Christians are too weak

Jathniel

Hello all,

I’m a convert to the COC and my family and friends come from a Protestant background.

I try my best to live like Christ and the saints:
I don’t curse, I try to find peace in everything and if there is a problem... I be sure to bring it up to the individual in a peaceful manner, after their emotions have calmed.

However... I’ve been told that I am too much of a push over by doing these things. I tell them that the Bible commands us to follow what it teaches about these matters... but they refuse and say I am “preaching” to then.

I feel like a black sheep.

These are supposed Christians who won’t follow the Bible and call me a push over because I do.

So are Christians supposed to be pushovers? It seems like Christ made it sound that way because our reward is in Heaven.

What would you do if others view you as “Too Christian” and a “pushover”?

PopeKyrillosHabibi

If you're viewed as a "pushover," you still approach things calmly as you do--as Christ did. 

"He was oppressed, and he was afflicted yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the 

slaughter,

(Isaiah 53:7).

Though he "opened not his mouth," he still asked the Jews why he was being slapped and hit. 

It's all a matter of knowing when to speak and how to do so--approaching matters in a calm all the while seeking to resolve evident injustices. It's anything but weakness. 

Think back to Abouna Yostos El-Antony, for instance--he would hold his sadness in his heart if someone wronged him, but Christ would, out of His mercy, perform a miracle to the wrongdoer as a sign to have that person apologize to the saint. 

tl;dr: Let Christ do the work if someone does you wrong. But that doesn't mean stay silent at all injustices in front of you. We don't do things the way the world does by raising our voices, showing our supposed "power" by appearing burly, "tough," or intimidating. It's not being a pushover--rather, it's not talking back so as not to fall to sin and leaving the matters for God to handle. That is the ultimate show of wisdom and might, more so than any presentation of worldly "toughness." 

Wonderful question.

Ev

learningorthodoxy

I'm Jewish looking in to possibly converting to orthodoxy and in the old testament (I know we are much more an eye for an eye than turn the other cheek), there are a number of verses about fighting injustice and standing up for those that cannot stand up for themselves such as the poor or sick. Jesus spoke back to the Pharissees and Sadducees etc when necessary in the New Testament as well. The most important commandments to him included loving your neighbor and granting them compassion. That doesn't mean that you let them take advantage of you or others silently, but it does mean treat them with love and kindness in the process and do so in a way where you live a godly life and are an example for other Christians and nonChristians. My favorite New Testament verse has always been Matthew 5:16 "Let your light shine before men that they may see your good deeds and praise your father in heaven." That is how you should try to live your life. If they think you are a pushover, who cares?

mabsoota

when we stand up to people who ate doing wrong, we should do it for their sake, in order to teach them. we should not do it in order to punish them and make ourselves feel victorious.

CanadianCopt

Those copts are saying that so their conscience isn't burdened.