Why do so many people think that "An eye for an eye" is the way to get back at someone?

Question

Won't you be acting just like them.How is that a good thing?You get mad if someone is insensitive enough to treat you bad,you call them names,you cry over how they hurt you and wonder how they could be so low as to do THAT to you,and then you turn around and do the very SAME thing to them.Who said acting a fool was good justice?

Answer 1

It gets down to revenge or do unto others.

However, the best revenge is living well because if you show that you have been hurt, you are giving them power over you.

Answer 2

The philosophy of an eye for an eye emerges from our inherent need for justice. It is a faulty concept, however, because the right to extract justice belongs in the spiritual not in the corporal realm. Gandhi, the great Indian sage of the twentieth century put it very succinctly when he said," an eye for an eye will result in the whole world being blind".
Many Christians misunderstand the biblical reference to an eye for an eye, believing wrongly that they are empowered to extract justice and to "get even". The truth, however, is that meting out justice belongs to God. "Justice is mine says the Lord".
A much better way to act when someone wrongs you is to show mercy and genuine love for that person. You do this by practicing self-control, being slow to anger. You can defuse strife and contention with pleasantness and soft speech. Being a peacemaker will extend your life.
An offense committed against you has no power unless you justify it by vowing revenge. The concept of "I'll get even", justifies the wrong committed against you. Instead, treat the wrong committed against you as an error in judgment and react with kindness and forgiveness. Each time you react to another person with an attitude of love, regardless of the circumstances, you take another step toward discovering truth. When you possess unconditional love for humanity, the world and all of creation, you have discovered the truth; and, when you have discovered the truth, you are set free.
Finally, when you feel pain, resentment, hurt, jealousy, malice or fear toward someone, say to yourself; "what would I do if I loved that person?" Then say it or do it.

Answer 3

I try not to live by "an eye for an eye" becaus if everybody did, we'd all be blind. Instead I prefer "turn the other cheek" or "forgive 77 times 7 times" (which means always forgive).

I find our society very ironic at times. Like when you see a mother say "stop hitting your brother" & to reprimand him she smacks him on the hand. Hitting is wrong but I am gonna hit you anyway to show you it's wrong. Or on an even bigger scale - the death penalty. You were wrong to kill someone, so we're gonna kill you.

Also, I've noticed that my friends who have kids, tell their kids not to cuss, but the parents cuss - well guess what? those kids cuss. But my friends who do not cuss - neither do their kids. "Children (& grown-ups) watch examples better than they listen to sermons."

I feel like our society sometimes doesn't hold people responsible for their consequences. If you get a ticket, you fight it hoping the cop doesn't show up even if you know you were speeding. If you murder someone, you just claim insanity - ridiculous!

Answer 4

An eye for an eye is an O.T. Biblical quote and isn't meant for "us today." It was meant for those in the ancient world. Christ fulfilled the O.T. LAWS and did "away" with the need for them.

We now have new ones, which is WHY we have the New Testament, which says "be LONG-SUFFERING, KIND, for these are the fruits of the spirit." So we see here that part of being a Christian or a Spiritual Jew is to be "long-suffering" this doesn't mean to take alot of sh1t, but to "get away from it" if necessary.

Answer 5

I think it's called Hamarabi's code. Sorry if I spelled it wrong. I haven't even thought about that stuff since the 6th grade when we studied it in history. It's a very primitive form of justice, and I'd be willing to bet that it's derived from a very instintive reaction. Now that we've developed a little as a species, though, logically we shun it, but it's still in our instincts.

Answer 6

Great and timely question.

Like many bible references, this too has been morphed over time until it is considered to be some kind of law, rather than a privilege allowed by God in order that man might make himself and his spirit whole again and therefore be worhty to enter the kingdom of heaven.

An eye for an eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

If one follows the teachings of the bible then one knows that this is not a standard meter of justice or anything of the sort.

Vengeance is not the right of man, so an eye for an eye is not his right under that capacity.

Forgiveness above all things is the principle teaching of the bible.

If a man could not forgive another man, be him enemy or friend, for an act that robbed him of something that was not only vital to his life, but to the integrity of his soul, then his soul and his spirit would be forever filled with bitterness and hatred. In this way a man would be deprived of the ability to continue his life in any normal manner.

If, after searching his heart and after much prayer and self sacrifice in the name of searching out a true answer, and finding none that would remedy the damage to his soul,then, by dispensation from God, he is allowed to take an "eye" for the "eye'. It is this personal act that will might mend his heart and soul, allowing him to continue his life and enter heaven without hate or revenge or regret in his heart.

A man who takes this privilege upon himself, without dispensation from God, without searching his soul for all other possible remedies that would allow him to resume his life with a pure heart, is damned.

Answer 7

I think the people who believe in the 'an eye for an eye' method aren't the people wondering who could be so low. They are the people who plot their revenge because it make them feel better about the situation to know that someone is suffering in the same way they are.

Answer 8

Nearly 2000 years ago the Assyrians applied the 'eye for an maxim to law and I guess some people haven't made any social of philosophical progress since!

Answer 9

You are right in a way, but I guess we want them to feel the same pain as they made us feel. Imagine if someone killed your (this is just an example just to get to the point) child. What would be your first instinct? Call the police? No. Payback.

Answer 10

No one should live by Hammurabi's code anymore. Just be the better person and ignore whoever treats you bad in the first place.