(no subject)
Sep. 4th, 2005 01:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jianantonicChurch was really good this morning, though Sunday School got me quite riled up. It was basically Taylors vs. Stones (Jeremy and I being the only Taylors versus three very vocal Stones - BC President's wife and kids). We were talking about social justice and the question that kept coming up is "Is it okay to use violence against someone who uses violence against you?" Being Brethren, I'm thinking the overwhelming response will be NO!, but I was wrong. We were looking at the turn the other cheek passage and the let he who is without sin cast the first stone passage and they kept saying things like, "Well, those were isolated incidents. Jesus never said you couldn't use force." And I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa. We affirmed in church this morning that Jesus is the EXAMPLE FOR OUR LIVES. This means not just listening to his words but following his example. Maybe Jesus didn't explicitly say that if someone is going to kill you that you can't kill them in defense, and maybe turn the other cheek only means if someone slaps your face, not if they are bludgeoning you, but my comment was that Jesus was faced with more persecution than any of us in that room and his example was to never resort to violence. Accept death, knowing that life on earth is not the only part of your existence. Jesus also didn't say not to rape babies, but I don't think anyone would try to argue that it's therefore okay to do so.
I think these people are trying to justify their violent urges. People have a natural inclination toward violent action, and they want to believe that God's okay with that. And in a way, God is, but God is okay with EVERYTHING, imho, because his love is deeper than any human being can imagine. Anyway, they try to find excuses for their violent urges rather than accepting the fact that they are not perfect Christians. I have violent urges all the time, but I'll follow Jesus' example to the best of my human ability by not acting on them.
It just got me really mad how these people refused to consider my POV, and they dismissed Jeremy's biblical references by saying that they were isolated and irrellevant. I was prefacing all of my assertions by saying that they were my personal belief, but they were saying, "No, you're wrong, and we're right, and this is what God means." That pissed me off. But Jer and I had a good talk on the way home about why they are like that and came to the aforementioned conclusions and I still feel good about my beliefs.
One more thing - when I mentioned that I could never kill another person, the teacher cut me off and said "But what would you do if someone were pointing a gun at you?" I didn't answer this way because it would sound more cocky and naive than I mean it, but I'm confident (not 100% sure, but confident) that that will never happen. I live a peaceful life so others will treat me peacefully. I know it's not a perfect world and that may not always hold, but I would rather die a martyr for the sake of peace than live a life knowing I'd gone against the one value most important to me. But, I didn't say that, because I knew they were all thinking, "Stupid 22-year-old idealist - just wait until she has kids and has to protect them." Well, I'm going to protect my children from the evils of this world by not having any. At least, that's the plan. (Jer and I plan not to have kids. Not for the reason of protecting them from a horrible world, but more because we know our relationship is best when it's just the two of us.)
MOVING ON...I'm going to volunteer in the nursery. I met the babies today that I'll be taking care of, and they are very sweet. I'm looking forward to it. :)
Peace.
I think these people are trying to justify their violent urges. People have a natural inclination toward violent action, and they want to believe that God's okay with that. And in a way, God is, but God is okay with EVERYTHING, imho, because his love is deeper than any human being can imagine. Anyway, they try to find excuses for their violent urges rather than accepting the fact that they are not perfect Christians. I have violent urges all the time, but I'll follow Jesus' example to the best of my human ability by not acting on them.
It just got me really mad how these people refused to consider my POV, and they dismissed Jeremy's biblical references by saying that they were isolated and irrellevant. I was prefacing all of my assertions by saying that they were my personal belief, but they were saying, "No, you're wrong, and we're right, and this is what God means." That pissed me off. But Jer and I had a good talk on the way home about why they are like that and came to the aforementioned conclusions and I still feel good about my beliefs.
One more thing - when I mentioned that I could never kill another person, the teacher cut me off and said "But what would you do if someone were pointing a gun at you?" I didn't answer this way because it would sound more cocky and naive than I mean it, but I'm confident (not 100% sure, but confident) that that will never happen. I live a peaceful life so others will treat me peacefully. I know it's not a perfect world and that may not always hold, but I would rather die a martyr for the sake of peace than live a life knowing I'd gone against the one value most important to me. But, I didn't say that, because I knew they were all thinking, "Stupid 22-year-old idealist - just wait until she has kids and has to protect them." Well, I'm going to protect my children from the evils of this world by not having any. At least, that's the plan. (Jer and I plan not to have kids. Not for the reason of protecting them from a horrible world, but more because we know our relationship is best when it's just the two of us.)
MOVING ON...I'm going to volunteer in the nursery. I met the babies today that I'll be taking care of, and they are very sweet. I'm looking forward to it. :)
Peace.
