Quote:
Originally Posted by A_PoMo
The difference is that Pharisees and Sadducees were not unbelievers. Jesus responded in anger toward hypocrisy, and that's an in-house religious affair. When dealing with those outside of the faith community the NT is clear, that we are to be kind, gentle, and meek. The red letters tell us that in the beatitudes and it was Jesus who said to turn the other cheek and forgive infinitly.
I am not all that upset about Oliphant's cartoon. I think it's offensive, yes. Blashemous, no. But it's typical and Jesus told us to expect the same sort of treatment that he got and to handle it the way he did. I doubt he would have written his kind of letter.
"passionate" is synonomous with emotion. When people publish stuff like this they are trying to elicit an emotional response from people they perceive to be their enemies. If we choose to respond in a measured, gentle, and inclusive way it ruins their game plan and removes the power of their weapon. It's the way of Christ when dealing with unbelieving enemies. Otherwise we're just solidifying their position and re-drawing the battle lines. Not a smart option, imo.
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Well, I totally disagree. How do you know what Oliphant's beliefs are? We're assuming he/she is an unbeliever, we have no way to know that.
And, I suppose all the moneychangers in the temple who incurred the wrath of Jesus were believers? They were entrepeneurs, did Jesus deal mildly with them?
There is a major difference when you're defending truth. Now, if you want to argue whether or not the cartoon was offensive, that's a matter of personal opinion. If you want to argue whether or not God needs defending, that's another issue.
However Jerry Jones felt that this was an issue worthy of his response, and the fact that we are picking apart his letter, which was not childish, or insulting, is just a sad thing to me.