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PaperclipPerfector  1d ago (text post)   4753 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of December 29, 2025

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Loving your enemies does not mean prayers for the successes they desire, or assisting them in folly, often it's enough to pray they find Christ and repent.

You don't think

But whenever you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you. (Mat 6:6)

Could be taken literally? I'll happily agree that it also works with "inner room" as the heart itself. It's clearly about the 'why' not the 'where'.

Martin Luther describes a physical space, using the where to get to the correct why.

Therefore Christ begins by teaching them how to pray aright, and shows how they are to go about it, namely, that they should not stand and pray openly upon the streets, but should pray at home, alone, in their chamber, in secret, etc.: that is, that they should first of all lay aside the false desire to pray for the sake of the appearance and reputation, or anything of that kind. Not that we are forbidden to pray upon the street or openly; for a Christian is not bound to any place, and may pray anywhere, upon the street, in the field, or in church; but merely, that it must not be done with reference to the people, to get honor and profit from it, just as he forbids sounding a trumpet or bells at alms-giving — not for that reason, but he rebukes the addition and the false motive with these words: that they may be seen of men.

Plucking out your eye in the context of adultery of the 2 precededing verses is better understood that If you find yourself looking at a woman with lustful desire, then tear out that "eye" - but it's the eye of the heart he's talking about, not the physical organ. Lust originates in the heart, not the eyeball. So if you remove the evil desire from your heart, the physical eye won't sin or cause you to stumble anymore. You'll still see the same woman with the same two eyes you've always had, but now without the desire. It will be as if you hadn't even noticed her. The "eye" Christ is commanding you to tear out - the eye of lust - will be gone, even though your bodily eye remains perfectly intact.

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