Tlaloc:
How exactly do nations fight if the people don’t?
False naievete does not suit you, Tlaloc. You know perfectly well that otherwise peaceful folk will take up arms as members of the body politic when they wouldn’t as individuals in parallel circumstances.
Tlaloc:
Again the swords may have been used against wild beasts. He never explicitly says to use them on people, does he?
And he never explicitly says not to, either. The swords carried by common folk at the time of Christ were called
gladii (singular
gladius); short, flat blades with a non-hilted grip. They were also carried by Roman soldiers and gladiators for personal combat. Defense against wild animals called for using spears; this kept things like sharp fangs (which were curved and tended to keep their purchase on your leg) away from tender flesh.
Since you’re so honked off about swords, what about the sword that issues from Christ’s mouth in Revelations? Think He was going to make
shish kebab with it?
Tlaloc:
Do you think the Christians fed to lions for refusing to renounce their faith thought it was the expedient thing to do?
No; neither do I think that they did not struggle with the lions when they were attacked. There’s a difference between pragmatism and expedience; suggesting that they are synonymous tells me you need a thesaurus, and suggesting that I do what is expedient instead of what is pragmatic tells me you’ve made up your mind about this and are therefore attempting to parade your intellect before an audience that is neither appreciative nor impressed.
Tlaloc:
If you want a religion that practical you’re in the wrong one. Christianity asks for an incredibly high standard of self sacrifice.
Au contraire; Christianity is eminently practical in that its adherents (properly formed) understand that their sacrifices benefit themselves as well as others.
Look, Tlaloc, no sane, sensible person
wants to spend his/her life fighting. You ask any Green Beret or SEAL how they want to die, they’ll tell you in bed, and of old age. They’re willing to put themselves in harm’s way - to fight and kill - because they take responsibility for the defense of the body politic.
Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori, and all that.
Christ never said it was okay to break the law just to fill your belly, either, but He and His disciples were accused of breaking the Sabbath law for eating grain off the ear. He understood;
sometimes you do what you must.
Do you sleep soundly at night? I’m sure you do, trusting in God to protect you from all enemies, natural, supernatural and infernal. Do you think maybe God has the US Marine Corps in His arsenal? Rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm.
You don’t have to be
of the world, but you do have to exist
in it.
