my daughter thought i was laughing at her when i read that...
my heart says that the 'smite' on the cheek was not a life threatening ordeal, so one MUST turn the other...on the other hand, the Lord was a carpenter, and in the day, a carpenter was a MAN, so id imagine when He weilded a whip with fire in His eyes for the Glory of God, it was an amazing thing to behold...prolly lots of dirty drawers fleeing the temple that day...
no doubt that restraint is ordered for the followers of Christ, and im one of those who used to ask 'is it time yet ?'...ive since come to the realization that we will all know when its time, and that will be when its undeniably clear that we must either *bow* to the 'world' or stand for our eternal KING, MASTER and CREATOR and allow Him to guide the arrows while simply using us for HIS GLORY... now back to the whole damp panties over the nukes of china, again, i say, if that is the result of using the rod at home, so be it...
the larger question is whats to stop em ifn they are witnessing the same essential opportunity due to weakness of the totus ???
prayer that the fed boogymen have these contingency plans and the stones to take charge...
“...ive since come to the realization that we will all know when its time, and that will be when its undeniably clear that we must either *bow* to the ‘world’ or stand for our eternal KING...”
Pardon me for jumping in late, brother Gilbo_3... I’ll just say this, after monitoring this thread...and it’s strictly my opinion.
Regarding the back-and-forth I’m seeing here with ROTB and others, between standing up or laying down (and maybe I’ve misread it, and if so, my apologies):
God did not put us here to be “suicided” by refusal to defend our lives. Suicide is self-murder, and murder is a sin. Therefore, to NOT defend one’s life, which is a gift from God, is to spit on the gift that the Lord provided to us. Likewise, to not defend the innocent/defenseless around you, We’re here in this place, in this time, at this moment for very specific purposes; most of us never know what that purpose is, indeed, whether we even ACHIEVE that purpose, until after we’ve gone home to the Lord.
This Country of ours, this wonderful, incredibly blessed land that has flourished for well over 400+ years in one form or another, was not an accident; it wasn’t just some experiment that a bunch of people thought up one day and tried to put into practice; I believe this Country of ours was the result of the focused, directed will of God, touching the lives of multiple peoples from all corners of the Earth - Go here, make this happen, and live as intended. He put the Founding Fathers here, in that place, at that exact time, to make THIS happen.
I’m not a theologian, I’m not as well-versed in the Bible (tho’ I have read it) as some folks out here, but I do believe that the Lord made this place as THE refuge of the downtrodden, the whipped, the scourged, the oppressed, and the beaten - as THE place they could retreat to, gather up their courage, and place their backs to the Last Wall and say for the rest of the world to hear: “Not Here, by God, Not Here, and Not Ever AGAIN!”
If we let this go, if we let this roll under the waves and slip away from us forever, we are guilty of much more than just surrender; we’re guilty of misusing God’s gift to us.
And it may be that in God’s plan, this DOES go away; but I don’t believe that He wants us to just roll over and LET it happen without a struggle.
That’s how I see it. I won’t argue what Paul said in THIS letter, or what Isaiah said here, or what it says in Psalms; it solves nothing for me.
I see the freight train coming, and the choices I have are these:
1. I can stand on the tracks and accept it as inevitable (indeed, death is inevitable for us all; but it’s what you DIE for that counts, and while you live, it’s HOW you spend the time that God gave you that matters).
2. I can move aside and hope it passes me and live out the rest of my life hoping that the train never reaches MY home, my life, my little corner of the world...
or
3. I can do all that is in my power to sabotage, derail, and otherwise impede that train from destroying all that I love, hold dear and hold sacred, as hundreds of thousands of other American Men have done throughout our brief star-burst of light in an otherwise crappy world.
For the record, Options 1 and 2 are not options for me.
Just the way I see it...
LFOD