Your answers are thoughtful and cogent .. my only hope is my reply is of sufficient quality to merit your effort.
Sadly the fight is on. Like it or not...
One of the things that impresses me about Certain Orthodox Jews is their ability and willingness to mix faith and the fight..
They do not shirk from Combat only they fight the Spiritual fight while physically at the front exposing themselves to hazard.. Praying fervently for their Warriors Victory...
Christians in the US would do well to follow that example.
We are in a fight against many foes... Those than cannot fight… .. pray..
But restrain yourself from discouraging the hearts of your Defenders.
Do not be lured into the false teaching that all defense of Christendom is to be Spiritual only.
"To turn the other cheek" is a personal teaching of Christ a calling to forgive ones brothers 70 times 7. To have Christian Love and forbearance even for ones enemies on a personal level.
It is not a sound nor a Christ based doctrinal foundation for the management and protection of the flock. If from time to time one Christian is called upon to sacrifice themselves of their own free will in the furtherance or fulfillment of that aspect of Christ's teaching it a matter for Honor.
It was Christ however that gave his life for the salvation of his flock. Are we to throw them to the wolves as our Christian obligation to him? Where did we gain such a right and authority?
What a perversion of his teaching.
The point here is: We as a people have the Duty not to confuse personal acts of sacrifice with the sacrifice or endangerment of the flock.
If you agree, then you recognize the difference between personal risk and risking the body of Christ.
If Christ’s admonitions are to be respected.
That one would be better served to place a stone around their neck and cast themselves into the sea neck than harm one of the little one that believe in him.
If his teachings are to be believed.
That to enter the Kingdom of Heaven one must become “like those little children”
If you find truth in the proceeding words.
Then one needs to reassess if their position is limited to “Turning the other Cheek” when confronted by evil.
Was not one of the last teachings of Christ and instruction to take our purse or sell our coat and obtain a sword?
The second part in garden where he tells Peter to put away thy sword (The sword he instructed Peter to obtain and carry.)
His teaching “He who lives by the sword shall die by the sword” obviously was not directed at Peter the Fisherman who he armed.. nor at legitimate Soldiers whom he admonished to do violence to no man, to be content with their wages and not falsely accuse. Nor at Christians in general for whom he sacrificed his own life.
His admonition was directed at the people who came to seize him.. Who made a living by the illegitimate exercise of force.)
Best put by Saint Bernard..
I do not mean to say that the pagans are to be slaughtered when there is any other way to prevent them from harassing and persecuting the faithful, but only that it now seems better to destroy them than that the rod of sinners be lifted over the lot of the just, and the righteous perhaps put forth their hands unto iniquity.2 http://www.tfp.org/TFPForum/catholic_perspective/justwar.htm#fn2
Golly Gee..
Do you think perhaps Christ will be more than just a little disappointed if we allow evil to reign unopposed?.. Allow Christs flock to be forced at the end of a Writ or a Sword to repudiate the doctrines of Christian Faith and the Teachings of Christ?
I am certain of it.
Then the only reasonable interpretation is that we as Christian adults are charged with defending his flock defending each other.
If someone throws crap on a picture of “The Virgin Mary’ They are throwing crap on all Catholics actually all Christians. If a bunch of Islamofacist Nut Jobs use venerated Christian writings and relics inside the Greek Orthodox church in Bethlehem as toilet paper they are doing the same to all Greek Orthodox again actually to all Christians who are attempting in good faith to follow the teaching of Christ.
When Islamofacist nut jobs slice the heads off of two little girls in the Phillipeans who were walking, Bibles in hand on their way to church, Murder 160 Christian Children while they are at school in Beslyn Russia. It is time long time past for Christian Adults to say enough, mean it and act on it.
Now I do not think (Just my interpretation of his teachings) Christ wants us to murder people for defacing Christian Icons, writing or relics. As unlike our enemies his power is not manifest nor his truths dependent upon the existence or submission to worldly objects.
