What does "Not Peace but the sword" mean?

[Ray the atheist]

Very often, Christians will argue about context.. so maybe the context of the verse I will be quoting isn't a call to violence, after all.

Matthew 10:34 (KJV)

“Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.”

2 Questions:

1. How does this verse accurately represent a message of harmony, mutual love and non-violence that I am told that Jesus was promoting?

2. How does the imagery of a sword suggest "peace"?

[Ray the atheist]

[Replying to BruceLeiter in post #129]

@Ray the atheist, God never commands or causes evil.

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Either we aren't reading the same bible, or we aren't using the word "evil" to mean the same things.

I will need your definition of the word "evil" in order to proceed.
Thanks.

[Ray the atheist]

[Replying to BruceLeiter in post #129]

@Ray the atheist, God never commands or causes evil.

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I think we are reading the same bible, so we might not be using the word "evil" to mean the same thing.

Could you kindly define the word "evil", so I can check to see if we are talking about the same thing?

[tam]

Peace to you Ray,

[Replying to tam in post #120]

I also understand that this presents questions about some things in the OT. The flood for instance, since much of the living creatures on the earth died. Even so, the flood was 100% an act of love. It was done to protect life

Please explain how drowning a baby protects it's life.

First, what I said is that the flood protected life. On the whole and in the long run. Had the flood not taken out the evil running rampant, we would be living in a terrifying world (if indeed humans survived this long.)

However, I think we can go as far as to say that the flood did protect the lives of the drowned babies... because of the resurrection. What they missed out on was a terrifying world (filled with a kind of psychopath- nephilm and offspring; and where the thoughts of the heart was only evil all the time.)

Here is what is written about the world just prior to the flood:

When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. 3 Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not contend with[a] humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.”

4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.

5 The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.

The flood wiped out the Nephilm and their offspring (thereby removing a real threat to humanity and to those who belong to God). And according to the story, the thoughts of the heart were ONLY evil ALL the time.

We - you and I and our loved ones and everyone else - would not exist without the flood, or we would exist in a terrifying world, only evil all the time.

The flood protected life, ensured our survival, and wiped out a very real threat.

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God also provided a way to survive the flood (the ark) if one had the faith to listen. By his faith (believing and obeying), Noah saved himself and his household.

Peace again to you.

[BruceLeiter]

[Replying to tam in post #133]

Here is a good, biblical definition of the word "evil," @tam:

Evil is that which is morally wrong, sinful, or wicked, as the Bible describes it. It is anything contrary to the holy nature and will of God. However, some biblical words translated as “evil,” particularly in older English such as in the King James Version, can also mean calamity, disaster, adversity, or harm. In those contexts, “evil” does not refer to moral wickedness. God may allow but not cause disasters, but He never commits moral evil. Satan directly tempts humans to do evil, not God.