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Was Jesus a pacifist or a militant?

R

Ruben

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Just exactly why did Jesus react to the merchants in the temple as He did? These persons were negotiating the price of salvation.

As Jesus set forth in the feeding of the 5,000, His Kingdom is not about buying and selling but about sharing freely.

This system and practice of exacting a price for a product is not of Yahweh’s making for Adam and Eve had all they needed for free.

Lucifer introduced the ‘reward for services’ ideology which is what runs our world. Had it been the other way where we all learned to love our neighbor and be equally concerned of their wellbeing instead of in competition with, everyone’s needs would be met.

Perhaps what Jesus demonstrated while living among humanity was not a display of perfection given over to a blood sacrifice in order to ransom humanity for it’s sinfulness.

What Jesus accomplished in life and death is interpreted by each of us on an individual basis. Those of us that need and can believe in Christ view His life on earth in one of two ways. Either Jesus paid a price as in a ransom or He demonstrated to humanity that He equated their worth with that of His own. Either we owe one to Jesus for what He had to pay or we can behold His life here as the majestic display of His love for His creation.
 
Jesus was and is pacifist. Meditate on "love your enemy". This very important teaching has been ignored by most churches.
 
Ruben, it sounds like you are making a "the truth is unknowable" arguement with your last paragraph. I suppose simply because this is text based, it seems kinda like relativism, essentially that the truth is relative. There are two distinctions of Word: logos and rayma. Logos is the objective truth, rayma is when God speaks personally to you. For instance when Jesus was walking on water, all the apostles heard Jesus call and say come out. Peter was the only one. They all heard the logos, but it was a rayma for Peter. But what you are saying doesnt seem to distinguish, but rather lumps the two seperate ideas together and kinda comes out that the truth is relative, and therefore unknowable (unknowable by implication, not direct statement). But the truth is knowable due to the personal relationship with God, and because he is personal and not impersonal and revelation is geared towards that personal relationship of God with his people. So the truth is knowable and there is objective truth, with subjective (rayma) truth that is not in contradiction with the objective truth (logos) and subservient to it.

As for Jesus being a pacifist or a militant, I would agree with ginger in saying pacifist. There are countless places where the Word says not to kill one another but to love one another and those who love one another are showing the mark of discipleship. The incident in the temple, though outwardly having the appearance of violence, Jesus didnt beat anyone into submission and most especially didnt kill anyone. He preached peace and told Peter to sheath his sword at Gethsemene (even tho he told the disciples to go out and buy a sword, it was to prove a point) As for your final sentence, dont seperate them into an either/or statement. As with so many things, this is a both/and statement. We do owe Jesus one, it says so somewhere in the new testament (could one of the other christians who know the bible a little better help me out? i read it a week ago, but cant think of where). And Jesus is also the fulfillment of the Law, the example we are to live by. De-synthesizing them is to lose out on an aspect of christian life... you need both.
 
belovedwolfofgod said:
As for Jesus being a pacifist or a militant, I would agree with ginger in saying pacifist.
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If you believe Jesus is pacifist, you should not support Christians joining the military.
 
A pacifist wouldn't have thrown out the moneychangers in the temple and destroyed their "business".
 
Alannah said:
A pacifist wouldn't have thrown out the moneychangers in the temple and destroyed their "business".
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Jesus did not harm anyone, period!
 
Alannah said:
What is your definition of a pacifist?
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Not killing or harming anyone. Loving others as yourself. You dont kill others even for self defense, you just run instead.
 
In those terms, I believe Jesus might have been a pacifist.(we truly cannot know since the Bible does not go into that much detail) Most people when they say Jesus was a pacifist they say that Jesus never raised His voice (spoke angrily), or got mad at anyone. :D
 
Alannah said:
In those terms, I believe Jesus might have been a pacifist.(we truly cannot know since the Bible does not go into that much detail) Most people when they say Jesus was a pacifist they say that Jesus never raised His voice (spoke angrily), or got mad at anyone. :D
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That is wrong obviously. He got angry at the temple.
 
Alan,

You can study by yourself. don't rely on other Christians or churches. :D

You should realize that there are millions of confusions in the churches.
 
Ginger,
I do study by myself, as much as I can, in my teen years I wasn't very close to the Lord, but in the last few months I have been drawing closer to Him. I am only 20, but sometimes I feel so much younger, even though many people in my old church looked up to me as a spiritual mentor. It lifted up my pride, and I felt that I knew "everything" Now that I am attending a church that I am growing in, I have been able to begin to study things for myself. And realize that there is only a few things I really know :) I especially have to since there is a few "small" things that I disagree with my pastor on, like the gap theory. But I am growing! Praise God! ~Alannah

P.s. I will be going to Bible school this fall and hopefully will learn much much more. And be able to decipher the scriptures myself in God's terms.
 
No, I am a woman, and I don't believe women can be pastors. (unless God calls them because a man won't be a man and preach the Word of God)

I know the Lord has called me to the full time ministry, wether as a Pastor's wife, or missionary or what I don't know, I am just preparing for that day when He lets me know exactly in what capapcity I will be serving Him full time.
 
Are you preparing to be fully paid minister or missonary?
 
I don't know, probably not, I have no clue what the Lord wants for me right now, other than He wants me in the full time ministry, and that I am to go to PBI this fall. :)
 
I just hope you are not planning to be paid Christian because you have to follow their church's rules and you don't have much of freedom following Jesus.
 
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