How do you find a balance between justice and sacrifice?

[punkdbass]

This is something I've been thinking and struggling with a lot lately in my own life..

On one hand the Torah and Hebrew Prophets command: "Justice, justice shall you pursue"(Deuteronomy) or "let justice well up like water, righteousness like an unfailing stream" (Amos)

And on the other hand you have Jesus saying to turn the other cheek, to not resist a wicked man. Although obviously Jesus would agree that we should pursue justice, he is simply saying that there are times where willingly suffering or sacrificing are necessary responses to evil. And this isnt without scriptural foundation in the Hebrew Bible. I definitely agree with Jesus's teaching that sometimes turning the other cheek and walking away is the most appropriate course of action.

Now my question is this: how are you taught as Christians to actively pursue justice? In what cases should one stand up, resist evil and pursue justice? And in what cases should one remain silent, walk away, and turn the other cheek? How are you to maintain balance between pursuing justice and turning the other cheek? I am having trouble discerning between when it is appropriate to stand up, speak out and offer resistence, or when it is more appropriate to remain silent, walk away and turn the other cheek.

 

[Pegg]

This is something I've been thinking and struggling with a lot lately in my own life..

On one hand the Torah and Hebrew Prophets command: "Justice, justice shall you pursue"(Deuteronomy) or "let justice well up like water, righteousness like an unfailing stream" (Amos)

And on the other hand you have Jesus saying to turn the other cheek, to not resist a wicked man. Although obviously Jesus would agree that we should pursue justice, he is simply saying that there are times where willingly suffering or sacrificing are necessary responses to evil. And this isnt without scriptural foundation in the Hebrew Bible. I definitely agree with Jesus's teaching that sometimes turning the other cheek and walking away is the most appropriate course of action.

Now my question is this: how are you taught as Christians to actively pursue justice?

hi punkdbass,

christians pursue justice by themselves living just lives, paying our dues, not defrauding anyone, being honest in our dealings, being impartial and treating others the way we want Jehovah to treat us. We strive to conform to God’s moral standards because his standards are just and right....obviously we need to learn all these things so we need to continually mediate and study Gods word so that his ways can become implanted in the mind and heart.

so our focus shouldnt be upon what we can gain from justice for our own personal benefit, but on what we give to others to demonstrate that we value justice.

In what cases should one stand up, resist evil and pursue justice? And in what cases should one remain silent, walk away, and turn the other cheek? How are you to maintain balance between pursuing justice and turning the other cheek? I am having trouble discerning between when it is appropriate to stand up, speak out and offer resistence, or when it is more appropriate to remain silent, walk away and turn the other cheek.

Jesus words to turn the other cheek was in regard to personal grievances we may have with our fellow man. He may have had in mind this proverb: “The insight of a man certainly slows down his anger, and it is beauty on his part to pass over transgression.”—Prov. 19:11.
'Passing over transgression' is something that God highly approves of so its something we should always be willing to do when someone does something against us. The Bible gives us many examples illustrating the principle that it is beauty to pass over a transgression. Of course, the foremost example is none other than Jehovah God, for of him the psalmist wrote: “ As a father shows mercy to his sons,
Jehovah has shown mercy to those fearing him. 14 For he himself well knows the formation of us,
Remembering that we are dust” Ps. 103:13-14.
Jesus was also a good example of one who passed over the transgressions of others. Eg, “when he was being reviled, he did not go reviling in return,” but turned the other cheek as it were. 1 Pet. 2:23. In this case, when someone verbally abuses us we dont retaliate at all...we let it go in one ear and out the other.

But of course this does not mean that we dont defend ourselves if 'physically' attacked. We have an obligation to ourselves and our families to get out of such a situation...even if it means running away. And it also dosesnt mean that if someone (even the authorities) tried to prevent our worship of God that we should compromise our beliefs or change our worship to cater to their demands...in such a case we would have to respectfully decline the order. (for JW's it has at times been a case of having our preaching work banned...we've always kept preaching no matter how many times we've been put in jail or had mob violence and threats against us, some of our brothers are in jail right now for refusing to submit to orders of the state)
But we just dont hold grudges against any opposers...we dont retaliate with similar violence or protests, but we do use proper legal avenues if we need to.

So there is a balance to strike and it is bound up in the words of Jesus
"Pay back therefore Caesar's things to Caesar, but Gods things to God"

 

[punkdbass]

Thanks a lot for your post Pegg, I found it very helpful.

However your point on "passing over transgressions" brought another question to my mind. Of course I agree that in many situations it is a good thing to pass over a transgression that someone makes against us(in Jewish liturgy every night before sleep we pray to forgive anyone who has wronged us during the day and to not let them be punished because of us), however the Bible also commands us to "rebuke the sinner" (Leviticus 19:17) but when read in context it means for Jews to rebuke fellow Jews who sin, and many of my Christian friends say they are not to outwardly judge other people except they are allowed to and encouraged to rebuke other fellow Christians.

