The Bible and a Gun<\/a>.” A Christian doesn’t look for a fight or cause a fight, but he can stop a fight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Question: What if you are a Christian and someone attacks you after you walk away from them? Should you retaliate back or just take the assault? Most would just fight back. I want to know if it’s wrong in God’s eye to defend yourself? Answer: One does not retaliate, that would be vengeance. “If it…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[977,978],"class_list":["post-23959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-pacifism","tag-self-defense"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":92849,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/avenge-our-blood\/","url_meta":{"origin":23959,"position":0},"title":"Avenge Our Blood","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 27, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by David Hurst via\u00a0Sentry Magazine, Vol. 19 No. 2, June 1993 Vengeance is a greatly misunderstood subject in the Bible. Our understanding of the word is described with words such as retaliate and punish. Most of us view it as an undesirable trait. We fight feelings that desire to see\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":26782,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-is-war-different-from-acts-of-retaliation\/","url_meta":{"origin":23959,"position":1},"title":"How is war different from acts of retaliation?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 21, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I read \"Is there any biblical support for war?\"\u00a0 but I don't understand how it fits with\u00a0Matthew 5:38-42 and Luke 6:27-31. Answer: \"You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I tell you not to resist an evil\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":43558,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-a-government-execute-the-death-penalty-when-we-are-told-not-to-take-vengeance\/","url_meta":{"origin":23959,"position":2},"title":"How can a government execute the death penalty when we are told not to take vengeance?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 21, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello Jeffrey, I have a question about the practice of capital punishment. I was having a discussion with my mom about the matter and we came to the understanding that capital punishment is not lawful in God's eyes. What confused me was in verse 4. It says \"he does\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":18153,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/vengeance\/","url_meta":{"origin":23959,"position":3},"title":"Vengeance","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 9, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Keith Sharp via\u00a0Truth Magazine XXIII: 34, pp. 554-556, August 31, 1979 \"Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/angry-200x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":37171,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-want-to-do-something-bad-to-the-people-who-cost-me-my-job\/","url_meta":{"origin":23959,"position":4},"title":"I want to do something bad to the people who cost me my job","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 15, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good day, I have lost my job, and I can't stop thinking about doing something bad to the people who cost me my job. This thing is always on my mind, but I want to move forward, forget about it, and have faith in God that everything happens for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":37407,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/that-answer-about-an-adult-stealing-from-his-parents-was-the-worse-answer-ive-ever-seen\/","url_meta":{"origin":23959,"position":5},"title":"That answer about an adult stealing from his parents was the worse answer I’ve ever seen","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 28, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In regards to your answer to\u00a0the person that asked about their adult child stealing from them.\u00a0 You gave no New Testament verse for your answer.\u00a0 If you are going to give answers to people, especially those who ask questions regarding their families, you should give biblical answers -- New\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23959"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23959\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}