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To: Protagoras
I can't seem to find where Christ instructed us to enforce his will by violence or threat thereof.

No. Jesus is silent regarding enforcing his will by violence or threat thereof. Certainly, He didn't force anyone's conscience, nor is forcing the conscience of another consonant with the Gospel. But that's a straw man. We cannot know with certainty what God's will is for us in every circumstance. Therefore, it is logically impossible to enforce God's will in every circumstance.

Nevertheless, at the very least we can say with certainty that Jesus accepted civil authority:

Luke 3:14
Then some soldiers asked him, "And what should we do?" He replied, "Don't extort money and don't accuse people falsely–be content with your pay."

Mark 12:17
Then Jesus said to them, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's."

Scripture tells us what earthly authority represents:

Romans 13:5-6
"Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience. This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants, who give their full time to governing."

501 posted on 03/21/2003 5:53:33 AM PST by Aquinasfan
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To: Aquinasfan
Jesus is silent regarding enforcing his will by violence or threat thereof.

Thank you for admitting that. Hint, he didn't leave you in charge.

Nevertheless, at the very least we can say with certainty that Jesus accepted civil authority:

Your interpretation is used continually and incorrectly by those who love violent authority. The correct interpretation is that he told these people to focus on important things, that they need to look past this world and it's problems and focus on God and the kingdom to come.

And don't attribute things to Jesus that others said, it is off topic and intentionally misleading. Your reference to "scripture" for the last verse is an attempt to blur the question.

509 posted on 03/21/2003 7:11:53 AM PST by Protagoras
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