However, at that point where they attempt to box us into a political corner, to marginalize and trivialize the actual relationships between the foundations of the Christian Nation of the United States it’s Courts, Laws and Legal traditions.
It is fight time...
an issue like this is a political fight… Like what you see here.
However keep in mind murdering, raping and committing general acts of mayhem against the West and Christendom did not begin in a vacuum. There was an evaluation that the West and our Judeo Christian ethical underpinning were ripe for the picking (wrong).
Nonetheless such violent assaults require an active and forceful response…
Issues like this trivial one have encouraged those who would ultimately kill our children and slaughter the flock. They must by lawful political and social means be stopped. Those who are non-violent must be defeated in the political sphere
Those who are violent… must be defeated by the Sword.
A sword placed into our hand by our Master Jesus to be used lawfully in defense of his flock, his children.
Keep in mind Christians and Jews find few things justify violence, only the right to self defense or the defense of their community.
Our enemies find few things that restrain violence. Violence practiced either by them directly or by proxy. Today like then, again unlawfully using the same Mantle of Authority which was used to justify the Crucifixion of Christ.
One note of encouragement... That effort did not work out as planned by the wrongdoers did it?
Neither will the evil things you are witnessing today.
But most assuredly we must fight.
I am open to being educated in the flaws of my thinking..
Wm
Let me start with a couple of foundational points. First, I am a complete supporter of Israel and a Jewish State and believe that the Palestinians are victims of themselves...not victims of the evil Jewish people who "stole their land." A complete and utter absurdity. Secondly, I also admire their quest ability to defend themselves in an enormously hostile area. Third, there is no doubt that Biblical history gives us a great perspective on why things are the way they are. If only Abraham had been patient and waited for the Lord, things would be VERY different today. An excellent object lesson in "the sins of the father."
That said, it makes complete sense to those of the Jewish Tradition, who do not embrace Jesus as the Messiah, to support a political system that intertwines faith, tradition and the fight. There has always been a political element to what they expect from the Messiah.
If you read the NT, you find many references to the disappointment many Jews had that Christ was not here to establish a political kingdom on earth, but rather a spiritual kingdom in Heaven. His entire life was about faith apart from politics, more than politics and greater than politics.
Christ gave his life for EVERYONE, not just His Flock. He gave his life for the persecutors and the persecuted. The victim and the victimizer. The strong and the weak. The only string attached: We must accept that gift. His flock are simply those who recognize they are sinners and ask for His Grace.
What we must fight for, in this country, is the freedom to explain that gift to others...not to establish some kind of Christian Kingdom on earth. When we fight for freedom, we fight for the opportunity for all to choose according to their own conscience. He gives that freedom to us...and He expects us to defend that freedom for others. THAT is the very sound principle (The fundamentally Christian principle of free will) that this country has embraced from the very beginning.
That does not mean we don't fight immorality, or speak forthrightly, or tell a different story than we get from the dominant culture. We most CERTAINLY do...but there is a difference between showing a different way, and imposing a different way. And it takes an enormous amount of care, and much more work, to do it in the public square by offering the choice. It doesn't mean we shrink from the fight for "free expression thereof." In fact, one of the big fights I believe is WORTH fighting is optional prayer in schools. The no prayer on school grounds issue is most clearly a violation of "free expression thereof." I'm not sure that arguing over tour guide's narrative the ten commandments artwork in the SCOTUS building is worth the same energy.
Finally, one last thing. Years ago there was a crisis in our extended family that required a great deal of complex and confusing decision making. My uncle, who is a pastor, reminded us all of something I will never forget and has been an important part of my life ever since. He said that since we had put the entire matter in God's hands, we needed to make the best decisions we could...and then trust that no matter what we decided to do, God's will would be done. His will is not bound by MY decision when I leave it in His hands.
I have been at complete peace ever since...for my country, for my family and for myself. In the end, I will do the best I can, but His will be done.
Blessings.