On 27 May 2023 17:29:58 GMT, servant wrote:
>>The churches have been notorious for supporting their country's wars.
>>
>>For example, German Catholics killed American Catholics. And American
>>Baptists killed German Baptists on the battlefields, etc. DESPITE
>>Jesus' command at Mt 5:44,
>>
>>Matthew 5:44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those
>>who persecute you,"
>
>Indeed, no doubt as also happened among some of the above,ie. prayer for
>the adversary, no?
Yes, Jesus said to pray for them.
>
>Paul directed in no uncertain terms, obey civil authority with no
>exception mentioned, no?
The Bible does give us the exception. Ac 5:29,
"Peter and the other apostles replied: "We must obey God rather than
men!" (NIV)
Since Jesus told us to make disciples and baptize them, if a
government forbids such a thing, we have to obey God first, men
second.
>
>A web page dives deeper into the self defence aspect, in part:
>
>"As if to confirm Mark's Gospel, we find these additional words of Christ
>in the Gospel of Luke: "When the strong man, fully armed, guards his
>courtyard, his property is undisturbed (11:21)." In case anyone still
>doesn't get the point, it is not enough simply to defend yourself when the
>situation arises; you should be armed and ready to defend even your
>property.
That is how wars start. JW's go by Jesus' commands.(Mt 28:19,20)
>
>And this, of course, is what Jesus told his disciples to do shortly before
>he was taken prisoner when he told them to make sure they had swords: arm
>yourselves and be ready."
The amount of weapons they had was no where near enough to defend
againt that mob. Jesu thus showed them that even though they were
armed, they were not supposed to fight. Jesus also said, those who
take up the sword, die by the sword.
>
Sincerely James
people starving yet military
spending over 2 trillion
5/28/23
Go to
jw.org