Why do people say Jesus is a Prophet of peace when Jesus makes clear his violent nature in the Bible?

Question

The Second Coming of Christ is a central theological belief of Christianity. When Jesus returns to earth, the gloves will be off: no longer will he practice nonviolence or pacifism. Enemies will be mercilessly killed, not loved. In this manner, Jesus will fulfill the messianic prophecies found in the Bible–both in the Old and New Testaments. To Christians, Jesus is the Messiah (the Greek word “Christ” has the same meaning as the Hebrew word “Messiah”)–the same Messiah that the Jews had been in anticipation of.

Matthew 21:12-13 (New American Standard Bible)

12 And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves.
13 And He said to them, “It is written, ‘MY HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED A HOUSE OF PRAYER’; but you are making it a ROBBERS’ DEN.”


Mark 11:15-18

15 Then they came to Jerusalem. And He entered the temple and began to drive out those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves;

16 and He would not permit anyone to carry merchandise through the temple.

17 And He began to teach and say to them, “Is it not written, ‘ MY HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED A HOUSE OF PRAYER FOR ALL THE NATIONS’? But you have made it a ROBBERS’ DEN.”

18 The chief priests and the scribes heard this, and began seeking how to destroy Him; for they were afraid of Him, for the whole crowd was astonished at His teaching.

Luke 19:45-47

45 Jesus entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling,

46 saying to them, “It is written, ‘AND MY HOUSE SHALL BE A HOUSE OF PRAYER,’ but you have made it a ROBBERS’ DEN.”

47 And He was teaching daily in the temple; but the chief priests and the scribes and the leading men among the people were trying to destroy Him,

John 2:13-16
13 The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

14 And He found in the temple those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables.

15 And He made a scourge of cords, and drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables;

16 and to those who were selling the doves He said, “Take these things away; stop making My Father’s house a place of business.”


Can one man clear a the temple?
One man using a weapon, even a non-lethal weapon such as an animal scourge, can clear a room pretty quickly. Especially if the other people in the room are unarmed, surprised, and (as disarmed subjects of a foreign dictatorship) used to being be submissive to force. The room-clearing is all the easier if the man with the weapon has a strong and fearless personality. It even easier if the man is backed by a wildly cheering crowd in a religious frenzy (such as the crowd that had, in Matthew’s version, just welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem and proclaimed him the messiah).

So here is probably the “best” non pacifist Text. It is an important event in the life of Jesus obviously because it was one of the few events recorded in all four Gospels.

So what are we to learn from this? Well I think if we consider the importance of Jesus’s position, we can take in the text and see what was accomplished with the cleansing of the Temple. But what of his violent behavior? Since this is posted in the Counter Arguments and Difficult questions sections, I will leave it up to the responses to answer these questions.

DS M · Accepted Answer

As an atheist, your boasting about not being made with one intelligent thought and that being void of intelligence is your natural state, I understand why you would ask this question.

***The Second Coming of Christ is a central theological belief of Christianity***

Being intollerant of others because their opinion is different than your own is no excuse for being ignore of the topic you picked...except as an atheist, you have nothing to offer that is better than Christianity...which is why atheists attack the beliefs of others hoping that atheism would appear to have some intelligent thought.

Jesus was/is a Jew.
His disciples were Jews
So what do we learn from this?  Well, I think you should tell us exactly when Jesus stopped being Jewish and started a new religion called "Christianity" since nothing in the scriptures you quote say anything of the sort...but how would an atheist copying someone else's objection know that?  Yes, no where in the Bible is a new religion ever started which is why the Jewish scriptures and the NT make up the Bible.

Being an atheist, your concept of creation leaves you with no reason to be since reason requires intelligent thought and being made without intelligent thought is the premise of atheism.  Not having a reason to live means that there is no right or wrong for an atheist as everyone with intelligence knows...so atheist can not experience a gain or less regardless whether someone dies on the abortion table or lives to 120 years old given that they were not born with something to do with their lives other than take up space and use the O2 in the room.  Those who think through atheism know this to be true.

