Was Jesus teaching people to be violent by whipping those who were gambling in the temple? was there no other?

Question

way of solving that problem other than being violent?

PS. Christians this is a genuine question. You either answer it or not - but this is not abuse. So don't report it. If the bible is the only book to read to understand your Christ, don't stifle debate on it - especially critical ones. Because God gave people brains to think things over and never said our minds should not be questioning. I'm not swearing or undermining your God and you should not hamper my search for the truth by alleging abuse when there is none.

Answer 1

When I was in Sunday School when I was a child at my (Protestant) church, I was told that this was the greatest example of his humanity. It was, they said, the only mistake he ever made. They had us debate about it, and the general conclusion was that although he was the son of God, he was not God himself, he was still human, and although he was the best example of humanity there is, he was still slightly imperfect. The lesson to be taken from it was that all human beings are imperfect and we cannot expect to be perfect - only to be as close to it as possible. One mistake does not condemn a person.

Of course, this was a Protestant church, which is very open in the discussion of such matters. It focused on the love, peace, good happy fun aspects of Jesus, and rarely spoke about negative things, as we were taught that Jesus' real message was of love, not hate and fear. I'm sure that Catholic, Baptist, and other, more strict Christian religions, have other opinions on the matter, but I am not familiar with them.

Answer 2

Moloi,
I'm sorry that you have to beg ,so no one will report you for abuse.
I t was not for gambling , the temple was being used as a market place and also for keeping the people like you and I from coming to the truth.To keep it simple , most people as is today didn't have a lot of extra money and on top of the so called high priests " men of god " having them fooled into bringing them 10% of all their goods ,they also required them to buy a suitable perfect creature of Creator's animals to sacrifice, so they would not suffer from this imaginary damnation and hellfire lie,that these so called men of god conjured up. This same con game has proven to work very well. So it is still practiced today but it is good we don't have to kill any animals.Just help keep the con game running and give 10% of all your money.Strange that Jesus never wrote anything down that we are allowed to read anyway.
I feel sure He got mad a lot more times than we know about. I try and practice His example of perfect forgiveness even though I'd kinda like to have a whip. I wish He would just tell me to build an ark and load up the animals , then maybe people would not think I was so insane trying to share His truth.Just do the best you can do and take the persecutions in stride and you will soon learn that you do not have to wait until you are dead to receive His truth or all of the blessings He has in store for His children.

Answer 3

He was not gambling, they were selling animals for sacrifice, and they were making huge amounts of profit, at the expensive of poor people. God did not like this because the people selling the sacrifices were ripping the poor people off. They were also making a disgrace of the temple...

He was not teaching people to be violent, he was angered, and wanted the people out of the temple, because they were ripping people off.

Also, it was not a whip, a whip is something deadly, that the Romans made, he was useing the a branches from a tree outside, not a whip. Whips usually have broken shards of glass, and other things that cut you, not a tree/vine branch.

If your going to start making remarks, know your Bible better.

-He was not gambling

-He was not eaching people to be violent, he was telling them to leave the temple because he was making a disgrace, by ripping the poor people off, who simply wanted an offering for God

-It was not a whip, they were branches from a tree, he made outside the temple


Everything you just said is false mate..

Good luck on your quest for God though.

God Bless--
John

Answer 4

I can find no scripture that reports Jesus whipping people who were gambling in the temple. I can find no scripture that reports there were people gambling in the temple.

If you are referring to the account at Matthew 21:13, Jesus threw out those who were making his father's house a cave of robbers. They were buying and selling at the temple and charging exorbitant fees for their services. Thus, they were robbing the people. They were not gambling.

According to the parallel account at John 2:15, he made a whip of ropes. Using this he drove out the animals which in turn drove out the buyers, sellers, and money changers. Evidently, he used the rope on the animals and not the men. This would cause the men to chase after the animals which represented their money.

There is nothing in this account to suggest that Jesus taught violence. There is nothing in this account to suggest that Jesus himself was being violent.

