The only thing i wish from the pacifist/non resistors is confess to and repent of the sin of sharing in the spoils of what they claim to be against and live out the convictions they profess in a place where it will actually cost them something...kind of difficult for any in the western world to do that at this time but the time is coming...if a man robs a bank and shares the money with me and i know where it came from i am as guilty as he is.....every pacifist i have ever met always seemed to subscribe to a form that provioed for their personal safety.
By your logic, then all Christians who pay their taxes, and obey the authorities in government, need to go one step further and offer their sons and daughters on the world's altar of warfare in order to be in your good graces and considered by you to be good Christians. It doesn't make them good Christians, just wonderful worldly citizens.
And if they don't offer their sons and daughters to the war god of this world, then they are not fit to be called Christians, followers of the Lamb. That's disgusting! You speak of a Christianity I don't read about in the New Testament. Your logic indicts all Christians who follow the Scriptures as leeches. I can't help but think that the Lord regards that notion as despicable, especially sine He is the one that laid out how we are to treat our enemies.
Non-resistance followers of the Lamb, don't think about their personal safety, that is why they turn the other cheek (I think Jesus said that). They don't think about self. They think about the sinner who is lost just like Jesus did. Everyone else, thinks about self and is obsessed with preserving and saving their lives.
Read my thread on
Non-Resistance and Pacifism and you may be enlightened a bit with the difference between Non-Resistance and Pacifism. WIth Jesus Christ and His followers it is not about War or no war. Non-resistant Christians are not against war per say because we know from Jesus that the world will always have wars. If all the true Believers of Jesus Christ refused to fight this world's fleshly battles, they would still have plenty of men and women to fight their wars. War is a result of sin. Non-resistant followers of the Lamb are against overcoming evil with evil because the Lamb is against that.
Veteran, do you believe Jesus Christ was a Pacifist? Can you answer this question?
Did He teach aggression, overcoming evil with evil. If not, what did He teach? What does your Bible say? Did He teach us to avenge ourselves against our enemies or do good to them who persecute us and despitefully use us? What does your Bible say?
Non-resistance is not passivism or Pacifism, it is aggressive, active love in overcoming evil with good.
The more you and Strat post the more evident it is becoming that you both refuse to face the words of Jesus Christ. You are blinded by your doctrine not able to see whole chapters of the New Testament.
Jas 4:1 From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?
Jas 4:2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.
Jas 4:3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.
Jas 4:4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
Axehead
No,i commented on your obsession with yourself and your emotions and ill informed hypocritical judgement of me...your understanding of the lanquage should be as good as your attempts at emotional manipulation...pacifism is non resistence and non resistence is pacifism....i guess if i said water was wet you would insist that it is not wet but moist.
I think you are mistaken there. But we will have to agree to disagree.
Jesus did teach nonresistence/pacifism in one's personal life...
I would like you to show me where Jesus taught Pacifism. Thank you for saying He taught non-resistance. Look at my thread to understand the difference between
Pacifism and Non-Resistance and show me where Jesus taught Pacifism.
however one cannot overcome evil by doing nothing to oppose it
That is fine, if that is your belief. Please show me scriptures that tell us how to oppose it or overcome it.
your position offers and eithr/or proposition and prohibits christians from being involved in any position that would resist evil in any way...
That is not true. Jesus and the Apostles teach us many ways to resist evil. Just not with evil.
ie any position in civil government because the purpose of civil government is to oppose evil and i suppose if you want to say that putting someone in jail or a policeman killing a criminal in the act of commiting a crime to protect the innocent is overcoming evil with good then perhaps we have common ground....or a man defending the family that God has entrsuted him with.
We have common ground.
Since Jesus did not specify which type of evil not to resist the question remains open..as far as fighting in Wars is concerned i agree to the extent that many Wars are waged not for the defense of borders from invaders but for the profit of a few.
God knows that we live in an evil world. Jesus gave Christians an out on paying taxes to Caesar. Many of our taxes go for non-Christian things per say. But, the Lord told us to render to Caesar the things that belong to Caesar and render to God the things that belong to God. So, thankfully, He said that or else the IRS would have put all of us in Jail for refusing to pay our taxes. I hold my nose when I pay them, but I pay them or else I would be in rebellion to God.
Most wars are political. James talks about the motive for wars and is pretty right on about them. Strat, just think if all Christians in all nations believed they should fight the world's wars. To what logical conclusion would that bring us? Plus the Muslims or any other religion that promoted the doctrine of "Just Wars" would see no difference between Christianity and their religion.
The American military has been sorely abused inj the last 100 years and its original purpose all but obscured.
I am sure that is true. Things are changing for the worst all over this planet. I come from a family rich in military history, having also been in the military. The difference is that I got saved and my kingdom orientation has changed.
All the best,
Axehead