Posted on 04/14/2016 11:16:18 AM PDT by C19fan
Via BuzzFeed, I’m going to be bold and pronounce this the single Trumpiest thing he’s said since the campaign began. Really! Trumpier than him goofing on McCain for being taken prisoner in Vietnam, Trumpier than him goofing on his fans by claiming they’d stick with him even if he shot someone in broad daylight. I’m a lapsed Catholic turned nonbeliever so I’ll let the faithful among our readers correct me, but isn’t this … one of the worst possible answers that a Christian could give to this question? An “eye for an eye” does appear in the Bible, true, but it’s Old Testament; it was specifically repudiated by Jesus himself in the gospel of Matthew in favor of “turn the other cheek,” as John McCormack notes. The whole point of Christianity, I thought, is to resist vengeance and embrace forgiveness, and it’s captured nowhere more succinctly than in the rejection of “an eye for an eye.” So here’s Trump, who’s been half-heartedly pandering to evangelicals since last summer, deciding that the lesson from the Bible that sticks with him is the one about, um, revanchism, which Jesus instructed his disciplines to ignore. It’s like naming Baal your favorite member of the holy trinity.
(Excerpt) Read more at hotair.com ...
Under current U.S. government rules, the one who stole the cow had to do it because he did not have any cows and that was unfair and made him sad.
That’s right. It was also to prevent clan feuds from going on from one generation to another.
Fivefold for cows, fourfold for sheep. (Ex. 22:1, or 21:37—versification varies)
That makes sense...repayment of loss, plus triple damages.
In other words, a very early legal system to settle desputes.
Saul got himself into trouble for not listening to God, by not killing EVERYTHING as commanded.
2 Samuel 15
3 “Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’”
Saul didn’t listen and kept some of the very best alive...
18 “Now the Lord sent you on a mission, and said, ‘Go, and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’ 19 Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you swoop down on the spoil, and do evil in the sight of the Lord?”
Maybe Trump’s one of those Hammurabians.
So Trump’s favorite verse is where Jesus is giving an example of what NOT to do?!?!
wouldn’t that be four eyes?
That’s exactly right. It was a loosening of rigid punishments that many religions and cultures imposed at the time.
It’s a way of saying “let the punishment fit the crime.” So for example, a very strict punishment for stealing (imprisonment and disfigurement) was too extreme, and this mandate called for a more fair and just punishment (restitution, a fine, and/or some jail time).
This is very misunderstood in the modern era.
A basic Lutheran doctrine, which is in general a basic Christian doctrine, is that the purpose of the Law is as a tutor, to demonstrate to humans our inability to, as Jesus put it at the end of Matthew 5, be perfect as our Father in Heaven is perfect.
Putting Trump's religious proclivities aside--and I am not prepared to judge his salvation, that is between Trump and the Lord--anyone in general who states that his/her favorite Bible verse is "an eye for an eye" demonstrates at best a beginner's understanding of the Bible, since the overarching message of the Bible is chesed or agape, self-sacrificing love: Jesus sacrificed Himself for us, and we who accept His saving sacrifice are commanded to sacrifice ourselves for others (John 13:34-35). It would be a step up from, say, Psalm 137:9, "Happy is the one who takes [the enemy's] babies and smashes them against the rocks!", but certainly not a verse that would be the first to be chosen as exemplary of a Christian thought process.
Mock Cruz and his faith all you want, but Trump’s favorite verse of what to do is where Jesus is telling us not to do. Obviously, Trump has no understanding of the context.
exactly. it’s actually a call for moderation. the alternative to an eye for an eye is death.
I gave up on religion also, it didn’t work. I now am a follower of Jesus Christ. This works great for me with no problems.
Trump wears glasses? Who knew!
I’m sorry, I find this thread rather funny.
Matthew 21: 12And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves. 13And He said to them, "It is written, 'MY HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED A HOUSE OF PRAYER'; but you are making it a ROBBERS' DEN."
Not exactly "turning the other cheek".
eye for an eye works for me
True, but then we would have to worry about them being attacked by our four bears.
P.S. Fred Gwynn, when he wasn't being Herman Munster, was a children's book author and illustrator, and in one of his books he had an illustration of the protagonist's "four bears," who were, of course, four bears. I think it is in the book A Little Pigeon Toad, but I wouldn't swear that on a Bible.
That “turn the other cheek” business may work well on the spiritual plane, but in politics/governance, not so much. We all saw how well it worked when “W” turned the other cheek time and time again.
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