Hannah J Paul

Answer 5

Jesus Whipping People

Answer 6

This is a valid question that a lot of people have. The way I see it He was teaching a couple of lessons. First is the obvious one, the Temple of God is a sacred place and should not be defiled with worldly things, such as selling merchandise. The second lesson is about anger. Put yourself in His (Christ's) shoes. You come to Jerusalem just before Passover and the Jews are using the Temple like a market. There are probably more than just one or two of them, and they won't really listen to you. If you need to get them out of the Temple some people might get angry and immediately storm in there and make them leave. This isn't quite what Christ did. Verse 15 says, "And when he had made him a small scourge of cords, he drove them all out of the Temple..." After he drove them out he told those who sold doves that they needed to leave and not sell things in the Temple. I find the fact that He made the scourge (whip) before He drove them out. Often when we think of anger we think of someone acting out of control, but Christ was obviously in control of His emotions if He took the time to make the scourge first, and then afterwards told the sellers of doves why He did it. I think it is also important to note that He did not whip the people. He did not line them up and then give them lashings across their backs. He did act very sternly, and I can imagine the people never forgot that lesson. I believe He was teaching us that we have to be stern sometimes, but you need to be in control of yourself, not to act out of "anger". As a side note to that, in parenting, experts advise the exact same thing. When disciplining your children for any inappropriate behavior, no matter how severe, we should not do it in anger. We should stop and gain control of our selves so we can be more effective in teaching them why they shouldn't have done what they did. Bringing that back to the question, that is why it is so significant that Christ was in control of Himself, because then he could tell the sellers of doves why what they had done was wrong.

I hope this helps answer your question. I think it was a very good question to ask. Being inquisitive helps us find the answers, and the truth.

Answer 7

The Bible NEVER says that Jesus taught people to be violent. In fact the Bible doesn't even say that he hit anyone with the whip. Did he cause a stir? Yes. Did he over turn tables? Yes.

In another part of the Bible it says, "In your anger, do not sin."
It doesn't say that it's a sin to be angry because anger is a normal human emotion. Rather, it's the things that one might do while they are angry that causes him/her to sin.

That specific passage that your asking about is a fulfillment of prophecy about Jesus being "consumed with zeal for his fathers house." People who are zealous for something are passionate about it. The temple was a place of worship, a sacred place. It was the house of God, His dwelling place. And yet people were allowing these things to take place even though everyone knew that these things were wrong. Jesus wouldn't be who he was/is if he would, like everyone else, allowed it to continue.

How would a widow react if she walked into the funeral room of her late husband to find people acting in ways improper for a place like that? Our passions define who we are.

But again Jesus never taught on violence or how to be violent, nor does the Bible say that he physically whipped anyone.

Answer 8

We as a people of free will sometimes do wrong when we know it is wrong, which these people knew because only Priests and those considered holy were allowed in the temple. And just like a Father to his son that continues to be disobedient was disciplined for their disobedience. Jesus was not being violent because there He is a God of Love and Peace who also corrects us from our bad ways.

Answer 9

I will answer your question from God's own mouth ( holy inspired word of God the Bible)

What you are referreing to is found in Matthew 21:12 and Mark 11:15 Where Jesus overthrew the moneychangers in the holy temple.
Jesus Cleansed the Temple, And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, and he said unto them,
" It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves. ( the next verse, verse 14 says)
And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them.
Whipping is nowhere mentioned in the cleansing of the temple of God by Jesus. ( also in Luke 19:45)

Apparently you are mixed up and confused. Jesus threw them out, knocked over the tables. That should tell us something today about only doing what GOD commands us to do and worship only according to how HE tells us to .

John 2:15 says he made a scourge of small cords and he drove them out ....

Christian in Pa
email me for more scriptures

Answer 10

He was God, so He had the right to do anything. You know, people think Christians should be weak and not take a stand against certain things. Jesus was doing what was right by giving them a good discipline. What they were doing was disgusting in God's eyes and no, there wouldn't have been a better way to handle it because it wouldn't have implemented any fear in anyone and they would have kept doing it. God is a just God and He is a righteous judge. Not you.