Doing good to enemies

The sermon went well yesterday. See the previous post for a link to the full text of what I said. One of the things that made it good was the discussion afterwards. It was quite a lively time of interaction, and not everyone was in full agreement with each other or with me, which is the whole point. In particular, I had said something about "turn the other cheek" not meaning that people should quietly submit to domestic violence. A woman pointed out that many of the Chrisitans in Eastern Europe during the cold war were willing to submit quietly to the tortures of the totalitarian governments, because they believed they were responding the way Jesus would want them to in light of this passage. I didn't disagree that it was right for them to respond that way, but I did say that just because it was good and right for them to do so, it doesn't mean that every person who encounters violence must quietly submit to it on an ongoing basis. Jesus' words are more in the "wisdom" genre than the "commandment" genre. That is, they are totally authoritative and binding, but that authority will demand different actions in different situations. Make sense? She didn't really agree with me, and I guess that's the point of a discussion. Also the point of this blog...so disagree away!