An Eye For An Eye Or Turn The Other Cheek?

[shifrbv]

I've really been having a moral dillemma with these recent attacks. Being a Christian, I'm most apt to think about the early days of the Bible when the prophets said "an eye for an eye". But later, Jesus was sent to us to tell us to "turn the other cheek" as he did when dying upon the cross.

Everytime I see these "terrorists" on TV, I get so angry that I can just see myself going in as a suicide bomber in their country (maybe to one of those Islamic Jihad schools) to see how they would like it. Then, I see others saying, "Don't stoop to their level lest you become them" or "anyone can be a superpower as a country, but not everyone can be a "great power".

I've always beleived that some of the greatest people in history were the ones who got things done through means of peaceful resistance. But now that I've come face to face with this violence against my fellow countrymen, I find myself slipping more and more.

The Bible says "those who live by the sword will die by the sword". But how can I sit idly by and see fellow members of my family and communities attacked without avenging?

Anyone else feeling the same way?

 

[Nitemare]

You mean turn the other "butt" cheek, bend over and say thank you can I have another?

We have no choice in this matter. The only thing terrorists understand is death and destruction...so they will get it

 

[Amused]

As Grandpa Simpson would say, "A little from column A and a little from column B."

 

[chechi]

Eye for an Eye. Lol, I fell for the free porn thing!

 

[StageLeft]

An eye for a cheek and turn the other eye!!

To answer your question I am generally of a merciful disposition. I don't believe in capital punishment overall and I think an eye for an eye normally doesn't help. However, in this case even a slap on the wrist for each person killed adds up to a death with my math. There is no peaceful discussion with people who do this sort of thing. THeir mindset is unbreachable and thus one of the best ways to stop them is with termination of their life. Discussion only goes so far unfortunately.

No matter how peaceful you are if you're big with a baseball bat and a dog keeps nipping at your feet ultimately you have to strike it. Can't discuss with a rabid dog. Terrorists are rabid dogs. The only thing to do is to put them down and discuss with their owner (hosting country) that it must never happen again.

 

[Optimus]

It isn't revenge, its justice and making sure these scum are never powerful enought to slaughter innocents again. It is protection of the innocent and bringing the evil-doers to justice.

Not revenge. Revenge would be targetting civilians as brutally and horribly as they did. Revenge would be cowardly strikes against those who could not defend themselves - and without warning.

We will punish the guilty and remove thier power to do these horrible things. We will protect innocent lives, and rid the world of terrorist threats (or at least try as best we can).

No one with any brains wants civilians caught near the terrorists to die either - and we must work very hard to avoid causing them harm. But we cannot NOT stop these people - we cannot let them strike again and again - to rain destruction and fear on the world.

 

[tcsenter]

<< But later, Jesus was sent to us to tell us to "turn the other cheek" as he did when dying upon the cross. >>

Another misunderstood passage. Jesus' teaching to turn the other cheek refers to matter's involving a threat to one's pride, not one's life. Jesus taught compassion and forgiveness, but a pacifist He wasn't.

One way I was taught, and I believe it precisely parallels the passage in question, is when someone lashes out at you, and you have invited or incited such a reaction, you should turn the other cheek, instead of allowing your pride to get in the way.

Edit: To say that Jesus showed us how to turn the other cheek by dying on the cross entirely misses the whole purpose for Christ Himself! Christ HAD to die, it was His Divine Purpose! He knew that. Imagine if Christ would have thought, "Screw this, I'm fighting back."

 

[Miramonti]

Being a Christian, I'm most apt to think about the early days of the Bible when the prophets said "an eye for an eye". But later, Jesus was sent to us to tell us to "turn the other cheek" as he did when dying upon the cross.

He refers to this as our individual responsibility in our own hearts. I agree, accept, and try to ascribe to these principles (feebly of course) and questioned in my mind how this relates to the recent terrorism, muchless others.

However there is a biblical distinction tho between individual responsibility and the responsibility of the nation and governing authorities. Take a look at Romans 13 where it discusses the role of the government.

He (the authorities) is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer (niv)

This was highlighted by a pastor of a church that I visited last weekend and I like the way he presented it. He said that there were numerous examples of this in the bible to back this up where the leaders/authorities of the nations took and exercised this responsibility. (I don't remember if he said where it was documented tho and haven't looked it up myself)

 

[TheOmegaCode]

Eye for an eye. I am not religious, but doesn't god say that you are also subject to the laws of man. So, if you kill someone you get incarserated, or killed! So, don't feel bad about the dirty terrorists.

