What Jesus said love your enemies and blessed are the peacemakers...?

Question

did conservatives take the term peacemaker to mean intercontinental nuclear missile?

All joking aside, what did Jesus mean when he said love your enemies, fight evil with good, turn the other cheek, and those who fight by the sword die by the sword?

What do you think Jesus was talking about?

I don't know about you (and I'm not really a pacifist) but I like the MLK Jr interpretation. It means you can kill the haters but you cannot kill hate. Only love can do that.

"Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars... Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that. "
- MLK Jr

"Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it. "
- MLK Jr

Answer 1

Yes it mentions this in many books of the bible that Jesus will come in hot anger and wrath to slay the wicked:

Isaiah 11

3 and he will delight in the fear of the LORD.
He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,
or decide by what he hears with his ears;
4 but with righteousness he will judge the needy,
with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.
He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth;
with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.

Isaiah 63
God's Day of Vengeance and Redemption
1 Who is this coming from Edom,
from Bozrah, with his garments stained crimson?
Who is this, robed in splendor,
striding forward in the greatness of his strength?
"It is I, speaking in righteousness,
mighty to save."
2 Why are your garments red,
like those of one treading the winepress?
3 "I have trodden the winepress alone;
from the nations no one was with me.
I trampled them in my anger
and trod them down in my wrath;
their blood spattered my garments,
and I stained all my clothing.
4 For the day of vengeance was in my heart,
and the year of my redemption has come.
5 I looked, but there was no one to help,
I was appalled that no one gave support;
so my own arm worked salvation for me,
and my own wrath sustained me.
6 I trampled the nations in my anger;
in my wrath I made them drunk
and poured their blood on the ground."


Psalm 2
1 Why do the nations conspire [a]
and the peoples plot in vain?
2 The kings of the earth take their stand
and the rulers gather together
against the LORD
and against his Anointed One. [b]
3 "Let us break their chains," they say,
"and throw off their fetters."
4 The One enthroned in heaven laughs;
the Lord scoffs at them.
5 Then he rebukes them in his anger
and terrifies them in his wrath, saying,
6 "I have installed my King [c]
on Zion, my holy hill."
7 I will proclaim the decree of the LORD :
He said to me, "You are my Son [d] ;
today I have become your Father. [e]
8 Ask of me,
and I will make the nations your inheritance,
the ends of the earth your possession.
9 You will rule them with an iron scepter [f] ;
you will dash them to pieces like pottery."
10 Therefore, you kings, be wise;
be warned, you rulers of the earth.
11 Serve the LORD with fear
and rejoice with trembling.
12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry
and you be destroyed in your way,
for his wrath can flare up in a moment.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

Notice this verse?

12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry
and you be destroyed in your way,
for his wrath can flare up in a moment.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

Zechariah 14
3 Then the LORD will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights in the day of battle. 4 On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south. 5 You will flee by my mountain valley, for it will extend to Azel. You will flee as you fled from the earthquake [a] in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the LORD my God will come, and all the holy ones with him.
12 This is the plague with which the LORD will strike all the nations that fought against Jerusalem: Their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths. 13 On that day men will be stricken by the LORD with great panic. Each man will seize the hand of another, and they will attack each other. 14 Judah too will fight at Jerusalem. The wealth of all the surrounding nations will be collected—great quantities of gold and silver and clothing. 15 A similar plague will strike the horses and mules, the camels and donkeys, and all the animals in those camps.

Revelation 19

The Rider on the White Horse

11I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. 12His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. 13He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. 14The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. 15Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. "He will rule them with an iron scepter."[a] He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. 16On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written:
KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.
17And I saw an angel standing in the sun, who cried in a loud voice to all the birds flying in midair, "Come, gather together for the great supper of God, 18so that you may eat the flesh of kings, generals, and mighty men, of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, small and great."
19Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against the rider on the horse and his army. 20But the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who had performed the miraculous signs on his behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped his image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. 21The rest of them were killed with the sword that came out of the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh.

Yes it says it all woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth that must contend with the wrath of God and his son for no one can stand against him:

Revelation 6
15Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and every free man hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. 16They called to the mountains and the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! 17For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?"
Invite Jesus as your Lord and savior and ask him to forgive thy sins!!

Answer 2

Ever heard the term kill them with niceness? It's the same thing that Jesus was teaching. Love those who do you wrong, pray for your enemies, turn the other way when someone has done you wrong.

Returning hate for hate will only make matters worse but if you be nice and pray for them who use you it'll make them feel stupid.

This is not always easy but it can be done. Jesus is a man who is full of love and wants His followers to do the same as He did.

Answer 3

jesus love enemies blessed peacemakers

Answer 4

One thing the Lord showed me is that when people go to hell, the life they have had on earth is as good a life as they will ever have. By all the means more did I want to bless people after that. We should go out of our way to bless everyone; it may be the only good they have left at the end. Each of our lives matters to an infinite degree. Imagine going to hell and all the good you have are the memories of those on earth who were good to you. That is better than having no memories of anyone being good to them. So we see the enormous weight and importance of every good deed.

Answer 5

Bless peace-makers- Sound's about right

Love your enemies- Kinda like the way someone says, "Keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer"? Or maybe that you need to love everyone, especially those who do not love you?

Fight evil with good- You can't always fight fire with fire, usually you have to fight fire with water.

Turn the other cheek- You need to always...well...turn the other cheek....as in, be pacifist.

Those who fight by the sword die by the sword- Um...well, that's apparent...if you live for battle, you'll probably die in battle.

I hope this helps. ^_^

Answer 6

I think He meant exactly what He said..that we SHOULD love our enemies and pray for those who hate us, that we SHOULD always return hate/violence with love. It's a hard way to live though, I know I mess up a lot. But it's definitely the best way.
Thanks for sharing those quotes by the way..they're so true.
God bless

Answer 7

I think the quote was trying to make people see that violence is not the way to get the things you need to survive. In his time, the wealth of a nation was built up by conquering another country. It was, and still is, common for the leaders of a nation to dehumanize the people of another country in order to raise armies to conquer the land. Hatred gives people tunnel vision.

Answer 8

I like what Martin Luther King, Jr. said as well.
Thanks for sharing that with us.

It is hard to live that way, though. I goof up a lot.

Answer 9

Jesus is talking about your spirit. You are spirit, the body is nothing more than a house for your spirit. Satan will kill those you love, and try to get you to retaliate and kill them who try to kill you, Satan will get you to sin, then he will take your soul as well as theirs.

This is "fear not them who can kill the body, but fear them which can kill both body and soul. Those who live by the sword (kill inorder not to be killed) will die by the sword (the two-edged sword of truth, the Word of God) for having hate in your heart. (you are willing to lay down your life because you believe in the Words spoken by Jesus, not fight to stay alive)
Those wish wish to save their life will lose it and those who lose their life for my sake (because you believe) will save it.

Answer 10

I think jesus was here to share the message: only spiritual love matters nothing else.

Answer 11

Gandhi, live like he did during the later part of his life. And you will be closer to Christ than any Christian.

When fundies tell me non christians burn in hell, and christians are forgiven, I compare Gandhi to Bush, and laugh at the ignorant fundies...