Posted on 04/18/2016 6:26:47 AM PDT by shortstop
There is nothing wrong with Trump’s bible reference:
“You must show no pity for the guilty! Your rule should be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.”
Deut. 19:21
“an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot,”
Exodus 21:24
The Old Testamant IS part of the Bible.
Not to be terribly difficult, but the eye-for-eye (EFE) bible quote is generally misused by everyone. I’m even convinced that Jesus was addressing that same misunderstanding.
EFE is about civil punishment if one checks the old testament. It refers to a punishment being commensurate with a crime. You don’t take a life for a tooth. Justice requires taking no more than a tooth for a tooth.
So, Jesus was addressing people misusing a legal prescription and saying it meant they could take revenge for harm they perceived having happened to themselves. Jesus is saying that in personal relationships that forgiveness is better than vengeance.
He is not talking about international relations or about criminal law. In THOSE areas the wisdom of EFE still applies. A punishment/retaliation should be in proportion to the crime. We still practice this in our law and it is reflected in our Constitution that forbids cruel and unusual punishment. It is preserved in just law theory that calls for proportionality of response.
That’s not to say Trump understands all this, but he might. I have no way of knowing.
Kjam, While Donald Trump may not have read enough of the Bible to satisfy you, he demonstrates at every rally that he understands the important part. We are to love one another. Anyone who can’t see that Donald Trump is filled with the Spirit is either not paying attention or is on the other side. I hope you are just not paying attention.
Agree.... I think Trumpy uses it to justify “I’m a counter puncher. If they hit me, I hit them back even harder.” It is how he lives his life. But I’m just guessing about Trumpy based on what I’ve seen of him and what I’ve heard him say.
Wait?? We are/were supposed to put out a literal eye or knock out a literal tooth?! Just checking.
At the end meant to type just war theory but mistakenly typed just law.
Jesus is my King.
Whats wrong with saying that?
None of this is to say the EFE quote isn’t his favorite bible verse. It might be. It would make him a good general if he understands it correctly and a bad friend if he doesn’t.
That was the limitation. The MOST their justice system could justly impose for a knocked out tooth is a tooth.
Bullseye. Good post. Thanks.
LOL
They really knocked out a tooth, for instance?
I would interpret his response as “ I don’t have a favorite verse but I heard about this eye for an eye thing so I’ll use that”.
Based on his statements he doesn’t go to God for guidance or help. So he probably doesn’t put an importance on Gods Word.
Yes, in foreign policy this is sometimes referred to as a “proportional response”.
Whether Trump intended the phrase “an eye for an eye” to be taken in the Biblically correct “proportional” sense or the incorrect “payback” sense,either way I think it was far more appropriate than “Turn the other cheek”.
The Christian ethic of “turning the other cheek” may be central to an individual Christian’s salvation, but it has no place in the lexicon of a commander in chief.
Forgiveness is a personal thing. A President does not forgive on behalf of the citizenry. In fact, it kind of reminds me of Obama’s apology tours. Apologies are also personal. I don’t want my President apologizing or forgiving on my behalf - that’s for me to do. A commander in chief should be acting according to policies and protocols solely in the interest of the nation, not according to some higher spiritual calling that transcends nationality. We very much need that in the world, but that is not the job of the President.
Any Christian who would say they’re an American first, and a Christian second isn’t a Christian.
I imagine. There’s a lot about the avenger of blood and about cities of refuge. An avenger of blood could take your life if you didn’t make it to a city of refuge. If the leaders of that city believed your action to have caused an accidental death, then you could live there. If they didn’t, they kicked you out, and the avenger of blood could then take life for life. I have no biblical example of a tooth for tooth, but they sound serious about this elsewhere.
Forget it man, I don’t think he is going to understand what you are saying anymore than Trump would.
He said. He loves God in that same interview, but that wasn’t reported. Nor did he say he never asked for forgiveness.
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