Can we as Christian Fight

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ForYou

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Jan 21, 2008
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Okay this has always aroused me. Can we as Christians defend ourselves,I really have not looked for this answer so I thought i would ask you. I do not mean start the fight or anything like that.I just mean if the guy hits you firstAlso if somebody cusses out,can we say something back? Can we defend ourselves again not by cussing and stooping to their level but by saying something not vulgar.
 

HammerStone

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Despite what the world will tell you, you have the right to defend yourself. Jesus commanded his disciples to get a sword even when they were with him. Christians are not second class citizens.Luke 22:36
Then said he unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one.
The avenger of blood is spoken of several times in OT law. This is the person that could take revenge on mistreatment of himself or his family when warranted. This is covered for murder in Deuteronomy 19.However, also knowing what God said in Matthew 5, one has to temper themselves. You have a reasonable right to defend yourself if attacked. However, if you're experiencing a situation where someone is calling you a bad name or two, it's best not to stoop to that level. At your age, something like that will become meaningless. Believe me, we've all been there and all had to deal with it at one time or another in one way or another. The best thing to do is to get away from that nonsense because the person that generally does that kind of thing does it because they feel inadequate.Matthew 5:22-24
But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.
Raca being an expression of saying something like "You!" in a derogatory manner...similar to saying "Oh, it's you!" as if one is mad at them.
 

Jon-Marc

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I have never understood this thing about "Turn the other cheek". If someone hits me, I will not just stand and let him hit me again. Even if I did, does that mean that I can then hit him back after the second hit--assuming that I'm able to do so and not unconscious? Turning the other cheek (in my opinion) would simply tell the attacker that I am weak and cowardly. However, since that is Jesus talking in Matt. 5:39, does that mean He expects us to not defend ourselves and let the world think that we are weak and cowardly? Being meek does NOT mean being weak. It takes a tremendous amount of strength and courage to stand and proclaim that we are Christians in an unbelieving world that just scoffs and ridicules--especially in a country where you could die for your beliefs. Fortunately, that hasn't happened here yet, but it could. How many of us will be able to stand and continue to say "I am a Christian" in the face of torture, imprisonment, or death?
 

Wakka

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I have never understood this thing about "Turn the other cheek". If someone hits me, I will not just stand and let him hit me again. Even if I did, does that mean that I can then hit him back after the second hit--assuming that I'm able to do so and not unconscious? Turning the other cheek (in my opinion) would simply tell the attacker that I am weak and cowardly. However, since that is Jesus talking in Matt. 5:39, does that mean He expects us to not defend ourselves and let the world think that we are weak and cowardly? Being meek does NOT mean being weak. It takes a tremendous amount of strength and courage to stand and proclaim that we are Christians in an unbelieving world that just scoffs and ridicules--especially in a country where you could die for your beliefs. Fortunately, that hasn't happened here yet, but it could. How many of us will be able to stand and continue to say "I am a Christian" in the face of torture, imprisonment, or death?
You turn the other cheek if the person is just inflicting pain. If it's life threatening, for example if someone is trying to kill you, then you can defend yourself.This can be said of nations, if say, Mexico invades the US and starts attacking our cities, we aught to defend ourselves.There are times where God will bless you if you go ahead with your own execution. Like the early Christians who were martyred by the Romans.
 

Red_Letters88

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Good Question, Ive never really found a good answer for this. I believe there is a time for most anything, as we see in Ecclesiastes 3:8A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.However, I believe Christ made it clear to us to love and pray for our enemies, stand firm in our faith, and show Him through us. How can we do this if we hit back a neighbor who hit us first?Protect your family, Protect yourself, But first and formost Protect your faith.
 

Aleks_Kravchuk

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Mar 14, 2008
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It is an interesting subject.I just think what did Jesus do?They beat Him up all the time. He never fought back. I mean sure He could have sent 12 legions of Angels and wipe out everyone. Dead or Alive. God came to fulfil the scriptures and to show an example.You are not weak if you do not fight back. You have self-control. Those people fight because they can not control themselves. It is just my take on this. Fighting always inflicts pain. I am against that. We have another area to work on the most though. Each one of us.That is our language. Our words that we say. Honestly I will say words are more powerful that a punch. They always inflict deeper wounds than just a physical kick.Our words carry power in them, whether we know it or not. If we say wrong things, it is same as hitting a person only inside him, their hearts.So I am firmly against any type of fighting. Even if they hit you. I am a pacifist. I like when things are calm and peaceful.Lets keep our hands and feet to ourselves. But best of all lets learn to keep our words to ourselves. Let nothing unclean go out of our mouths because that is what comes out from our hearts.Let every word we say be filled with grace. Words of Wise- Grace God Bless all of you Brothers and Sisters and let God do the talking
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Elekes Attila

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1 Thessalonians 5:15 See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men. :bible:I don't think that we have the right to fight back even, if we are tortured... think abut our christians ancestors who were thrown in front of lions or gladiators... or think about Stephen he was beaten and killed by his jewish brothers but he didn't fought back: Acts 7:60 And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep. :pray:And finnaly I don't think we have any rights in front of God but to love each other and serve each other in FAITH and good ACTS.There is also another problem and that is war...my nation (hungarian) fought for many centuries againts the invading muslim nations under the banner "protect the christians" but my question is: we were duing the right thing by taking sword to protect the whole Europe from the invading muslim forces?
 

