[QUOTE=Chief Pedant]
Been there, heard that, to all of the usual arguments.
There is no question that the Bible is self-contradictory and vague and has wiggle room all over the place. That is one of the reasons so many have stopped seeing it as some sort of divine revelation. The inconsistency and the wiggle-room alone make it unlikely an Almighty meant it as a Reference.
[/QUOTE]
This is totally my view as well and so I am surprised at how far you go in the rest of your post.
[QUOTE=Chief Pedant]
The OP is asking if Jesus, and not Christians, commanded us not to defend ourselves. Yes he did, and very specifically. To the extent he is quoted elsewhere as saying (or depicted as doing) something different, one has to accept that the author erred in the telling or that Christ was inconsistent, and one has to decide which passages more likely carry the thrust of his message.
On balance, and particularly given the weight of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, it requires a great deal of wiggling and interpretation and pulling in snippets of other passages to create a case for self-defense and Just Wars.
[/QUOTE]
Well I disagree with this. I think Jesus is much more vague on the issue of self-defense and so did not weigh in this debate.
On the issue of War though, we have pretty clear evidence that he and his close associates see soldiers and don’t make leaving military service a pre-requisite for following God. These issues and verses have been discussed at the U.S. Supreme Court and in Military trials for over a century now. I am not saying you are wrong overall. Simply that others aren’t necessarily twisting or data mining or that it is a slam dunk what “Jesus said” in regard to this.
These are the most common verses discussed (NIV):
Luke Luke 7:1-9
Jesus cures the Centurion’s servant and says how he believes
*When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.” *
Nothing about the Centurion needing to stop being a Centurion
Luke 14:31-32
Jesus uses the parable of the King preparing for war with the outnumbered army as a good example of discipleship of following Jesus
Luke 3:12-15
People come to get baptized by John the Baptist all manners of sinners and ask him what to do
*12Tax collectors also came to be baptized. “Teacher,” they asked, “what should we do?” 13"Don’t collect any more than you are required to," he told them. 14Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?” He replied, “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely—be content with your pay.” *
These may be soldiers of Herod or they may be Romans - ultimately though John clearly does not give a pacifist message to them as a pre-requisite for Baptism
ACTS 10 An Angel tells the Cornelius Centurion “of the Italian Regiment” to call Peter - Peter Baptizes him and all his household. There is no finger wagging by Peter on being a Soldier. Instead, in the following verses were learn the other Apostles and “the church” are horrified that Peter didn’t keep Kosher and that he Baptized an uncircumcised man - not that he Baptized a soldier.
Now you might say the reason all this is in Luke-Acts is because one of the author’s main points was to apologetically make the case that Christianity was not a threat to the Roman Empire. I would agree. I would also agree that there is other contradictory stuff on the other side too. But it still means it is more complex on this issue than your post makes it.