quote:
That ye resist not EVIL: but WHOSOEVER shall smite thee on thy right cheek
The question you should be asking is 'what do we do about the evil and the aggressor?' The way you see it doesn't address the problem at source.
Hoping the aggressor will become passive is naieve. The aggressor(whosoever)is already abusing power by using physical violence. What caused the violence? If we don't resist evil, what do we do?
Theologically, this is where my wife and I disagree considerably. She is of the opinion that Jesus advocated total pacifism, whereas I believe Jesus taught pacifism when possible, insomuch that we make patience, restraint and forgiveness a focal point.
As we all know, violence begets violence. As the Scriptures say, being kind to someone who is cruel to you is like
"heaping burning coals on their head." I understand the passage to mean that by treating them the way they should treat you, their sensibilities and their conscience will ache over such an affront.
That in no way means that we are to be completely passive either, because, as you said, it will not stop the problem of evil. In fact, unless you check the ill behavior, it will continue unabated.
Total pacifism, in my estimation, is the same as allowing the unleashing of total bloodshed.
Its a strange dichotomy, but I think most people have a general idea about what is acceptable and what is not. Getting in to a fist fight over machismo is not the same thing as stopping someone from raping a little girl by any reasonable means.
As far as it relates to Jesus, I found a website concerning the
pacifivity of Jesus that closely models my own beliefs concerning it.
“This life’s dim windows of the soul, distorts the heavens from pole to pole, and goads you to believe a lie, when you see with and not through the eye.” -William Blake
™ Version 4.2