The following statements are not only in the Old Testament but they are also Mosaic Laws.
Leviticus 24:17-22
‘If a man takes the life of any human being, he shall surely be put to death. The one who takes the life of an animal shall make it good, life for life. If a man injures his neighbor, just as he has done, so it shall be done to him: fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; just as he has injured a man, so it shall be inflicted on him. Thus the one who kills an animal shall make it good, but the one who kills a man shall be put to death. There shall be one standard for you; it shall be for the stranger as well as the native, for I am the Lord your God.’”
Deuteronomy 19:21
“Thus you shall not show pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
Yahweh rules of war….were also Mosaic Laws. Mostly the Israelites were directed to kill all that breaths, but there were exceptions…..
Deuteronomy 20:12-14
However, if it does not make peace with you, but makes war against you, then you shall besiege it. When the Lord your God gives it into your hand, you shall strike all the men in it with the edge of the sword. Only the women and the children and the animals and all that is in the city, all its spoil, you shall take as booty for yourself; and you shall use the spoil of your enemies which the Lord your God has given you.
Deuteronomy 21:10-17 are the details of Mosaic Laws regarding taking captive wives. But only quoting Deuteronomy 21:10-11 When you go out to battle against your enemies, and the Lord your God delivers them into your hands and you take them away captive, and see among the captives a beautiful woman, and have a desire for her and would take her as a wife for yourself.
Numbers 31:17-18
Now therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known man intimately. But all the girls who have not known [a] man intimately, spare for yourselves…..adding up the numbers something well over 30,000 non-virgins were put to the sword.
Now those that have studied the Old Testament and the Mosaic Laws know that they can seem cruel. But Yahweh had a reason for this and He was insistent….Numbers 33:55-56 But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land, those you allow to remain will become barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides. They will give you trouble in the land where you will live. And then I will do to you what I plan to do to them.’
The Mosaic Law prescribed killing and execution several times…so many offenses called for execution, that were not murder.
So these were Yahweh’s rules….His Laws….some Christians are going to find them offensive. I know Christians that avoid reading the Old Testament for this very reason….Are the Mosaic Laws valid? Are they moral? Are they right? Could Yahweh’s Laws be wrong? By Christian standards it might seem they were wrong, because things changed in the New Testament.
But could it be a matter of being in a different time period or covenant, or both? Either way Yeshua seemed to take exception to both violence and divorce. But I am going to stay focused on the topic of violence.
Yeshua said, Matthew 12:29
Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can plunder his house.
Matthew 5:38-40
You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also…..Now this one is interesting because Yeshua does not give it the respect of Law, but just something someone may have heard.
John 2:14-16
In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!”
Luke 22:36
And He said to them, “But now, whoever has a money belt is to take it along, likewise also a bag, and whoever has no sword is to sell his coat and buy one.
Luke 22:49-51
When those who were around Him saw what was going to happen, they said, “Lord, shall we strike with the sword?” And one of them struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his right ear. But Jesus answered and said, “Stop! No more of this.” And He touched his ear and healed him.
Was Yeshua preaching non-violence? There seems to be some discrepancies. The turn the other cheek statement, was it a command to stop violence all together? Was it a statement to tone the violence down? Was it a statement to be slow to anger and violence? Was it a statement to hesitate before violence ….only two cheeks. What happens if he continues to beat you? Does turn the other cheek pertain to someone that is trying to kill you?
We can speculate on exactly what Yeshua meant and what He did but it is clear that Paul believed He was preaching pacifism.
Romans 12:17-21
Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
So too the early Christian writers supported pacifism and some even denied those in the military baptism.
Could it be that Yeshua was wrong to make the shift to pacifism? Again could it be due to a different time period or covenant, or both? Could it be that He did not want blood on the hands of Christians and because He intended to return soon, He would handle it then….Revelation? The whole vengeance is mine, thing.
So then tens of thousands of Christians were corralled and lead in to the coliseums and arenas to be horribly tortured and killed. That continued for around 250 years. Generation after generation living in fear of these atrocities that were like football games to the Roman populous.
So at this point it is up to the Bible only people to reconcile all this and form their beliefs. They cannot be condemned if they choose to be pacifists. But placing pacifists in the real world is like throwing sheep to the wolves. They always have to be protected for their own good….People are not just going to watch them killed anymore….whether it be the armed police, military, or other Christians. So they will die protecting them so in the end it still does not work.
But I am not Bible only….Christianity continued "in a different time period" and Christ did not return, so Christianity changed and continued to change, Polygamy was eventually denounced around 1000-1200 AD. Women were allowed to pick their husbands, so Christianity went from the age of the bride price and fathers choosing their husbands to courtly love to dating, Protestants were the first to make wedding ceremonies a requirement in the 1500’s, slavery was stopped, and women’s rights continued to expand, and by golly women can talk in church now...etc. A different time period and again a different set of rules.
When Constantine made Christianity the state religion, Christians were under the umbrella of the biggest and strongest military in the world. 313 AD.
Augustine and Thomas Aquinas defined the concept of the “just war” around 400 AD.
Then from there and to date, Christianity has always been backed by the largest and strongest militaries.
Ever since guns were made, Christians owned guns….the conquest of North and South America….the French and American Revolutions were fought with guns. As Americans made their way west, on the frontier guns were necessary for hunting and protection.
The Americans had just won a war against a tyrannical government, so when they wrote the Constitution, at the top of the page of the amendments was the right to bear arms. Knowing that any government could turn tyrannical the right to bear arms was there as a warning to, and protection from our own government, should it turn tyrannical….as well as general protection and hunting.
So now we find ourselves fighting for the right to bear arms. LOL It is not a new thing….People that live in the real always have to deal with the utopians. “Oh a world without weapons and the lion will lay down with the lamb.” LOL In reality the discussion about gun control and gun confiscation is irrelevant because it is not going to work nor is guns the problem. Focusing on guns will create gun trafficking, criminals will prosper and it will not solve the problem. The world has always been a violent place, we are never going to make it perfect. But if you are even going to attempt to do something that will make it better you have to address the people that have problems.
Oh! And by the way....if you really want to save lives....outlaw abortions! That is 600,000 children a year every year!