 

[LaBang]

"an eye for an eye and the world will go blind" -ghandi

pacifists aren't asking for the world to turn the other cheek and ingore what happened. A peacefull sollution could be found to avoid entering a holy war. We do have a justice system. Put them in jail!

 

[HowardStern]

We already tried turning the other cheek when Clinton's response to terrorists was to lob a few cruise missles into Afghanistan and Sudan. Look at what that got us.

 

[LethalWolfe]

<< "an eye for an eye and the world will go blind" -ghandi

pacifists aren't asking for the world to turn the other cheek and ingore what happened. A peacefull sollution could be found to avoid entering a holy war. We do have a justice system. Put them in jail! >>



The only "peaceful" solution possible is for all Americans to commit suicide. And I don't much like that idea. These terrorists hate the US. They call us the "Great Satan." They believe that the US is the root of all evil and they've taken it upon themselves to save the world from us. They don't "want" anything from us. They don't have any demands, or a political agenda they want heard. They just want our country to cease to exist. "Live and let live" doesn't work if one side's sole reason for existing is to kill the other. Bin Laden's group bombed our embassies in Africa, our barracks in Saudi Arabia, the WTC in '93 and our battle ship the USS Cole. What did we do in response to each attack? We sent out a few cruise missiles and said, "If you do that again, you'll be sorry." But they kept doing it, and we kept making idle threats and utterly anemic attempts of retaliation. And now, they killed 5,000 plus people in the attacks last week. After seeing the carnage of Vietnam in our living rooms America, as a country, lost it's nerve and willingness to commit troops. Unless we get it back we'll keep dying 5, 10, or 15 thousand at a time.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu spoke before congress today, and gave a great speech. In response to a question about US policy and bringing Bin Laden to justice he said: "...It's not a court of law. It's a field of war..."


shifrbv, people who "live by the sword" are aggressors and war mongers. They only did things thru force and fear. Hitler lived by the sword. These terrorists live by the sword. The US, and our, allies should make sure these terrorist die by their sword.

Lethal

 

[TheBlondOne]

We had this discussion last night in my poli-sci class. What about Anabaptists (pacifists) and Lutherans (Martin Luther was a big fan of Christians in politics).

I was reminded of Jesus saying "render to Caesar what is Caesar and to God what is God's." I think there is a balance between government and Christian principles. Of course, this means that we, as fallible humans, have to make some sort of a decision on where the line is drawn. Where that line is, I don't know. I know my personal preference, but that doesn't mean that it's right, nor that it's in line with what God wants.

 

[drewshin]

shifrbv,

i'm sorry but your post reminded me of the way flanders speaks on the simpsons for some reason.

esp since i just saw the episode where flanders blows up after his house gets blown down by the hurricane.

i think your question is an important one though.

no diddly diddly way

 

[palad]

One of the best lessons I ever learned from a computer game:

He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster.
~~~
And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.

-Friedrich Nietzsche

 

[tcsenter]

<< A peacefull sollution could be found to avoid entering a holy war. We do have a justice system. Put them in jail! >>

The leader of the Egyptian equivalent of Al-Qaeda (fanatical fundamentalist) was quoted as saying "In the days to come, the United States and its allies will perish. Islam must be the world religion." Bin Laden has called for Americans to be killed where every they be found.

I don't think the pacifists "get it", nor will they until they try to hug a terrorist and he cuts their GD throat. As they lay there drowning in their own blood, then it might 'sink-in'. Or will they feel comforted by the warmth of the terrorist's urine as he pisses on them in response for their pleas of mercy?

These fanatics have decided that "Allah" has commanded them or otherwise authorized them to destroy the west; its beliefs, principles, values, and civilizations. They do not view the world as being big enough for 'two' belief systems, there is only Islam (their distorted version of it) and nothing else. We have attempted to co-exist with them, and we still are willing to co-exist with anyone who wants to co-exist with us. They, however, have decided there can be no co-existance, and they will not be appeased. Its us, or them.

We have courtrooms for civil matters, those who violate our laws. We have a military and "extra-constitutional" means for those who wage war against our country.

 

[KrispyKremer]

shifrbv, I too have been asking this question.

Considering the circumstances, justice shall appear in the form of, if nothing else, self defense.

How can we not take action that will not only prevent this from happening again in the future, but signal as a deterent at the same time?

In other words, if we do nothing it will continue. We cannot allow it to continue. We cannot remain idle when we see evil take place. Therefore, we must act.