Turn the Other cheek? You must be kidding!
What does it mean for Christians to “turn the other cheek?”
Jesus said: if someone slaps you, turn the other cheek and if someone is cheating you out of your coat let him take your shirt, too. (Dr. Gus’ paraphrase.)
By contrast, Islam is quick to retaliate against others, especially those who insult Islam. Do you remember the Danish cartoonist who, a couple of years ago, depicted Muhammad as a terrorist or something? He had death threats, as did the newspaper publishing the cartoon. In the USA even the slightest hint of criticism of Islam is met with an instant response of being bigoted and intolerant. Salmon Rushdie’s “Satanic Verses” highlighted problems with a part of the Koran that Muhammad retracted as being not a revelation of truth but a test Allah allowed Satan to send through the mouth of the Prophet to test the faithful. Rushdie has been in hiding ever since.
Meanwhile Jesus has been portrayed as having a love affair with Mary of Magdala or as being gay or as a crucifix in a jar of urine. The Christian church has its dirty laundry all over the front pages of the news. Christians are often told to shut up in public places and not to wear “offensive” identifications such as jewelry with a cross on it or a T-shirt with a Bible verse.
Meanwhile Christian heroes of the past spoke out and sometimes got killed for doing so and in present times people in China, Iran, Egypt and elsewhere are fearless in defying the government laws against sharing the Gospel, reading a Bible, or praying. This is not “turning the other cheek.”
The questions are these. What did Jesus mean—was it for personal application or for people in public life? Was it meant to allow others to step all over you? Does it mean merely not to be in a self-defense mode all the time? What should Christians do when in a free society like the USA they are told what is permissible speech and what is not? Is speaking the truth from the perspective of the Gospels hate speech? Or is refusing to speak unpopular ideas a denial of one’s faith? Is Jesus asking his followers to always “be nice” and not upset anyone’s feelings? Christians are also told to “speak the truth—in love.”
There is much here to discuss. Just take a couple of the ideas and give your comments, reflecting in your response that you have read the chapter on Christianity. And I encourage you to read Matthew chapters 4-7—available online from many sources. It will take you ten minutes to read Jesus’ famed Sermon the Mount where the reference has its origin. I will also send it in an email FYI.
Jesus said: if someone slaps you, turn the other cheek and if someone is cheating you out of your coat let him take your shirt, too. (Dr. Gus’ paraphrase.)
By contrast, Islam is quick to retaliate against others, especially those who insult Islam. Do you remember the Danish cartoonist who, a couple of years ago, depicted Muhammad as a terrorist or something? He had death threats, as did the newspaper publishing the cartoon. In the USA even the slightest hint of criticism of Islam is met with an instant response of being bigoted and intolerant. Salmon Rushdie’s “Satanic Verses” highlighted problems with a part of the Koran that Muhammad retracted as being not a revelation of truth but a test Allah allowed Satan to send through the mouth of the Prophet to test the faithful. Rushdie has been in hiding ever since.
Meanwhile Jesus has been portrayed as having a love affair with Mary of Magdala or as being gay or as a crucifix in a jar of urine. The Christian church has its dirty laundry all over the front pages of the news. Christians are often told to shut up in public places and not to wear “offensive” identifications such as jewelry with a cross on it or a T-shirt with a Bible verse.
Meanwhile Christian heroes of the past spoke out and sometimes got killed for doing so and in present times people in China, Iran, Egypt and elsewhere are fearless in defying the government laws against sharing the Gospel, reading a Bible, or praying. This is not “turning the other cheek.”
The questions are these. What did Jesus mean—was it for personal application or for people in public life? Was it meant to allow others to step all over you? Does it mean merely not to be in a self-defense mode all the time? What should Christians do when in a free society like the USA they are told what is permissible speech and what is not? Is speaking the truth from the perspective of the Gospels hate speech? Or is refusing to speak unpopular ideas a denial of one’s faith? Is Jesus asking his followers to always “be nice” and not upset anyone’s feelings? Christians are also told to “speak the truth—in love.”
There is much here to discuss. Just take a couple of the ideas and give your comments, reflecting in your response that you have read the chapter on Christianity. And I encourage you to read Matthew chapters 4-7—available online from many sources. It will take you ten minutes to read Jesus’ famed Sermon the Mount where the reference has its origin. I will also send it in an email FYI.
posted by Jim Gustafson | 8:44 AM
7 Comments:
I think Jesus meant for us to use these teachings for both personal application and public life.
Even people who know very little about the Bible are usually familiar with Jesus’ saying “Turn the other cheek”. Turn the other cheek or love of one’s enemies is among Jesus’ most distinctive and difficult teaching. The language Jesus uses is fascinating in itself. Admittedly, this appears to be a pacifist text. Yet, it is probably true to say that not many of us are ready to embrace all Jesus’ teaching. They are far too challenging for that. These claims seem pretty crazy and most of the time completely contradict life’s experience. We all know that how difficult it is to love our enemies.
I think the point of Jesus teaching us to turn the other cheek will interrupt the cycle of violence and retaliation. Thus, by loving our enemies we can break the vicious cycle of violence and retaliation and make an attempt at reconciliation. Jesus wisely teaches us that love of our enemies as the only way to ensure a peaceful solution to any social crisis.
To me, Jesus summons to unstinting love seems unrealistic; however the only way to make sense of Jesus’ extraordinary admonitions is to see them as cut from his understanding of the God who loves human beings absolutely, without pausing to calculate their words.
