(July 22, 2024 at 10:12 am)Disagreeable Wrote: Quoting from the bible, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person's enemies will be those of his own household." - Jesus Christ, Matthew 10:34-36
How would theists defend Jesus here? It's my favorite biblical quote when I want to point out that Jesus is a dick.
It is incumbent upon us to understand what is written and what is translation. What bible translation are you quoting from?
If you go back to the Greek as written then the verse reads very differently.
"Think not that I am come to send [ballō - to throw or let go of a thing without caring where it falls] peace. I came not to send [same word, same meaning as before] peace but a sword [machaira - this is not a sword as we imagine but a small sword or large knife, its use here is figurative to mean judgement]. Freed of the constraints placed on it by translation it now says (me paraphrasing);
"Think not that I am come to carelessly discard peace. I have not come to carelessly discard peace but to bring judgement." This is setting up the next lines, where he then explains that judgement will set a man against his father, daughter against mother, etc.
