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 Question 65.

I have a question to ask of you in light of the tragic events that have been unfolding in the UK How do we as people deal with retribution after all it's says an eye for an eye a tooth for a tooth but on the otherhand it's says that we should also turn the other cheek we are only human beings with raw feelings

 

Answer to Question 65.

 

The Old Testament law says: an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. The law was righteous and effective because it worked like a deterrent: someone feared to do harm to someone else because he knew the law allowed that same harm to be done to him.  The law: an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth was theoretically a justifiable punishment, but it was very rarely put into practice. Jewish tradition refused to interpret the law in it's literally sense and instead used it to calculate a reasonable money compensation to be given to the victim.

When we examine the Old Testament laws in the light of the New Testament, we see that they were not perfect, but they were laws the people could apprehend. We must not forget that as yet, they were still in a period of darkness without the grace and light of the Holy Spirit to enlighten them and show them a different and superior code of conduct. Let’s not imagine for one second that the nations of the Old Testament understood everything we have been taught in the New Testament.

 Christ was the giver of the Old Law, but he is also the giver of the New Law. Thus he said: “Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more [than others]? do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.