Then Jesus asked them, "When I sent you without purse, bag or sandals, did you lack anything?" "Nothing," they answered. He said to them, "But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don't have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one." Luke 22:35, 36, NIV
Guess we all are aware of the incredible number of people buying guns. Many gun items, like magazines, are out of stock and orders are no longer accepted. To many people,this is horrifying. How un-Christian! And how un-Sermon on the Mountish. To these people, we must not prepare for trouble, we must depend on the Lord to care for us.
How conflicted I was by the doctrine of passivism. I have given it much thought. How do we reconcile turning the other cheek with the advice of Jesus to buy a sword? I am ready to listen to the advocates of the Sermon on the Mount as a way of life for Christians. But first, to show their sincerity, I want them to cash in all their insurance policies because they are a form of giving a thought for the morrow. When shopping, buy only enough food for today.
Now I do not know anyone who is willing to do these things. Apparently, only passivism is following the Sermon. I am only saying this to show that Jesus giving His famous sermon, had an entirely different audience and with a different lesson in mind. To unbelieving Jews, he gave a code of ethics which no one ever has ever followed.
If you disagree, did you ever hear of anyone who plucked out his eye because it offended him? Jesus revealed to a very moral nation, the impossibility of achieving righteousness apart from His shed blood. There is no blood in the Sermon on the Mount.
Toward the end of His life, Jesus told the disciples that there was trouble ahead and to arm themselves in preparation for it. This is what the American people are doing today.
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