Secondly, to love your enemy, one must to forgive the enemy. Forgiveness is a commitment to a process of change. Forgiveness is a healing journey for both body and soul. It can be difficult and it requires patience. If we experience hurt or harm from someone’s action or words, it can be extremely difficult to overcome. We may feel trapped and may not see a way out. If we respond to evil in anger or self-defense, we become attached to the evil and it can dominate us. Therefore, we lose our balance and spiritual strength.
The pain won't heal until we forgive! However by forgiving of ourselves or someone else may bring a kind of peace that helps us go on with life. Forgiveness is done primarily for yourself. It is not something you do FOR someone else. Therefore, Jesus teaches us through this powerful forgiveness that we can release unwanted hurts and grudges and open ourselves to happiness, peace and love.
The apostle Paul was once one of the most hostile enemies of Christian people. By bearing and accepting him, Paul became one of the greatest Christians.
Turning the other cheek is an interesting concept that I think doesn't have well defined "rules", if you will. On the one hand, Jesus clearly tells us to turn the other cheek, but He also tells us to stand up for what we believe and not let anyone take advantage of us. He also says to be kind to our enemies, and do good to those who try to hurt us.I think it's pretty easy to see that there's not a cut and dried answer to this problem.
As for what I think about the questions: I think that Jesus meant this for both personal application and public life, although maybe a little more in the personal aspect. I believe that almost everything can be the same in personal life as it is in public life, when the person is genuine doesn't try to hide things or be something different for certain people. It definitely wasn't meant to allow others to step all over us, although sometimes we have to allow that sort of thing to avoid a bigger problem with someone. I think it's mostly meant to keep people from trying to get back at someone or take revenge when we should just forgive the person and maybe try to help them. I don't think it's good to just sit there and let people rub your face in the mud, but I think this is meant to provide a little restraint when something like that happens.
I think it's pretty ridiculous how the tolerance movement has progressed in the US. Instead of actually increasing acceptance of other people despite their beliefs, tolerance has now come to mean "we'll still like you and condone your actions no matter what you do or say EXCEPT if it has anything to do with Christianity". I think in this aspect Christians have really sat down and let people push them around instead of standing up for what is right. Christians have a right to be "tolerated" just as much as any other religion. As for speaking the truth being "hate speech", I think that's another problem in society right now. People are so caught up in their fantasy worlds of "tolerating" everybody else and not offending anyone, that when somebody actually tells the cold hard truth, they are put out. This probably mostly happens when the truth spoken has implications on their lifestyle. There are some times when people speak the truth for the wrong reason or in a wrong way, but I also think that if we just say things that won't offend anybody, we won't be able to say much and we will have compromised ourselves since that basically condones all of the wrong actions and ideas that could be leading somebody down a bad path. There's a fine line, as in most things, but if we can achieve moderation I think that we'd be doing the right thing and still not offend people unnecessarily.
I think what Jesus meant was for us to not be drawn into retaliation and revenge - as Soonmyung said. We should "resist evil" He said that evil is all around us, as the sun rises on the both the evil and the good; the rain falls on the righteous and the unrighteous. It is up to us to love our enemies ( the evil ) as well as our neighbors, so that we may strive to be as our Father is (who lets the sun shine and the rain fall) We must be the "light of the world", so as to draw praise to God. I think this applies to both public and private life, in order to show others the way. Also, as Paul said, if someone is genuine, they won't be different for diff people or diff situations. It's like lying: if you always tell the truth, you don't have to remember who you might have lied to. It is the whole "do to others what you would have them do to you". Unfortunately, not all share this view. Myself, I'm not exactly sure how this holds when we are attacked by terrorists, when we witness wrongs being committed, etc. As Paul said, we cannot be expected to be taken advantage of. Again, we have to remember that it is the ultimate result that becomes important. "Only he who does the will of my Father...will enter the kingdom of Heaven"
I agree. I think Jesus was trying to say stop the circle of hatred and violence and turn back with love and respect. By turning the other cheek I think he mean to say... trust that the person who has sinned against you will learn and not sin again. To help show the error of thier ways and teach at violece is not the way to god.
I agree with all the answers and views of turning the other cheek. I also assumed it was a way to not become like the other person or action. I think there will always be issues with speech and its interpretation. Hate speech or not, I believe speech is essential to mankind and its evolution or for that matter the influence of future hybrid religions. I think american society would like to go home at night and gorget about problems, so taboo becomes anything stressful. Even the whole fiasco with Obama and the preacher. So because Obama cut off contact based on words, does that mean he would back a bill restricting speech? I dont think soo, but the point is that if you let it all out, then there is nothing to hide. To elaborate further on the Turn the other cheek. Jesus died on the cross for our sins, and it should not be in vain, turning the other cheek and not giving into sin actions or retaliations and as mentiond loving your enemy in hopes it will spread.
I think the expression means to tell us that we should not fight fire with fire. I dont think that Jesus would want us to allow people to walk all over us and cause pain and suffering. If the whole world believed that standing up for yourself was sinful, there would be massive global takeovers by tyrant nations.
Instead, I believe that Jesus wanted people to strive for peace as much as logically possible while still maintaining personal happiness.
So, if someone were to harm you, Jesus would want you to let them harm you again only if it created peace between you and the other person, and if your personal wellbeing did not suffer more than you could honestly handle.
Do unto others as you would want. I believe God was trying to state that peace is the ultimate goal. We do not want violence and hatred. If someone hurts us, it is not ok to retalitate. Turn the other cheek. As we have all heard,"2 wrongs do not make a right". We need to move on and forgive which is the hardest thing of all isn't it?
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