Theos-Talk Archives (June 1997 Message tl00294)

On Sat, 14 Jun 1997 14:24:12 -0400 (EDT) JRC <jrcecon@selway.umt.edu>
writes:

>Or perhaps you are making the typical conservative mistake of
>believing the writings of those masters ought to be followed only to the
>degree it is convenient. They were all pretty clear about what they
>thought the response of good people should be - no, not just pretty
>clear, but actually adament. And the response was not weaponry.

The spiritual teachers whom I most highly esteem advocate thinking for
oneself in order to understand the principles they teach, not blind
obedience to their rules.  When Peter used a sword to cut off the ear of
one of Jesus' attackers, and Jesus told him to put away his sword, since
"they who take up the sword will perish by the sword," that did not mean
that he thought that taking up the sword, and risking perishing thereby,
is wrong in all situations, since there is a record elsewhere of his
advocating having a sword (Luke 22:36,38).  Spiritually, motive is
all-important and morally, results are all-important.  Whether physical
death is good or bad depends on the situation.