So there is a Biblical concept of rebuking your fellow religious brother when he sins. I'm just curious to hear your comments on this commandment and when you think it would be appropriate to rebuke one of your fellow JW's for sinning, versus when it would be more appropriate to pass over their transgression. Thanks

 

[adam9]

Hey I think its great that your thinking about that. In Islam our Prophet Muhammad taught us that when someone inflicts damage upon us whether phiscally/psychologically we have 2 choices you can 1. Pursue justice and see vengeance only to the extent that you were harmed an (eye for an eye) and a leg for a leg and not an a leg for an eye. You cannot seek vengeance beyond what was inflicted upon you or you will be a transgressor. Or you can 2. Choose to forgive the individual and hope to seek a reward from God.

 

[Pegg]

Thanks a lot for your post Pegg, I found it very helpful.

However your point on "passing over transgressions" brought another question to my mind. Of course I agree that in many situations it is a good thing to pass over a transgression that someone makes against us(in Jewish liturgy every night before sleep we pray to forgive anyone who has wronged us during the day and to not let them be punished because of us), however the Bible also commands us to "rebuke the sinner" (Leviticus 19:17) but when read in context it means for Jews to rebuke fellow Jews who sin, and many of my Christian friends say they are not to outwardly judge other people except they are allowed to and encouraged to rebuke other fellow Christians.

So there is a Biblical concept of rebuking your fellow religious brother when he sins. I'm just curious to hear your comments on this commandment and when you think it would be appropriate to rebuke one of your fellow JW's for sinning, versus when it would be more appropriate to pass over their transgression. Thanks

Leviticus 19:17 “‘You must not hate your brother in your heart. You should by all means reprove your associate, that you may not bear sin along with him.

the principle of this law was expressed by Jesus at Matthew 18:15 “Moreover, if your brother commits a sin, go lay bare his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother

the goal of reproving an associate who has sinned against us personally is to enable that person to see his mistake and hopefully repent so that your relationship with him remains intact. Notice Jesus says 'if he listens to you, you have gained your brother'
The importance of maintaining a peaceful relationship with our fellow man is expressed in the words of Jesus found at Matthew 5:23, 24 “If, then, you are bringing your gift to the altar and you there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar, and go away; first make your peace with your brother.”

If we are having an issue with someone because we wronged them and they are unhappy with us, or they wronged us, it can have a direct bearing on whether or not our gifts to God are acceptable to him. It might have been something they said that offended us, we might have felt they were disrespectful to us or insulted us. If we dont settle matters quickly, it has a direct affect on our relationship with God which is why Paul advised christians “Let the sun not set with you in a provoked state, neither allow place for the Devil.” Eph. 4:26, 27
I've never actually felt the need to rebuke anyone in all my time as a JW (20yrs) I tend to simply let small things go because I recognize that we all have tendencies to be annoying or inconsiderate at time...or say the wrong thing. I dont like the idea that someoine would be continually reproving me every time i say something stupid, so i dont do it to my brothers and sisters either. Im an 'in one ear and out the other' type of gal.

Its extremely important to keep good relationships with our fellow man and by letting go of transgression, we can have much better relatioships with each other. Either we have to let the transgression against us go...as in we dont hold a grudge against the person who may have wronged us in some way... OR if its really bothering us and we feel bad toward the person, we must approach them and try to sort out the ill-feelings. Hopefully they will accept their mistake, admit to it, apologize and thus we will feel better about it and can 'gain our brother' without having any bad feelings toward them.

But these are not cases of a person who we see committing serious sins against Jehovah. If a more serious sin is the case, perhaps we learned that the person was drunk, or was having an affair, or was involved in an act of fornication, then in these sorts of cases we have to ask them to seek spiritual help from the elders...if the person refuses to seek spiritual help, then we would need to inform the elders of what we have witnessed. If we dont, then we would be 'condoning' the sin and would bare the same responsibility before Jehovah.

 

[Oak of Justice]

I have a bible that says "If you want to offer me sacrifice then let justice surge like water and goodness like a never ending stream."

Man thinks justice is something different than God does. It is revealed to those who keep His words.

"The Lord God does nothing without revealing His secrets to His servants the prophets."

The man who keeps the commandments He has from me is the man who loves me and the man who loves me will be loved by my Father I too shall love Him and reveal myself to him.

The man who loves me will keep my words.

 

[Me Myself]

I go mostly by intuition.

I try to think what will be the best for the other person, but the TRUE BEST. Am I indulging his bad behaviour by my compliance? or am I showing how he should act by my compliance?

I try to use empathy and see who will take it in which manner and I act accordingly.

 

[Caladan]

But according to the gospels Jesus did fight (even physically) for what he thought was right. He defended an adulteress from being stoned, he turns the table of the money changers in the Temple, he casts out demons, he wittingly humiliates the Pharisees in scriptural debates. He was definitely not a passive man who turned his other cheek in the face of adversity.

 

[Oak of Justice]

The answers are in the paths of the Lord and the way of the son of man.

The Lord says this; Judgement will again be done with justice and all the upright of heart will follow it."