Do you think Jesus was a pacifist?

[Jenna]

I believe Jesus would use the means to best accomplish the things he needed to accomplsih. Sometimes you have to fight for what is right and sometimes non-violence makes an even bolder statement. Different tools for different situations. Nothing in life can be grouped into a "black vs. white" discussion. Sometimes you need to fight to win, other times violence will cost more than the problem it was supposed to fix.

Hey bignick that is clever.. I really like that viewpoint a lot.. and but I wonder is that REALLY how we imagine a man such as Jesus would have been OR is it how we would LIKE to imagine such a man ie. more like ourselves: pragmatic.. going with the flow.. rolling with the punches and maybe not averse to decking someone if necessary.. I think you are right about the different tools for the task at hand.. that is a lovely analogy and but I wonder now in the 21st century have we a much more limited range of tools that we would be willing to use.. resistance and / or non violence being EXCLUDED from our toolkit??

Thank you again for your insight

Yr most obdt hmble srvt,
Jenna

 

[OUMoose]

Do you think Jesus was a pacifist? Personally, I did.

In fairness, I'm not of the Christian faith, although I do respect it highly. I've since come across the views of two ladies on MT that happen to be Christian. They both believe that Jesus was not a pacifist.

What are your points of view? Do you think Jesus was a pacifist? Does this point of view reflect how you approach your training at all?

Please be respectful to all faiths and backgrounds if you reply...thank you! :asian:

I figured he'd be a laid back kind of guy until I took a philosophy class in college discussing the rituals/beliefs about death from around the world. We had to read the bible and a couple other religious texts front to bad, and it definitely makes me think the old-testimate vengeful god was the more common one. *shrug* I'm not of the christian faith either, but I do respect its ideas. YMMV.

and in response to:

The bottom line is that when we have large numbers of historical documents or fragments on a particular topic dating from or faithfully transcribed from ancient times, then we can consider the history gleaned from them remarkably accurate.
For instance, no one—especially your literature teacher—questions the authenticity of the epic poem The Iliad by the ancient Greek poet Homer. In fact, it is the second most well-documented historical writing in existence, with 643 manuscripts still surviving, the oldest complete text dating from the 13th century. Quite impressive!
Now consider the ancient text that is the most well-documented.
By a late 20th-century reckoning, there are over 5,300 surviving ancient Greek manuscripts, 10,000 in Latin and over 9,300 other early-language versions for a grand total of 24,633 manuscripts of this document—the one we call the New Testament of the Bible! This amounts to phenomenal historical validity. This ancient text, by far the most reliably preserved of any, thus validates Jesus Christ's historical existence (Josh McDowell, Evidence That Demands a Verdict, Vol. 1, pp. 39-40).

I'm sure there are quite literally millions of copies of "The Cat in the Hat" as well, but I'm quite sure that there never existed a bi-pedial indigo feline with a chapeau. They are parables, not to be meant literally.

 

[pstarr]

He was no pacifist...remember that He suggested that his disciples should sell their coats and buy swords...

 

[jkd friend]

He was no pacifist he new when to use force and when not too. He had the best appraoch to every confilct. To be pacifist you have no answer but one of no harm bieing done to one another, while many think being pacifist is finding that peaceful solution to a conflict. never the less its not the presention of peace but the acceptence of it that being said Jesus Knew of foolish people so he Knew of course when to fight back with force to still obtain peace for that moment however long it may last.