- Sep 27, 2007
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What you can or cannot do is your prerogative. If someone was killing your family would you really stand idly by and do nothing? Nonetheless your rationale that you offer is based on an argument of silence which is the weakest form of argumentation. The OT and NT is replete with examples of God's children killing other people. Israel of course is one example where God not only approves of but commands them to kill their enemies. In the NT Jesus commends the centurion for his faith and does not tell him to quit his occupation. How can one one be commended for having great faith when one's primary occupation is based on killing others?
Your kind of Christianity is typical of the modern day apostasy of “doing what is right in their own eyes.” You say, “Nonetheless your rationale that you offer is based on an argument of silence which is the weakest form of argumentation.” If someone would say to you that “because your whole history is silent on the idea that you are a mass murderer it is fair to assume that you are indeed a mass murderer.” You would say that that silence is all the proof you need and that every court in the land would uphold that “silence” as clear proof of your innocence. Yet, you will not allow this clear evidence of the life of Jesus, His Apostles, and very many years of the primitive Church to speak on their behalf? The fact is that that silence of Jesus spoke loudly of His opinion on the matter. Also, the “silence” you accuse me of (which was no silence at all) you turn right around and use in your own justification. The example you use of the centurion is a prime example of the argument from silence. The Bible is silent on what happened after the centurion’s conversion so we can only assume his actions, therefore my assumption is just as valid as yours, and more so because the rest of the N.T. evidence points in the direction that he “followed” Jesus’ example. The O.T. cannot be admitted as evidence because it has been overridden by the N.T. and I can provide plenty of evidence to that effect if necessary. So, you state that the N.T. is “replete” with evidence of Christians killing other people but give not one proof, so your testimony is not admitted. All of the accumulated N.T. evidence, taken together, stands firm to prove my claim that the New Testament Church is to follow the way of Jesus’ life and words, as exemplified by His Apostles and the Primitive Church (who were closest to the original lives and knew better than those who came later), that non-resistance to the evil person, as spoken by Jesus in Matthew 5:39, is the pattern for the Church in all ages. As to the matter of what I would do personally has no bearing on the facts.
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