"An Eye for an Eye? How cruel!" - I Find Your Reaction Odd...

"An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind." ~ Mahatma Gandhi

Isn't that sweet? Yes, Gandhi was truly a peace loving man. I also preface my thoughts with the fact that I agree with Gandhi. However, I feel that the wording and context of this common quote has aided to perpetuate a false idea about Christianity in our society. Clearly, "an eye for an eye" is from Jesus' sermon on the mount. When people hear this quote they immediately curse Christianity and it's harsh and heartless people. "How can they think that? That's so barbaric" they mutter to themselves. It saddens me to see how prevailing this thinking is and, for once, non-Christians have something right. Revenge is wrong. The Bible says so and somehow even non-Christians know that. Likely, it's a product of philosophical naivety or it's a moral left over from the Christian era of yore. I say this because non-Christians can't produce a logical ground for forgiveness from their philosophy. Forgiveness can only be understood in the context of God's forgiveness for our sins and outside of that, it is the product of a weak mind. If there is no ultimate basis for forgiveness or even One who forgave first, then there is no basis for forgiveness. Those who do forgive without either of these things, have weak minds and need to be crushed underneath the feet of the strong. Nietzsche abhorred pity as a great evil. Ol' Frederic was on to something. Pity just messes with the natural order of things. The strong dominate and to forfeit that to "help" a lesser being is irrational. Christianity is the only true foundation for forgiveness because our God sacrificed His Son to reconcile us with Him. Other religions do not have a God who has stooped to humanity and attempts to reconcile them to Himself. Christianity is entirely unique in this aspect. It's sad that the one group of people with a true and living basis for forgiveness is viewed as unloving and unforgiving.

I briefly add that some of this "unloving" is based on the fact that people don't want us to tell them that their actions are wrong. Jesus says that people will hate us for his sake and that is what's happening there. However, we need to be able to discern between cases of a hatred of God's law and the failings of God's people at loving our neighbors.

Lastly, I'd like to briefly describe where this phrase REALLY comes from and what it means. When Jesus quotes the verse on the Sermon on the Mount, he's actually quoting the Torah and the laws on justice. An eye for an eye was applied in the context of justice in criminal courts. This law put restrictions on judges so that punishments would be fair in relation to the crime committed. I think that modern Americans would like that principle a lot. On a side note, it also applies to those who have committed perjury. The perjurer is convicted of the same punishment that he attempted to inflict on the accused. It's a shame that there is such a misconception of this passage. I feel like, if we could get the word out, this would be a very popular passage with Americans who want a fair justice system.

God Bless,

Stanley