However, a theist approaches life from a different point of view where God is the Creator.  As with all Creators, God made us for a reason....a reason that can only be communicated by God which is why those who obey the spirit of God are different from Muslims, Jews, and other theists as you pointed out.  

Muslims have not heard a word from Allah since Muhammad died or the non-prophets  who remembered what should gone in the Quran but Muhammad left out.

Jews have not heard a word from HaShem for about 2500 years 

JWs have their unique translation of the Bible which allows them to believe as they believe.

Mormans believe men are turned into gods meaning that God the Father is not the Creator of all.

However, one day, when all stand before their Creator and are accountable for how they lived their lives, the difference between your belief that the Creator is violent vs you not doing what you were made to do will become clear

Hope this helps

? · Answer

Okay, firstly would you sell your companion/family inside of your own house? If not, then your thinking what Jesus Is thinking. He loves those doves and at the same time respect his father.

secondly, he did not use any weapon, and it seems that you noticed it too. Now I ask you this, How does that make his "violent nature" clear?

Thirdly, if you consider the turning table bit violent, then do so, but he did it peacefully without harming a fly, notice that it does not say anyone was hurt right?

"Enemies will be mercilessly killed"; What if, it's the people who's going to do the killing?

? · Answer

Okay, Jesus was violent? And it's in the Bible? 

There is one and one only example of Jesus even getting hot under the collar. 

That was when people defiled his Father's Temple. And he killed no one. 

That's it. He maimed no one, he healed instead. He scattered money on the floor and you're calling that violent? Doves flew and thieves ran. In his Father's own house? 

You got the idea of "violent" all screwed up, dear.

Real violence hurts people. Jesus never hurt anyone at all, in any record in the Bible. Not one person. Not even a bruise.

Jeff Levin · Answer

Ahhhh ha ha ha. Jesus is NOT a pacifist! I'm not even going to waste my breath on you atheists trying to explain this one because I know you don't want to hear the truth. But you ARE right Jesus is no pacifist. The Bible makes that very clear.

MortalGuardian · Answer

Jesus gets mad ONE TIME and you criticize him for it? Hmm.

It was righteous indignation. Jesus was angry because his Father was being insulted. Let me ask you something, man- if someone was right in front of you and called your Father a douchebag, would you just say "Thank you" and smile?

Anonymous · Answer

You destroy your argument with your reference "New American Standard Bible". [Americans re-write history]

The bible has been changed and amended so much over time that it has lost credibility , compare it even to the Oldest existing bible [4th Century Codex Siniatics]

There is only one Qur'an

Gregory · Answer

jesus was not violent while on earth

you obviously have no ideal what you are talking about

Anonymous · Answer

You can use the bybull to find anything, and any side of any argument.

Larry · Answer

Seems that you forget the true nature of God which is love. He is not a God of love but is love literally and not only that he is agape love that man cannot understand unless God gives him understanding of it. I find it interesting that you blaspheme God then ponder his nature as if he would reveal himself and truth to you. Think again. God gave us philos, storgee and Eros love to enjoy and enhance the things of this life, agape love is represented by what he is made of, pure energy. That power is always used for the good of man and for creative purposes. He does not destroy anything as he told me; it is not my intent to destroy evil in that day but it will be destroyed because of my nature when I come. Let it not be found in you. How could God who is love destroy his creation that he loves including us in all of our filth? There will be separation but not destruction whether we can understand that now in its fullness or not. Who are you to say you understand his ways and purposes? I like what he told me one time, yes, they spit on me, ridiculed my name, accused me falsely and murdered me but I still love them, because that is all that is in my heart. There is no revenge, anger, hate, or any other negative in his heart for any reason. And you?  Mr., atheist God will not judge you because of his love for you, you will judge yourself in front of him and receive your own self condemnation.

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Why do people say Jesus is a Prophet of peace when Jesus makes clear his violent nature in the Bible?

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