{"id":58679,"date":"2023-02-04T09:33:32","date_gmt":"2023-02-04T15:33:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=58679"},"modified":"2023-02-04T09:34:21","modified_gmt":"2023-02-04T15:34:21","slug":"dont-be-a-victim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/dont-be-a-victim\/","title":{"rendered":"Don&#8217;t Be a Victim"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t<p>\u00a0by Perry Hall<\/p>\n<p>The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), in modern lingo, teaches these two counter-culture concepts:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Suffering doesn&#8217;t make you a victim when you find your blessing from God and not circumstances.<\/li>\n<li>Victimizing others doesn&#8217;t make you powerful when your victims refuse to get their dignity through your oppressive eyes.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Check out the Sermon on the Mount and what it says concerning suffering.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>It&#8217;s part of the Beatitudes.<\/li>\n<li>It&#8217;s part of the practical section, &#8220;You have heard, but I say to you&#8221; (Matthew 5). This is where we go the extra mile and turn the other cheek.<\/li>\n<li>It&#8217;s part of the &#8220;religious&#8221; section (Matthew 6) where people made themselves victims of their own sins and so fasted to get a righteous acclamation from those who they then victimized with their own self-righteousness.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I don&#8217;t think the theme of the Sermon on the Mount is &#8220;Don&#8217;t be a victim&#8221; because it is be like God in true righteousness (Matthew 5:42) and not like the scribes and Pharisees (Matthew 5:20). However, as an application God is never a victim, always a victor, and never victimizes the less powerful who is everyone else. But do you think some today find &#8220;righteousness&#8221; in living as a victim?<\/p>\n<p>Jesus lived this:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>He walked the &#8220;extra mile&#8221; carrying his cross. But Jesus was not a victim.<\/li>\n<li>He turned the other cheek when slapped. But Jesus was not a victim.<\/li>\n<li>He didn&#8217;t rely on acclamations from his peers because he said to God, &#8220;Not my will but yours be done&#8221;. This didn&#8217;t make Jesus a victim.<\/li>\n<li>He suffered for righteousness&#8217; sake because he got his blessing from God. And Jesus was not a victim.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Jesus lived the Sermon on the Mount, suffered and died, and rose again because his life was founded on solid ground. Jesus was and is counter-culture, and always a victor!<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0by Perry Hall The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), in modern lingo, teaches these two counter-culture concepts: Suffering doesn&#8217;t make you a victim when you find your blessing from God and not circumstances. Victimizing others doesn&#8217;t make you powerful when your victims refuse to get their dignity through your oppressive eyes. Check out the&hellip;<\/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,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[708,1615,182,1614],"class_list":["post-58679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-matthew","tag-oppression","tag-suffering","tag-victim"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":86693,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-jesus-death-stands-out\/","url_meta":{"origin":58679,"position":0},"title":"Why Jesus&#8217; Death Stands Out","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 19, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Tommy Peeler In the first century, thousands were crucified. \"During the last siege of Jerusalem, hundreds of crosses daily arose, till there seemed not sufficient room nor wood for them\" (Alfred Edersheim). Of those thousands crucified, how many of the victims could you name? If crucifixion was such a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":70166,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/christian-victim-card\/","url_meta":{"origin":58679,"position":1},"title":"Christian Victim Card","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 4, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Chadwick Brewer \"Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you\" (I John 3:13). Christians are disdained and hated for their strong convictions of faith, radical morality, and different ways of life. In a world of political correctness, it is still socially acceptable to mock and denigrate Christians.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5133,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-about-people-who-play-the-victim-card\/","url_meta":{"origin":58679,"position":2},"title":"What about people who play the victim card?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 25, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, I was wondering what the Bible has to say about those who play the victim card to deceive people. Answer: All lying is wrong, regardless of the motivation behind the lies (Proverbs 6:16-19; Revelation 21:8). Thus, to do something with the intent of deceiving people is sinful. There\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":31673,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/in-the-hour-of-trial\/","url_meta":{"origin":58679,"position":3},"title":"In the Hour of Trial","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 7, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Luke 22:54-62 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Without a doubt, Peter loved Jesus \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When others sat in the boat in fear, it was Peter who wanted to go out to meet Jesus - Matthew 14:28-31 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When Jesus spoke of his abandonment on the Mount of Olives - Matthew 26:31-32\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Audio&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":55406,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/implications-in-the-sermon-on-the-mount\/","url_meta":{"origin":58679,"position":4},"title":"Implications in the Sermon on the Mount","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 3, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer One way to see the sermon on the mount is through the lens of Matthew 5:20, \"For I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven.\" Along these lines, I believe an important hermeneutical\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":36493,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-problem-of-other-peoples-suffering\/","url_meta":{"origin":58679,"position":5},"title":"The Problem of Other People&#8217;s Suffering","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 8, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Matthew W. Bassford I first encountered the classical statement of the problem of human suffering in a religious studies class in college. The professor wrote on the board, \"If God could stop suffering and chooses not to, He is not perfectly good. If God wants to stop suffering and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","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\/2021\/07\/suffering-300x195.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58679","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=58679"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58679\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}