Conservatives say the Bible is too Liberal

"You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Then the men stepped forward, seized Jesus and arrested him. With that, one of Jesus' companions reached for his sword, drew it out and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear.

"Put your sword back in its place," Jesus said to him, "for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.

Matthew 5 wrote:

"You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

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Do not resist the evil man.
Love your enemies pray for those who persecute you.

If in doubt,
check the cite Luke 22:36. Maybe Jesus had in mind the degree
of offense that u shoud resist, rather than effectively commit suicide.

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I don't know how you can twist this into conservative (but I suppose they will try.)

If it is a LITERAL translation
from the original language (Aramaic ?), that makes it conservative
in that there is no deviation.

Nothing can be liberal unless it deviates from something,
because liberal is a relative word, except if it is used to indicate "generous".

Also David, you quote the "get thou a sword verse" out of context. The story ends like this.

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Then the men stepped forward, seized Jesus and arrested him.
With that, one of Jesus' companions reached for his sword,
drew it out and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear.

"Put your sword back in its place," Jesus said to him,
"for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.

The story does NOT end like that; it ends with Jesus ascending to Heaven.
Additionally, since there were soldiers there with the multitude,
it seems that those swords were not tactically sufficient to prevail
and woud have resulted in Jesus' followers getting killed with swords
if thay defended, at that time and place,
as distinct from it being a general or universal situation.

Anyway, after he recommended that whoever does not own a sword shoud buy one,
his followers showed him that thay had 2 swords and he approved. Luke 22:38

Soon thereafter Judas led "a multitude" to Jesus,
who was asked whether thay shoud resist with swords Luke 22:49
and thay counter-attacked some of that multitude.

OF COURSE, Jesus called them off because it was not his purpose
to prevent and defeat the crucifiction. The arrest preceded the crucifiction.
According to Christian theory, the crucifiction paved the way for Man
to be forgiven by God. Therefore, Judas and the multitude
were arranging circumstances for that to fall into place,
so counter-attacking with swords was not appropriate at that time.

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But besides, I thought you didn't believe the Bible.

I respect Jesus





David

Mar 14:7 For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good: but me ye have not always.


Mar 14:8 She hath done what she could: she is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying.

Mar 14:9 Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, [this] also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her.

As a whole, the Bible is not ambiguous at all.

2. Not Emasculated: avoiding unisex, "gender inclusive" language, and other modern emasculation of Christianity

Didn't Jesus spread the wealth around even? Such a Socialist.

It can be fun to begift people who don 't expect it.
Generosity can be good,
but property shoud not be extorted from people
to give it to others. "Thou shall not steal."

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Nevertheless osdavid, you did originally try to portray "Put up again thy sword into his place"
as some kind of endorsement of gun (sword) rights
or something like that after responding the image of Jesus holding a sword.

YES; that remains unrefuted,
but it was from Jesus' recommendation that whoever does not own
a sword (extrapolated to a gun, today) shoud buy one. Luke 22:36

Jesus did support the right to keep and bear arms
and the wisdom of doing so.

For instance, last nite, I saw on the National Geographic Channel
where 2 young girls decided to HIKE in Alaska, and got hiking equipment.
When offered, thay explicitly rejected a gun. [I was SHOCKED!!!]
Within 2 hours, one of the unarmed girls
had been killed by a polar bear and the other
had jumped off a cliff to avoid him.
It is wiser to carry sufficient firepower
than it is to jump off of a cliff.

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It can be fun to begift people who don 't expect it.
Generosity can be good,
but property shoud not be extorted from people
to give it to others. "Thou shall not steal."

... and pay your taxes.

ebrown p wrote:

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It can be fun to begift people who don 't expect it.
Generosity can be good,
but property shoud not be extorted from people
to give it to others. "Thou shall not steal."

... and pay your taxes.

Taxes r extortion.
Paying taxes is indistinguishable from giving your watch and cash
to a robber in the street.