Jon-Marc

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I am not a fighter and will avoid a fight if at all possible, but some people will not stop with one hit or even two. When they see that you won't fight back, they decide that they have found a good punching bag.
 

followerofchrist

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I have no problem standing up for a friend, but if I am the only one being hit then I would be much more reluctant to strike back. Still, being human there is only so much I could take before my emotions would probably get the best of me and i would fight back.
 

His By Grace

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In the book of Ecclesiastes, it says there is a time and a purpose for everything under heaven. We are told to put on the full armor of God that we may fight the wiles of the devil. We are also told that our battle is not with flesh and blood, but with powers and principalities... a spiritual warfare. So, in a way, we are always fighting the devil. But, as far as physically fighting, I have to agree with Aleks. If we can avoid it, we should. A lot of our problems can be avoided by more self-control on our part as a Christian. We bring many things on ourselves. In the case of bullying, I think defense moves are wise to learn; for an example- karate or any of the martial arts (ignoring the religious aspect of it) is smart. Prayer is a great tool too. Those Holy angels can be dispersed in a split second!! Only believe!!!! Above all, I think Jesus was saying that our love will speak so much louder than our hate in witnessing for Him. That's the ultimate goal in dealing with people, isn't it? We need to always be about our Father's business.
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zail

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Feb 14, 2008
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I think everything has better solutions and worse solutions. Self defence is good if it really does involve only defending something that God wants to keep whole. Most "self-defence" fights aren't out of self-defence though. Instead they're based on injured pride. I think "self-defence" for the sake of our own pride isn't very congruent. In that way, we're hurting ourselves more, not defending ourselves, when we feed the idea that how much someone honors us is worth fighting for with words/violence. Most self defence pushes our faith in the way of a bullet that would have been okay for our flesh to take once in a while. If my pride's hurt, I can enjoy being strong through humility. On the other hand, if I make a permanent enemy by punching out some jerk, he might see my actions as the opposite of what I preach, regardless of the actual truth behind Biblical self defence. We pay the price for what religion tells the world we're supposed to be like. It's not right, but it keeps people hostile towards God and His people unless we're willing to go out of our way to be "salt".
 

Jackie D

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We pay the price for what religion tells the world we're supposed to be like. It's not right, but it keeps people hostile towards God and His people unless we're willing to go out of our way to be "salt".
well said and say on!
 

ForYou

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Jan 21, 2008
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Okay,thanks for all the input.And I do agree it would be so hard for me or anybody to not hit back. Human instinct is to fight back,when we starve our instincts guide us to get food no matter what. We want to hit,we want to run in fear. But it does say turn another cheek,but when we sit there and let them punch us after the 2nd punch or hit you are bound to strike back. Human Nature! I think under circumstances it is okay.
 

Aleks_Kravchuk

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Prayer is a great tool too. Those Holy angels can be dispersed in a split second!! Only believe!!!! Above all, I think Jesus was saying that our love will speak so much louder than our hate in witnessing for Him. That's the ultimate goal in dealing with people, isn't it? We need to always be about our Father's business.
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AMEN
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:bible:Dont wash off dust with mud. It only gets it worse. Be wise and act with self-control and I think you can avoid the problems. Those that you are unable to avoid, run.....? well no, be wise on every occasion and God will show you a way out of any problems that YOU think you cannot avoid.It's our misconduct that gets us into fights. So it has to be our conduct and meekness to get us out of one too.
 

HammerStone

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Well correct, the best circumstance for all is when you can avoid the situation. However, you have to defend yourself within reason.I just wanted to address a few thing said here, though. I saw it reference several times about Jesus being nonviolent and even a pacifist. I think this ignores a couple of things in all fairness.1. Christ told his disciples to get swords. I've already brought this up, but if he was 100% pacifist there would have been no swords. I think we can all safely agree that Christ was not a man of wasted action or wasted words.2. To say that Christ was nonviolent would ignore his cleansing of the money changers in the temple.Mark 11:15
And they come to Jerusalem: and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves;
John 2:15
And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables;
A whip is only used for one thing.3. Christ gave himself over to be delivered in Gethsmane, but in other instances it's quite clear that he didn't allow himself to be captured. Assuming that violent methods would be the only way out limit the Lord all too quickly.Luke 4:29-30
And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong. But he passing through the midst of them went his way,
I would even submit, as a final statement, that Christ is called the Sword of God. Imagery associated with his return is quite violent and will be carried out by Him. That's certainly not to say for us to go be violent like some of the other religions out there, but saying that one cannot, under any circumstances, defend oneself would be rather inaccurate when trying to base it on a nonviolent and pacifist Yeshua.