at all...
No darkness
“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ “But I tell you not to 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 away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. “And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. “Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ “But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, “that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. “For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? “And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.
The cross or the sword?
The above teaching from Jesus is not a parable nor is it symbolic or metaphoric. It is CLEAR and CONCISE instructions. Beloved, Jesus left absolutely no place in His words for a Christian to ever use violence. None the less most “American” Christians completely ignore or twist these most beautiful words.
The articles and other resources you find in this section might not agree with “your” doctrine but I can promise they will all agree with Jesus.
A short but effective article called The cross and the sword. Well worth the five minutes it will take you to read!
Disclaimer: This section on non violence was not created to challenge the idea of wars or violence between goverments and nations, these belong to the kingdom of this world. The resources found here exclusively pertain to individuals that call themselves followers of Christ.
What did the early church believe about violence? Well, in short their stance on non violence was the one thing they seemed to have 100% agreement on.
Flight, fight or Jesus? A great teaching from Matthew 5 that reminds us Jesus meant what he said about non violence
Article: Beyond just war and pacifism: Jesus' nonviolent way. If you say you are a "follower" of Jesus but still believe violence is a solution to anything this is a must read!
"So in many instances, we have been able to stand before the most violent opponents and say in substance, we will meet your capacity to inflict suffering by our capacity to endure suffering. We will meet your physical force with soul force. Do to us what you will and we will still love you."
"Throw us in jail and we will still love you. Threaten our children and bomb our homes and our churches and as difficult as it is, we will still love you. Send your hooded perpetrators of violence into our communities at the midnight hours and drag us out on some wayside road and beat us and leave us half-dead, and as difficult as that is, we will still love you. But be assured that we will wear you down by our capacity to suffer and one day we will win our freedom. We will not only win freedom for ourselves, we will so appeal to your heart and your conscience that we will win you in the process and our victory will be a double victory." - Martin Luther King Jr.
