Thinking about "turn the other cheek"

[Lark]

I've posted before about how certain passages in the bible could have other meanings, like the whole being born again thing could have been advice for the followers of an underground subversive community to assume new identities and avoid detection and execution.

The teaching about turning the other cheek I've thought about too, the teaching that you love your enemy as loving your friend is nothing more than doing you duty and not challenging is a good one, although I've also thought about how everyone only has two cheeks, it could as easily be like the saying to love your neighbour and be careful of your neighbourhood.

I've always liked the interpretation of "an eye for an eye" as being about proportionality, it seems less vicious and destructive that way, an eye for an eye may leave everyone blind but its an improvement over, say, your village or all your kinfolk for an eye, which is the rule of escalation rather than proportionality.

So I think this could be a further teaching about proportionality within that tradition rather than the meek and mildness deal which Neitsche attacked as a slave religion.

 

[Jack]

Non-violence isn't necessarily meek and mild. Martin Luther King Jr. For example was not exactly meek and mild, but he certainly advocated nonviolence. Gandhi on the other hand could be considered meek and mild... but that guy had guts and sure rocked the boat.

As intelligent as Nietzsche was, I think he got Jesus wrong a bit. When we see "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the Earth" in context with things like "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted", it doesn't seem like Jesus is communicating that it is good to mourn, or be poor in spirit, etc. (although it is presumably good to be righteous, and merciful) I think he is communicating how his coming kingdom would be.

 

[muir]

I think ghandi understood the harm caused by cycles of violence which i believe is the warning behind the concept of turning the other cheek

An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind- Mahatma Ghandi

 

[Barnabas]

I've posted before about how certain passages in the bible could have other meanings, like the whole being born again thing could have been advice for the followers of an underground subversive community to assume new identities and avoid detection and execution.

The teaching about turning the other cheek I've thought about too, the teaching that you love your enemy as loving your friend is nothing more than doing you duty and not challenging is a good one, although I've also thought about how everyone only has two cheeks, it could as easily be like the saying to love your neighbour and be careful of your neighbourhood.

I've always liked the interpretation of "an eye for an eye" as being about proportionality, it seems less vicious and destructive that way, an eye for an eye may leave everyone blind but its an improvement over, say, your village or all your kinfolk for an eye, which is the rule of escalation rather than proportionality.

So I think this could be a further teaching about proportionality within that tradition rather than the meek and mildness deal which Neitsche attacked as a slave religion.

Both turning the other cheek and and taking an eye for an eye are commonly misunderstood without an understanding of the original context. You're correct in that The eye for an eye law was about a person only being able to inflict a punishment equal to the crime so people don't get killed for putting out someones eye.

Turning the other cheek has to do more with a respectful response, it was considered an insult to slap someone with your open palm it displayed that you were less the the person attacking you, by turning the other cheek you force your attacker to hit you with the back of his hand and acknowledge that you are both equals. Going the extra mile has similar meaning.

 

[Quiet]

When interpreting the teachings of Jesus, it is good to keep in mind, and in heart, these verses:

Mark 12:30-31New International Version (NIV)
30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’[a] 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

And we always have the option to simply ask Him what it means. If you ask, He will answer. All answers are within

Another thread on this topic 'turning the other cheek' if you are interested - http://www.infjs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23780&highlight=turning+the+other+cheek