Hawk I hate to say it but I cannot see how you can hold those beliefs and call yourself a Christian. Seriously. It took me about 1 minute flat to go over to my library, pull out a concordance and bible, and find unequivocal statements by Jesus himself on this subject:
Gospel of Luke
6:29 - "Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also, and whoever takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt from him either.
6:30 - "Give to everyone who asks of you, and whoever takes away what is yours do not demand it back."
Do not demand it back. Do not demand it back. Let alone pull a pistol and discharge it into the back of his head as he tries to flee the scene.
As I stated I no longer claim the title of Christian. And the brand of Christianity I grew up in was hard boiled, conservative as hell, and literalist to a fault. And even then I never knew a single preacher who would have held this up as Jesus like behavior.
Sorry but from my vantage point this in entirely inconsistent with any brand of Christianity I have yet to encounter.
Will
Those are well known verses, Will, and are certainly the path to spiritual perfection (be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect), however falling short of spiritual perfection is not the equivalent of sin (which was your claim regarding the stopping of a thief by whatever means is necessary). Jesus also recommended, for example, that those seeking spiritual perfection should sell all that they have and give it to the poor, yet it is not a sin to refrain from this recommendation. Your task is to show us where in the Bible Jesus says that it is morally wrong to stop a thief by whatever means necessary.
