X-Muslim β¦ βI put the Bible and the Quran in front of meβ
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Being helpless is a luxury.
I have not avoided violence. I spent ten years working in Hospital security. I dealt mostly with violent drug addicts and violent mental health patients.
Once our team dealt with a young 6'8" Maori who had just become a schizophrenic. He had voices in his head pretending to be his ancestors telling him that he was a death god, and that he was to chose who lived and who died.
I solved that issue by talking to him, but he was nineteen and so much bigger and stronger than I was.
If he had decided to listen to those voices, and to attack those doctors and nurses trying to help him I would have put myself in the way and I would have fought to the death.
For you to explain to me that Christ wants me to run and hide while evil happens is disgusting. For you to say that you are superior to good, honest, dutiful policeman and soldiers is wicked.
You have the utter, enviable luxury of living in a community where rough men like me use our judgement, get our hands dirty, and (according to you) risk our very souls so you can feel superior and get closer to God.
Fine! I am not even mad. Love your best life. But don't you dare tell me that my choices are ungodly, and that Christ looks down on my willingness to serve my community and to be the rough hands that keep you safe.
Peaceful is to have the capacity for violence and to make the choice to not use that capability.
Jesus could have called in his followers to rise up and to fight the wicked Jews and the heartless Romans. Instead he went willingly to his death, because his sacrifice would teach his followers a lesson.
There are times that violence is needed, and it is cowardice to turn away. God gave us a brain, an organ of judgement, and then he sent his son to teach us how to use it. By his example, Jesus taught us that considered, effective violence is sometimes required of us.
But you don't need to learn that lesson. You certainly are not ready for it.
Just go back to sleep in your nice comfortable bed. Tell yourself how superior you are to police officers and soldiers. Tell yourself that prison guards and hospital guards are lesser, less worthy men.
Christ loves you all the same.
I don't have his infinite capacity.
I deeply appreciate your insight on the subject.
I have struggled with forgiveness, as taught by our Lord Jesus. The first part of forgiveness is to accept people as they are.
I have had great difficulty in accepting that people can not be held to a higher standard. It has taken me a long time to understand that the teachings on forgiveness are without contradiction and that it is possible to forgive sinners and have standards for your community.
I get frustrated with other Christians who have taken from the teachings of the New Testament that we should forgive and accept people as they are and accept that they won't or can't change. There doesn't seem to be any place for tough love in that approach.
I understand where you're coming from, but I want to be clear that if your role is to serve in security, then understand your role is respected, and that civil authority you hold is ordained by God to restrain evil (Romans 13:4). Those in public-serving roles operate within a framework of godly order, not personal vengeance. It doesn't make people lesser, unless they become lesser by disregarding that order for personal aims.
Turning the other cheek, rebuking the sword, and praying for executioners makes it clear that spiritual strength, rooted in forgiveness, patience, and trust in God's ultimate justice, isn't weakness. It's not about being a coward and running and hiding, in fact Jesus even said "Greater love has no one than this: to lay down oneβs life for oneβs friends." It's a higher form of courage aligned with the way of the cross, something you expressed a bit of in defending a nurse as your civil authority.
The true battle isn't against people, but against spiritual darkness (Ephesians 6:12), and our calling is to overcome evil with good (Romans 12:21). We must not rely on fleshly strength but seek God's discernment in each situation. Love, not violence, remains the defining mark of a follower of Jesus, and eternal rewards are promised to the peacemakers.
Now, likewise, as a moderator with power here on this board, while not as flashy and dangerous as security, it's my God-ordained civil authority and my responsibility to uphold the standards of civility as per the sideboard rules. Which means personal insults like "go back to sleep" and "you're not ready for it" are violating our basic rule of respectful dialogue. We both operate under the same Romans 13:4, and I'm here talking to you, like you with the 'death god', to help you understand that if you want this to continue, that is the standard we must all uphold here.
Hopefully you see it's not weakness, but strength that comes from spiritual Godliness, with an aim to lift each other up and aim at something higher.