I am really not trying to be argumentative. I realize this post is about violence and I understand the point being made. But, I think about this a lot....where do we draw the line? I agree that it is good to 'resist evil' by feeding the poor, doing good in a non-violent manner, etc., but where is the line? We can go "this" far, but not "this far"? And here is the reason I think upon these things so deeply. I live on a ranch. My family makes our living from livestock. I have defended my livestock many times by killing predators threatening my livestock. I have taken the life of downed cattle with broken legs/back, that will suffer and die horribly if not mercifully ending their suffering. But if a human predator was attacking my family, I would not be able to use force to stop it? So, with the reasoning above, I can not protect my livestock, and I especially can not protect my family. By the reasoning above, would I not be obligated to stop raising livestock all together for food, as I know they are being raised to be killed (which is a form of violence against animals) ? Should I become a vegetarian farmer instead? I wonder how many here are strictly vegans because eating meat means the killing of animals and is violent? As far as I understand, Jesus ate meat? Or, perhaps, was His instructions to not resist evil a specific instruction given to a specific group (the deciples) for a specific ministry? I know He said AS MUCH AS IT DEPENDS ON YOU, live peaceably with all men (and I feel like I do this), so does that also give a little room for the reasonable action to protect using the minimum amount of force possible? I don't know the answer, and I am not sure that there is just ONE answer to every situation. I take no joy from any form of violence, but I have accepted that it is a part of the world we live in, and weather we take up arms or just eat meat, we are participating in it weather we acknowledge it or not. If anyone who has not watched an animal being butchered thinks that it is not violent, I urge you to just watch it once. It will change your perspective on those pretty little packages of meat you buy at the grocery store.
respectfully,
lauriellen
Hi Lauri,
I think there is a big difference between doing harm to another
person and doing harm to an animal. The scriptures make it plain that the animals were given to us for food.
Gen 1:30 Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food"; and it was so.
Genesis 9:1-7
1 And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.
2 And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered.
3 Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.
4 But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.
5 And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man.
6 Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.
7 And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.
Was it not daily that by the commandments of God the animals were sacrificed [killed] constantly at the alter?
Furthermore, killing and murder are two different things. While murder always involves killing, killing is not always murder. We kill animals, we murder people.
kill·ingˈkiliNG/Submit
noun
1. an act of
causing death, especially deliberately.
mur·derˈmərdər/Submit
noun
1. the unlawful premeditated killing of one
human being by another.
You saw in Genesis the warning against shedding the blood of another person. Here are more admonishments against murder:
Galatians 5:21 Envyings,
murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
1 John 3:15 Whosoever hateth his brother is a
murderer: and ye know that
no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.
Revelation 21:8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and
murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
Matthew 15:16-20
16 And Jesus said, Are ye also yet without understanding?
17 Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught?
18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.
19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts,
murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:
20 These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.
Exo 20:13 Thou shalt not murder.
So then love really is the fulfillment of the law because love does no harm to another PERSON.
Rom 13:9 For the commandments, "You must not commit adultery; you must not murder; you must not steal; you must not covet," and every other commandment are summed up in this statement: "You must love your neighbor as yourself."
Rom 13:10 Love never does anything that is harmful to its neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfillment of the Law.
Matthew 22:36-40
36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
40
On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophetsStrong's -- Neighbor: that is FELLOW (as
MAN....).
I think the scriptures are clear on these matters. The biggest stumbling block for most people in the world is simply believing the scriptures. Believing what is right in front of them.
God bless,
Alex