[BuckeyeOhio]

Actually the phase "turn the other cheek" isn't meant to be interrupted as "do nothing". In the days of Jesus, a master was allowed to hit a servant with his right hand on the servant's left cheek - it symbolized a "master's authority over the servant." However, "turn the other cheek" meant the master has to hit the servant with his left hand on the servant's right cheek - that had an entirely different meaning. It symbolized equals and as such, the servant had the right to "fight" the master.

The same thing about the phase "walk the extra mile". The Roman soldiers were allowed, under the law, to have some one carry all of their equipment exactly one mile. If that person carried the equipment more than one mile, the soldier was severely whipped.

Jesus used these phases to show people the "nonviolent" methods of fighting back against injustice.

[jwalsh07]

St Thomas Aquinas has written that avoiding violence when an innocent life is at risk is a grave sin. I agree with St Thomas.