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>In the New Testament believers are told to love everyone, including foreigners and non-believers and are given a specific edict to pray for their enemies. But

>In the New Testament believers are told to love everyone, including foreigners and non-believers and are given a specific edict to pray for their enemies. But also: >34 Do not assume that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to turn ‘A man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.…

pbhjpbhj 6y ago
Yes, do you have anything that suggests it's not figurative? All the NT reports are of Jesus being entirely pacifist. In the NT "the sword" is the Holy Spirit, like "the son of man" is Jesus. There is an incidence of sword use by a disciple, cutting the ear of a Roman soldier at Jesus arrest; Jesus berates the disciple and heals the soldier; though IIRC Jesus tells them to bring a sword if they have one. To remain consistent to the message of the text it seems Jesus must have been speaking figuratively in your quote and I don't think any stretch is needed there? His immediate disciples appear to have acted consistent with that after his death. In contrast, but with similar consistency, when Mohammed says strike down unbelievers, that is also what he did - he was a successful warlord who besieged and put to the sword entire cities (according to Islamic sources: Koran and Hadith). IMO his transition to allowing opposing fighters to live, if they convert; then allowing Christians and Jews to live if they pay jizya; were the principle elements that allowed early growth - he turned cities in to golden geese, rather than razing them to the ground. His immediate followers of course also killed non-believers (and all the rest that we associate with mediaeval war). It's worth noting that where I am in the UK, there are many Muslims and quite a few are amongst my friends; none of them appear to follow Mohammed or the Koran in this aspect. People are not religions. There are examples of Buddhists being extremely violent for example, that doesn't mean Buddhism is bad; adherents who act malevolently didn't negate the worth of a particular doctrine. And vice versa: doctrine that is malevolent doesn't negate the worth of supposed proponents.

pbhjpbhj 6y ago

Yes, do you have anything that suggests it's not figurative? All the NT reports are of Jesus being entirely pacifist. In the NT "the sword" is the Holy Spirit, like "the son of man" is Jesus. There is an incidence of sword use by a disciple, cutting the ear of a Roman soldier at Jesus arrest; Jesus berates the disciple and heals the soldier; though IIRC Jesus tells them to bring a sword if they have one. To remain consistent to the message of the text it seems Jesus must have been speaking figuratively in your quote and I don't think any stretch is needed there? His immediate disciples appear to have acted consistent with that after his death. In contrast, but with similar consistency, when Mohammed says strike down unbelievers, that is also what he did - he was a successful warlord who besieged and put to the sword entire cities (according to Islamic sources: Koran and Hadith). IMO his transition to allowing opposing fighters to live, if they convert; then allowing Christians and Jews to live if they pay jizya; were the principle elements that allowed early growth - he turned cities in to golden geese, rather than razing them to the ground. His immediate followers of course also killed non-believers (and all the rest that we associate with mediaeval war). It's worth noting that where I am in the UK, there are many Muslims and quite a few are amongst my friends; none of them appear to follow Mohammed or the Koran in this aspect. People are not religions. There are examples of Buddhists being extremely violent for example, that doesn't mean Buddhism is bad; adherents who act malevolently didn't negate the worth of a particular doctrine. And vice versa: doctrine that is malevolent doesn't negate the worth of supposed proponents.