men…

Roses can grow from concrete and Life soldiers forward with or without us.

Two Priests walk into a bar, and the third priest ducked

Click to expand...

Pommer said:

Fair enough.
I’m cautiously optimistic that our Nation will have a rebirth of freedom, though it is easy to give in to fear.

Click to expand...

Grip Docility said:

I respect your optimism! Also, I was in a hurry! Thanks, for not poking fun at my usage of bread instead of breed…

Click to expand...

Pommer said:

Being only half-baked myself I didn’t see the knead!

Click to expand...