If you believe in the infallibility of the New Testament, then there is no justification for killing or war of any kind. So, either the New Testament is wrong, or war and killing are wrong. There is no middle ground. Not only did Jesus not believe in killing, he believed in allowing himself to be killed without struggle. I don’t see how a true follower of Jesus could kill those he is sworn to love.

It seems that most Christians cherry pick the doctrines they find convenient to follow.

I have included some Biblical references to assist you in understanding where my thinking is based. I believe Jesus is telling us that killing is sin, even in self-defense. Jesus did not list exceptions to his “love your enemy” idea. The Old Testament is full of killing and war, but not so the New Testament and the teachings of Jesus.

Killing is very different than just turning over tables and throwing people out of the Temple. Jesus was strong and courageous, but his courage was not be measured by how powerfully he could kill his enemies and neighbors.

Mathew:
Chapter 22:
[36] Master, which is the greatest commandment in the law?
[37] Jesus said to him: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind.
[38] This is the greatest and the first commandment.
[39] And the second is like to this: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself .
[40] On these two commandments dependeth the whole law and the prophets.

Chapter 5
[21] You have heard that it was said to them of old: Thou shalt not kill. And whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment.
[22] But I say to you, that whosoever is angry with his brother, shall be in danger of the judgment. And whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council. And whosoever shall say, Thou Fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.


[43] You have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thy enemy.
[44] But I say to you, Love your enemies: do good to them that hate you : and pray for them that persecute and calumniate you:
[45] That you may be the children of your Father who is in heaven, who maketh his sun to rise upon the good, and bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust.
[46] For if you love them that love you, what reward shall you have? do not even the publicans this?
[47] And if you salute your brethren only, what do you more? do not also the heathens this?
[48] Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect.

Paul to the Romans:

Chapter 12
[19] Revenge not yourselves, my dearly beloved; but give place unto wrath, for it is written: Revenge is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord.
[20] But if thy enemy be hungry, give him to eat; if he thirst, give him to drink . For, doing this, thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head.
[21] Be not overcome by evil, but overcome evil by good.

I don’t believe Christ gave exemptions to killing for war, intruder in my house, or guy who cut me off on the freeway.

What do you think?

A true Christian can never ever, use violence, nor can he approve the use of violence by others. War and Christianity can't be combined. However, there are two billion Christians, these people rather want to live in Satan's world and rather obey their lord Satan than to obey Jesus and suffer the humiliations, persecutions and hardship that comes with being Christian. Yes, being a true Christian is hard, very hard, but most people have made it easier for themselves and added some personal preferences and thrown away some "difficult" elements from Christianity.

They will have to explain to heir lord Jesus who was so anti-violence and said that his followers should turn their other cheek why they killed humans or approved killing. Good luck on that.

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They know... Saddam Hussein is no threat to the US. But at some point he might decide if he had a nuclear weapon to use it against Israel. Gen.W.Clark

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"The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left."
Ecclesiastes 10:2 (NIV)

Because while Christ preached non-violence, he was a very forceful man, and even drove people out of a temple with a whip that he made himself.

Not just that, but if you look at the Old Testament, God had ordered the Jews to massacre entire cities in his name. Are there two different Gods, one that talks about peace and love and one that talks about vengeance and wrath? I think people will interpret whatever they want to intepret from the Bible to do whatever it is they want to do. For the war mongers, they will find evidence that God allows them to go to war, and for the peace nics, they will find evidence that we should never use violence. Truth is, they are probably both wrong in some ways.

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"The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left."
Ecclesiastes 10:2 (NIV)

I have heard the money-changers argument before, but that seems very weak to me. Jesus did not kill the money-changers or declare war on them. There is a huge difference between killing and overturning tables. Huge.

Yes, there is lots of killing in the Old Testament. Jesus came to show humanity a new way of love and forgiveness and this new way is a significant difference between Judaism and Christianity.

Luke 22:36; "Then said he unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one."

Luke was written in Greek. The Greek word commonly translated to sword is "machaira." A more correct translation would be "fighting weapon."

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"Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves." ~Ronald Reagan

Later is that same passage, Luke 49-51

When Jesus' followers saw what was going to happen, they said, "Lord, should we strike with our swords?" And one of them struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear.
But Jesus answered, "No more of this!" And he touched the man's ear and healed him.

Jesus did not / does not condone the use of violence.

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"The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left."
Ecclesiastes 10:2 (NIV)

Sure, throwing people out of the temple is sure something else than killing 'em.

Ehh, most people kinda know that. Only Americans can use that part of the bible and somehow twist it in their own advantage.


Southern State American Christian:" Well, Jesus threw people out of the temple, so he' won't mind if we nuke some people."

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They know... Saddam Hussein is no threat to the US. But at some point he might decide if he had a nuclear weapon to use it against Israel. Gen.W.Clark