O
OneSheep
Guest
Jesus’ followers asked the same questions. He responded with the story of the vineyard workers, where all the workers were paid the same wage even though they worked different numbers of hours. He also said “the last will be first, and the first will be last”. Both the parable and the saying focus our attention away from our striving for justice in the form of fairness. His emphasis was on love and forgiveness. When we all love and forgive one another, justice happens right along with it. Jesus said “the law is written in your hearts”. He commanded us to love God and one another, and after that everything falls into place.Evidently so.
Then there is no right or wrong, no just reward or punishment, no ramifications for one’s actions. One can sin one’s entire life with no fear. De facto, there would be no difference between Hitler and Mother Theresa. How can that possibly be?
A soldier has to work it out ahead of time. It is no act of love to endanger your fellow soldiers or to endanger yourself when you are truly fighting to protect your people.It would endanger troops. At the moment when it’s either you or them, you might hesitate, and in the heat of battle, that is the difference between life and death.
Much of the history of Christians fighting for the Pope is so much about people not knowing how to reconcile and solve their problems by other means. That was a long time ago. It’s like the inquisition, it is a period in the Church’s history that I am not fond of.According to you, that is the Christian way. That being the case, I would like to know if Christians, including fighting on behalf of the Church and the Pope, ever actually did that. I myself am not aware of any such cases, but am always open to learn.
I am still wondering what you think about what I wrote earlier:
" … you would have to agree that a lot of progress would be made if Palestinians who hate Israelis would take the time and effort to forgive. If Palestinians loved and forgave their enemies, then we would see more peaceful demonstrations and no bombings."
The drive for justice can be a very subjective thing. Can you see what I am saying? If we all learn to forgive unconditionally, the problem is nearly solved. Why require repentance for forgiveness when the repentance will naturally follow the forgiveness? If the Palestinians can find it in themselves to forgive unconditionally, their repentance will be part of the package. When we require repentance as a precondition for forgiveness, both sides could fight for generations without ever resolving anything. Forgiveness opens our hearts to considering the needs of the other. The rest is working out the details on who gets what.
Don’t forget that Jesus was talking mainly to His brethren. The thought of forgiving the Romans was atrocious. What would Israelis think if some guy on the streets of Tel Aviv called for forgiveness of the Palestinians? Would they think He was crazy? Would they despise Him? Would they want to hang Him on a cross? All those responses would be quite natural. A few Israelis, though, would agree with Him, wouldn’t they?