What daytrader is trying to do is project his religion upon a decidedly non-Christian nation. America is not bound by the Bible and so it is ridiculous for "christians," so-called, to whine about America not following that book. If he insists on doing this, he ought to insist on America following all of the Bible. After all, there is just no objective reason to pick a bit here and not pick a bit there.
So then perhaps when Jesus declares to his apostles (Luke 22:35-37) that in view of the hard times they are about to face once He is murdered, if they "have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don't have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one", Christians should follow the command and buy arms if they do not have them. If Christians see wrong doing, as Jesus did when he encountered money-changers in the temple, perhaps those Christians shouldn't just roll-over and play the Sodomite. Perhaps they ought to follow Jesus' example and whip the wrongdoers (John 2:15).
The fact is, daytrader is butchering the text. Christians ought not fight their enemies. But if their enemies are hell-bound and determined to exterminate them, Christians can and should defend themselves. As a believer, I am under no obligation to allow thugs to come into my home, rape my wife, murder my sons and just sit around and do nothing about it. That is just a corruption of the meaning of the text. Even Jesus did not commonly do this before His time was finished here. He used His power to escape his enemies, to blind them and even to whip them when they were defiling Him or otherwise aiming to destroy Him. Only when his time was finished did He not resist at all.
We live in times where it is claimed that Jesus came to get rid of the Old Testament law. That is just not true. Jesus Himself declared that He came into the world to fulfill the law, not to destroy it (Matt. 5:17-19). Jesus fulfills the law by living it perfectly. He effectively destroys its power ONLY over those who believe in Him (because those who believe in Him appropriate His sinless life for themselves - as if they had lived such a life). But for those who do not believe, the harsh OT law still stands in effect and that is why those outside of Christ will surely go to hell.
It is also why Jesus was upset at the Pharisees in Matthew 15:3-9. The Pharisees had ignored the Old Testament law that said if a person does not honor his parents the person ought to be put to death. The Pharisees were dishonoring their parents by witholding economic support from them. Jesus stated that God said, 'Honor your father and mother' and 'Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.' But you say that if a man says to his father or mother, 'Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is a gift devoted to God,' he is not to 'honor his father' with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. You hypocrites!
Again, you need to know the historical backdrop to appreciate this text. The Pharisees were saying to their parents "Hey mom, dad, I'd like to give you this thousand dollars. But I am not giving it to you. I'll give you a dollar. But this other $999 that you would have received from me will just be considered a gift from you to God." Jesus declared that these folks should be put to death according to the law and he was angry because the Pharisees were going against the law. He did not claim that the law was wrong, but that the Pharisees were disobeying it.
Clearly Jesus was no limp-wristed robed wonder. He knew the law and knew it would eventually be pressed on unbelievers ruthlessly. Believers are not under that law, but the rest of the world, including America, surely is. So if you are wearing clothing of two different sorts of cloth, you are breaking the law and will be condemned for it. Yet I can do this because all things in the law have been fulfilled by Christ and I am in Him. Nevertheless there are some things in the OT law that are carried into the NT law and that I am as a result to fulfill through Christ's power.
One of these is to abandon the desire for revenge (murder, etc.), since God will avenge me. As believers we therefore ought not war of ourselves and from our own motives because Christ wishes to deal with it Himself. But the scriptures are very clear that He often uses governments to keep order. The Scriptures are remarkably clear that the government has a valid job, ordained by God, to put its enemies to the sword when those enemies aim to destroy the peace of the state.
St. Paul, was, for example, accused of committing a crime punishable by death. Did he declare that killing capital criminals was wrong? Absolutely not. Paul agreed that if he was guilty of something that deserved death, he would willingly be put to death (Acts 25).
This same Paul wrote, that governments have the authority and obligation, given by God, to execute capital criminals (Rom. 13:1-4). This includes anyone who threatens the life of the state.
I as a believer have no authority to do this. So you will not find me strapping on guns to go out and hunt down my enemies. Once I am already wronged and can therefore no longer defend myself against an enemy, my position should become one wherein I pray that God Himself would deal with the situation, removing from me the anger that results of it, even praying for the enemy. But the state still has an obligation to itself to see that the enemy is brought to justice. Members of the state, including Christians, have a civic duty to support the state in this effort in order to preserve it. This duty does not come as a result of anything mentioned in the Bible. It is part of the contract we all accept as citizens.
Only believers are bound to the things in the Bible. America, as a non-Christian nation, is not bound to these things at all (though it will be punished under the Old Testament law). So to whine about Jesus and the dang Beatitudes with regard to Iraq is just stupid. If you wish me, as a Christian, to impose the Beatitudes upon America, then fine. But then I will be forced to impose the entire rest of the Scriptures upon America also, including the parts against divorce, fornication, sodomitic perversity and about going to hell.
Leftists need to get their act together. If they want sodomitic lilies and pink socks dressed up as Scripture, then they will also get hell-fire and brimstone. If they want neither, then they ought not whine when I advocate our government do its duty to bring justice to its enemies. I don't do this because of the Bible. I do it because it is the reasonable thing for the civic government to do for its own good. And there is nothing in the Scripture forbidding my doing this. |
