View Single Post
(#4)
Old
JennyD's Avatar
JennyD JennyD is offline
Honorary True Christian™
Sweet Placid Sister
Forum Member

One Year/1000 posts Ribfest '09 Saved 1 Year Christian Love Real American™ True Christian Lady

 
Posts: 9,562
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Surrounded by hippie vermin
JennyD is veritably a saint destined for a place in Heaven near Jesus' right hand.JennyD is veritably a saint destined for a place in Heaven near Jesus' right hand.JennyD is veritably a saint destined for a place in Heaven near Jesus' right hand.JennyD is veritably a saint destined for a place in Heaven near Jesus' right hand.JennyD is veritably a saint destined for a place in Heaven near Jesus' right hand.JennyD is veritably a saint destined for a place in Heaven near Jesus' right hand.JennyD is veritably a saint destined for a place in Heaven near Jesus' right hand.JennyD is veritably a saint destined for a place in Heaven near Jesus' right hand.JennyD is veritably a saint destined for a place in Heaven near Jesus' right hand.JennyD is veritably a saint destined for a place in Heaven near Jesus' right hand.JennyD is veritably a saint destined for a place in Heaven near Jesus' right hand.
Default Re: Matthew 5:39 turn the other check or not - 10-18-2009, 06:49 PM

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jamie the silverfox View Post
I thought we christians were to turn the other check until I read this and I've verified it's accuracy to the 1611 king james bible TM

Matthew 5:39 But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
I really wish you God-mockers would bother to find out what you're talking about before you begin spouting off idiocy.

Quote:
In his books "Engaging the Powers" and "The Powers That Be," Wink argues that Jesus rejected two common ways of responding to injustice: violent resistance and passive acceptance. Instead, Jesus advocated a "third way," an assertive but non-violent form of protest.

The key to understanding Wink's argument is rigorous attention to the social customs of the Jewish homeland in the first century and what these sayings would have meant in that context.


To illustrate with the saying about turning the other cheek: it specifies that the person has been struck on the right cheek. How can you be struck on the right cheek? As Wink emphasizes, you have to act this out in order to get the point: you can be struck on the right cheek only by an overhand blow with the left hand, or with a backhand blow from the right hand. (Try it).

But in that world, people did not use the left hand to strike people. It was reserved for "unseemly" uses. Thus, being struck on the right cheek meant that one had been backhanded with the right hand. Given the social customs of the day, a backhand blow was the way a superior hit an inferior, whereas one fought social equals with fists.

This means the saying presupposes a setting in which a superior is beating a peasant. What should the peasant do? "Turn the other cheek." What would be the effect? The only way the superior could continue the beating would be with an overhand blow with the fist--which would have meant treating the peasant as an equal.

Perhaps the beating would not have been stopped by this. But for the superior, it would at the very least have been disconcerting: he could continue the beating only by treating the peasant as a social peer. As Wink puts it, the peasant was in effect saying, "I am your equal. I refuse to be humiliated anymore." That is not all. The sayings about "going the second mile" and "giving your cloak to one who sues you for your coat" make a similar point: they suggest creative non-violent ways of protesting oppression.

Roman law permitted soldiers to force civilians to carry their gear for one mile, but because of abuses stringently prohibited more than one mile.

If they ask you to do that, Jesus says, go ahead; but then carry their gear a second mile. Put them in a disconcerting situation: either they risk getting in trouble, or they will have to wrestle their gear back from you.

Under civil law, a coat could be confiscated for non-payment of debt. For the poor, the coat often also served as a blanket at night. In that world, the only other garment typically worn by a peasant was an inner garment, a cloak. So if they take your coat, Jesus says, give them your cloak as well. "Strip naked," as Wink puts it. Show them what the system is doing to you. Moreover, in that world, nakedness shamed the person who observed it.

Thus, these sayings from the Sermon on the Mount, these seemingly mild sayings, are actually potent ways of confounding and exposing injustice. King and Gandhi may not have been aware of the finer points of modern Biblical scholarship, but they were no doubt clear that Jesus was counseling a radical new way of empowering the underclass.


www.palibandaily.com - Your Christian News Source
Huckabee/Palin Gingrich 2012 will reclaim America for Christ! PRAISE!

Christian Ladies:
Savor your separation in style at the Monthly Visitor!
Reply With Quote