"STAND YOUR GROUND"?

The "Stand Your Ground" law (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stand-your-ground_law) may have to decide whether to resist or retreat in the wake of the Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman case.

In Matthew 5.39, Jesus taught, "Don't resist an evil person." Turn the other cheek. Is the command realistic? Should we really just roll over? Should we disband the police force? Absolutely not. The context of Jesus' teaching is the teachings of the Pharisees, who were misapplying the "eye for an eye" teaching, telling people to feel free to lash out in retaliation for personal offenses. Jesus rejects that, clarifying that God never intended the "eye for an eye" to be about private revenge but about courts, due process, and true justice: the punishment should fit the crime. It doesn't allow you to launch a vendetta, nor does it ask you to always play the victim. If the situation is one of personal insult or offense, then absorb it so that evil doesn't become self-perpetuating. This doesn't include a robber burglarizing your house, a mugging in the street, or a bully who is persecuting you. These can and should be resisted.

Our lives must be tempered by self-control, however, because pride and power enter these situations quickly and easily, and our tendency to justify our own actions, whatever they were, is strong. Walking the fine line of appropriate response takes a reasoned and wise balance. As far as Jesus' own example, he met resistance with tact and respect, but he was also firm and challenging. The only time he was actually hit was at his trial, and his non-violent and passive demeanor there was part of a prophetic plan and cannot be taken as "Advice for how to act against any assailant."

If we are insulted, we are to let it go. If we are attacked, we are to take appropriate steps against the attack to preserve personal safety, to protect those in harm's way, and to address the injustice in moral ways. For us to work for a just community involves resistance against evil. When Jesus says in Matthew 5.39 "Do not resist an evil person," he is teaching that we are not to inflict suffering in a spirit of personal revenge. It is right to resist wrong as long as it comes from a right spirit, and is carried out in the right way.

Violence is an expression of sin, and it violates the human being who is its victim. It will always be with us. In recent movies such as Gangster Squad, IronMan 3, and even The Dark Knight (2008), it point is that the good guys have to become as evil as the bad guys to counter evil. Jesus would say that's not so, and that's what his saying in Mt. 5.39 is about. There is certainly a place for self-defense, a police force, and a moral military. Os Guinness says, "Provided that there is a legitimate basis for its use and a vigilant precaution against its overreaction in practice, a qualified use of force is not only necessary, but justifiable. Within the Christian framework there is the possibility of truth, justice and authority, and force, used in a godly way, is a controlling discipline of truth, justice, and authority in action."

I'm watching the Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman case with interest. They keep referring to "Stand your ground" laws here in the U.S., where citizens have a legal right to self-defense. That made me think of Jesus' words in Matthew 5.39, though, where he told us not to resist evil, and to turn the other cheek. Are we just supposed to let criminals do what they want? It's as if Jesus isn't making sense here, or that what he's saying doesn't work in real life.