Tag Archives: Non-violence

Jesus teaches to love your enemy (Matthew 5: 43-48)

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Bible Summary:

Jesus tells the crowd at the Sermon on the Mount to love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. He says God makes sun and rain fall on good and bad people alike so we must become perfect and love everyone too.

My Thoughts:

Non-Violence Training: Jesus continues his non-violence training by going beyond the thought of not seeking revenge to actually loving your enemies. A small group of people cannot change the belief of the majority by force, but has a good chance by following the ways of Jesus.

Love Your Enemies: Now that is a hard pill to swallow. How can you love your enemy when they are causing you grief? Think how angry we get when someone cuts us off on the highway. But, loving your enemy is the only long-term solution. Retaliation causes retaliation and escalation. Instead, look for common ground with your enemy. Find something to talk about. Try to compliment them. The best scenario is to turn them into a friend, then you no longer have an enemy.

Flipping the Lens on Stereotyping: We should be very careful not to stereotype people because of the actions of a few. It was real easy to think badly about all Muslims because of a few extremists who orchestrated the 9/11 attacks, but most Muslims are actually very nice, Godly (“Allah” to them) people. Their religion also comes from Abraham and teaches their faithful to believe in Jesus as a messenger of God.

Jesus teaches against revenge (Matthew 5: 38-42)

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Bible Summary:

Jesus tells the crowd at the Sermon on the Mount not to seek revenge as the old “eye for an eye” laws say, but to offer the other cheek to your aggressor, to give the thief your coat as well, and to give whenever someone asks.

My Thoughts:

Teaching meekness?: It sure seems Jesus is teaching everyone to be meek, to roll over and accept all the bad in life with a smile on their face. In reality, he is teaching them the strength of not allowing their emotions to take over a situation, getting them further into trouble. He is also teaching them not to seek revenge to remove the strife which can last for generations as long, drawn-out feuds between families where the descendants do not even know the original reason for the disagreement.

Teaching Followers Non-Violence: I believe Jesus had the foresight to realize his followers would be persecuted by the authorities for his beliefs which were different than the established laws and customs of the time. It does not matter that he was teaching good, just that it was different. To reduce this persecution, he conducted the first campaign of non-violence that set in motion a religion that would dwarf the Jewish faith and now encompasses one-third of the people around the world.

Mohandas Gandhi copied these non-violent methods to free India from British rule and Martin Luther King, Jr. copied them to gain civil rights for all Americans regardless of race, religion, or any other reason to separate people.  Non-violence works.

Walk Away: So the next time you are in a quarrel, put yourself in good company like Jesus, Dr. King, and Gandhi, and be strong enough to walk away until the other person cools off.