Quoted:
Should we stand by and watch while Christians are slaughtered ??

Quoted:
Remember the Muslim guy on star trek?

Quoted:


There was no such character because they don't exist in the future.....isn't the future great!

Quoted:

Jesus interceded for the transgressors, i.e., you and me and Peter and everyone else. The point of buying the sword was not commanding Peter to sin, but allowing Peter to sin, which was doing what came naturally by attempting to prevent Jesus' arrest through violence using a sword.

Same would apply to Judas Iscariot, whom Jesus allowed, and in fact commanded, to go and carry out the betrayal. It was another case of Jesus ensuring that all the prophecy concerning Him was fulfilled.

Quoted:
It really is pretty cut and dried, actually.

As I said in my previous post, the Bible gives the stories of plenty of non-Christians persecuted Christians, even to death, and in no case did the Christians fight back. The one exception was, of course, Peter when he cut the ear off of Malchus, but Jesus promptly told Peter to put away the sword, then restored Malcus' ear.

The apostles, when they were jailed and beaten (twice) in Jerusalem, never fought back.

Stephen, when he was put on trial by the Jews did not even offer a defense, but instead preached the gospel to the priests who tried him. When they executed him by stoning, Stephen did not fight back, but instead prayed that God would not hold his death against his killers.

King Herod Agrippa beheaded the apostle, James, and arrested the apostle, Peter, but neither fought back.

Paul and Silas were stripped, beaten, thrown in stocks, and thrown into the innermost cell in the Philippian jail, but they did not fight back. In fact, when the opportunity came for them to flee, they did not--they stayed in their cells until the jailer released them. Then, they preached the gospel to the jailer.

Paul, when he was stoned at Lystra and left for dead, did not fight back. In fact, he continued preaching in the area and eventually returned to Lystra to check back in on the church there.

Paul, when imprisoned by the Romans (which started out as a protective measure) did not fight back. Instead, he demanded to be tried by Caesar and took the opportunity to preach the gospel to lots of people between Judea and Rome, starting with the Jewish religious leaders and continuing with King Agrippa and Governor Porcius Festus (which is an awesome name) and continuing on from there.

Nowhere do we see Christians commanded to defend territory nor are we given an example of Christians engaging in warfare to ensure their survival.

Christianity is all about putting off the worldly and putting on the spiritual, and what is war if not a worldly endeavor?

Quoted:
Second, and in answer to your question, Jesus quite clearly explains exactly why He told them to buy the swords.  He said to do so because prophecy concerning Him must be fulfilled. What was that prophecy?  The prophecy was that Jesus might be numbered with transgressors, or sinners. How was this to be fulfilled? How did Jesus tell His apostles to ensure that He was, in fact, numbered with sinful men? He told them to buy a sword.

So there you go. Jesus told the apostles to buy swords so, by carrying them, the apostles would be transgressors. As you know, Peter, who was one of the ones carrying the sword, would use that sword to cut off Malchus' ear, and Jesus would rebuke him as a transgressor. Thus, Peter used the sword to transgress the teaching of Jesus--he used it to exact violence on Jesus' persecutor.

answer the question: Is war with Islam imminent?