by Allan McGregor

Created on: August 31, 2008   Last Updated: September 03, 2008

God is love! Everyone knows it because the Bible says it. Christians, we are told should not judge others, but turn the other cheek and love their enemies.

It's hard to imagine there ever being a more pacific, supine or non-confrontational religion. Hard, that is, until one compares the popular public persona with what the Bible actually says. When we do that we find that Christianity's 'Quiet Man' image surprisingly conceals a robustly belligerent religion because love is not synonymous with compromise.

Too often, however, Christians are cast as the mugs of world religion. Too often Christians are perceived as easy game by believers and non-believers alike. You can insult Christians, ridicule their faith and blaspheme their God, and their religion will not allow them to retaliate.

Right?

Well, wrong, actually.

Christians are indeed enjoined to live at peace with all men inasmuch as it lies with them. However, it is incorrect to suggest that Christians may not judge other people's conduct. Jesus' command forbad condemning others as damned, not discerning their actions as wicked.

Turning the other cheek was understood when Jesus commanded it as an act of defiance that shamed the person striking you. And love is not spelled: "D.O.O.R.M.A.T.", nor does it require tolerating another's abuse or excusing bad behaviour.

Grace and mercy are most certainly expected of us and, even where it is appropriate, we should be gentle and patient in bringing correction, considering first the beam in our own eye before pointing out the speck in our brothers. Amen. But that doesn't mean that we never point out his speck, only that when we acknowledge our own faults first, we will tend to show more mercy when dealing with our brother's.

Another well-known scripture that is widely misunderstood is Ephesians 4:26-27,

"Be angry and do not sin": Do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil.

Many Christians have swallowed what has become the traditional interpretation of this Scripture: that we should not go to bed angry with our brother or sister but be reconciled with them before the day's end.

This is not what God is saying at all and those who teach it this way have clearly missed the quotation marks at the beginning of verse 26, showing that Paul is quoting another scripture. As the primary rule of exegesis is to 'let scripture interpret scripture', it behoves us to discover what the original reference says. And when we do so, what we discover can come as quite a surprise,

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