Bible Question:
Matt 5:40 and Luke 6:29 Need to better understand these two passages. Not sure how to respond in a situation regarding inheritance and do not know if these apply (to give whatever to whomever), or if honoring our father and mother would take precidence Please help me understand. |
Bible Answer: I see that this has gone unanswered for a few days. Let me see if I can provide some perspective. The question is definitely, "What did Jesus mean by these statements?" One possibility is that whenever anyone asks a Christian for anything that the Christian is obligated to give him whatever he asks. The inevitable result of this would be that very greedy people would figure this out and would then ask every Christian for everything they own, become very wealthy in the process and leaving all Christians completely bankrupt and the greedy people of the world even more morally bankrupt. This seems untenable. It seems, rather, that Jesus is calling His Church to generosity and servanthood and away from materialism. That Christians should be generally open-handed and seeking to help others fits well with our calling to be Christ-like. It should also be noted that Jesus did not even speak these words to Christians, since He had yet to go to the Cross. The people who heard this were followers of Judaism. To be sure, these principles apply to us as well, though. A good thing to take into consideration in your situation is how the Apostle used his Roman citizenship in his ministry. In one place, he had been either beaten or punished in some way from which Roman citizens were exempted. Paul, rather than continuing to be mistreated, proclaimed his citizenship to the surprise of the rulers who had done that to him. From that time on, the rulers in that city treated him with great dignity, hoping that he would not turn them in for what they had done to him. By the same token, God sets up governments "to punish those who do evil and commend those who do good." I think you would do well to use the laws God has instituted in this country to seek justice, but to do so with grace rather than malice. I pray things turn out well for you. |
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Questions and/or Subjects for Bible general Archive 3 | Author | ||
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starfire | ||
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smwatkin | ||
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J_babygirl14 | ||
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starfire | ||
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BigJohnUkraine | ||
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cynthia80 | ||
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gatorz | ||
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KathyInKY | ||
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Buck Craddock | ||
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Des | ||
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dovesandroses |