I appreciate your comments. I notice your referenced several passages and claimed they “imply” the use of force is OK.
What about the passages of scripture that specifically state don’t return evil for evil, pray for your enemies etc?
I think "evil for evil" pertains to 2 things:
1. The idea that Vengeance belongs to the Lord, not to us (Romans 12:19)
If you are in the midst of a fight for your life, or your family's life I don't think that would fit the definition of vengeance. If the life-threatening situation has ended, and you choose to shoot the perp afterwards then you have returned "evil for evil" and have done vengeance. In the above rapist example, if the perp raped a child and then stopped and gave up, Christians are called to not shoot him and to pray for him. I think this is how "praying for your enemies" balances with the Christian duty to act and protect.
2. The underlying moral basis for your action
If your family is currently under violent/lethal attack by a man you don't like and your initial reason for shooting him is "I hate this guy, and this is a good time to use lethal force as an excuse" rather than "I need to protect my family" then you'd likely be legally cleared if you kept mum, yet morally culpable even though the result would be the same.
It's the same principle in nonviolent interactions. If I choose to help people on medical calls because I like the adrenaline rush rather than doing so as an outpouring of love on my neighbors through Christ then I am in the wrong, even if I save the patient in both cases.
What about the history of the church where Christians didn’t fight back, but we’re martyred for the cause of Christ?
peace to you
I think this depends on the particular person and a weighing of duties in that situation.
A husband has the duty to his family which he must weigh against the duty to turn the other cheek, and rejoice in persecution. I.E if he dies, will his wife and children starve? Will they not starve? If a husband allows himself to be killed as a martyr, and his family starves to death as a result, is God happy? Christians will have different answers to that question.
This same weighing of duties also applies to the James principle of helping others that I mentioned earlier and I think we do it everyday with the Holy Spirit. If I'm driving on a road and see a broke down car and someone struggling to put a tire on I often need to weigh my duties.
Is my family with me?
Does the situation look dangerous?
Will inserting myself into the situation put my family in danger?
Is this in an area where it's known that people fake flat fires and rob and kill passerby?
How much danger is the victim in?
Sometimes when we get paged out we are told to stage for LEO. This means do not enter the scene as it is dangerous and wait for Law Enforcement. Somebody could be dying on-scene, yet we are not entering it because of our weighing of duties. On one hand, we want to help people, and on the other hand we're volunteers, doing this without pay, and dying in the field in doesn't do our families any favors and has aspects of a dereliction of duty to our families.
NE. He can and does as He pleases, to whoever He pleases, and whenever He pleases. He Acts in certain ways in where He might get "involved", in His Way, or, choose to do nothing. He might save some of His children, while others are allowed to die. In ALL things, God is 100% JUST and PERFECT and RIGHTEOUS!
