XPost: alt.christnet.christnews, alt.religion.christian   
   From: usenet@christrose.news   
      
   ========================================   
   Thu, 05 Feb 2026 11:15:46 -0500   
      
   Watchtower Heretic James  wrote:   
   ========================================   
      
   >> Romans 13 establishes God-ordained government authority, including   
   >> lethal force:   
   >>   
   >>       “For he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be   
   >>        afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain.” (Romans 13:4,   
   >>        ESV)   
      
   > Notice, he didn't say that his followers should be those who bear the   
   > sword.   
      
      
   You're not even commenting on Romans 13. You're ignoring what you just   
   saw Paul state, and trying to impose a contradictory interpretation   
   based on a strained, free-lance claim you're making about the gospels.   
      
   Paul did not say here that Jesus' followers should not be those who bear   
   the sword. What Paul condemns here is believers taking vengeance on   
   others over personal grievances. That's the same as what Jesus was   
   telling Peter in the garden (harmony). Neither Paul nor Jesus condemned   
   joining the military, or becoming a police officer or other governing   
   authority. They condemned vigilante revenge over personal grievances.   
      
      
   You have to go by ALL the Bible.   
      
      
   You just refused to acknowledge what Paul said. You're turning form it.   
   It is you who doesn't want to go by all the Bible, especially how the   
   apostles interpreted and applied the gospels to the church. You're not   
   an apostle. You were not given special revelation from Christ to   
   interpret the gospels, as they were (John 14-16). Your free-lance   
   interpretations of the gospel do not override how Paul interpreted them   
   in the epistles and applied them to the church.   
      
   You consistently try to impose free-lance interpretations on snippets   
   from the gospels, while ignoring the inspired commentary the apostles   
   gave on those subjects in the epistles. You couldn't be a bigger, more   
   self-evident hypocrite. It is consistently your views which deny, hide   
   from, and flatly contradict what "all" the Bible says about the subject.   
      
      
   > Mt 26:52 said HIS followers would NOT bear the sword.   
      
      
   idem. What Jesus condemned here is those who take up the sword to   
   execute vigilante justice over personal grievances. Those are the kind   
   of people who die by the sword, not those who execute God's wrath   
   against evil-doers as governing authorities. That's the same thing Paul   
   said. Neither of them condemned soldiers as being evil-doers. Paul   
   commended such authorities as doing the will of God (Romans 13).   
      
   Jesus' own words from "all" the Scripture confirm you ignore context to   
   promote twisted lies:   
      
         “He said to them, “But now let the one who has a moneybag take   
          it, and likewise a knapsack. And let the one who has no sword   
          sell his cloak and buy one.” (Luke 22:36, ESV   
      
   Notice, He instructed them to buy a sword. In contrast to when He sent   
   them to offer the kingdom to Israel (which they rejected), Jesus "now"   
   told the apostles to buy a sword as He began heading to the crucifixion.   
   He commended soldiers as examples of great faith, which they would not   
   be if He considered believing soldiers like the Centurion to be living   
   in sin:   
      
         “But the centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you   
          come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will   
          be healed. For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers   
          under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another,   
          ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does   
          it.” When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who   
          followed him, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I   
          found such faith.” (Matthew 8:8–10, ESV)   
      
   There is no condemnation there for this man being a centurion. Jesus   
   would not have set him forth as an example of faith if He thought He was   
   a murderer who was sinning by continuing to serve in the military.   
      
   Paul said governing authorities execute God's wrath against evil-doers   
   (Romans 13). Nothing in the Bible forbids or condemns a believer from   
   being a soldier. It condemns vigilante justice that denies God's   
   governing agents of wrath. You take a single verse here or there,   
   interpret it in a way which flatly contradicts other clear Bible   
   teaching, then try to make entire theologies out of them.   
      
   --   
   Have you heard the good news Christ died for our sins (†), and God   
   raised Him from the dead?   
      
   That Christ died for our sins shows we're sinners who deserve the death   
   penalty. That God raised Him from the dead shows Christ's death   
   satisfied God's righteous demands against our sin (Romans 3:25; 1 John   
   2:1-2). This means God can now remain just, while forgiving you of your   
   sins, and saving you from eternal damnation.   
      
   On the basis of Christ's death and resurrection for our sins, call on   
   the name of the Lord to save you: "For 'everyone who calls on the name   
   of the Lord will be saved'" (Romans 10:13, ESV).   
      
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