Faith Requires Logic, and Logic Requires Faith

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well.'' (Matthew 5:38-40)

This biblical excerpt delivers its message with striking literalness, offering little room for reinterpretation - yet it is grounded in remarkably sophisticated reasoning. Unfortunately, many struggle to grasp even its surface meaning, while only a few perceive the depth beneath it. Some Christians respond with convoluted justifications rather than confronting its implications directly. In this article, I will uncover the esoteric foundations that give this passage its true meaning.

To fully turn the other cheek, abiding by Jesus' words, is to merge both logic and faith; a microcosm emblematic of all of His teachings.

Without logic, one does not understand Jesus Christ; and without faith, one does not follow Him. This is why a synthesis must be performed by all Christians; they must seek to both decipher his teachings, so they perfectly understand them, as well as to have faith in them and in Him, so that they do not falter in their ways.

Why would you turn the other cheek after a man has just slapped your face? At first glance, it comes across as awful, even self-destructive advice. But there is a logical reason behind such an unintuitive principle - suffering is a sanctifying force. The teaching comes from a man who sacrificed Himself for the sake of all.

In saying ''turn the other cheek'', Jesus is rejecting the material world and asking His followers to do the same; by turning the other cheek, they place their true selves - their souls - above their vessels of flesh, as well as beyond the chaos of this realm. Of course, one should not seek meaningless suffering; but if suffering comes to you for pursuing the path of truth and goodness, you shouldn't fear and reject it like a wild animal, and abandon your ideals to avoid it, for you know that it can only embolden the light within you. Facing evil should only strengthen your resolve to be good.

Jesus asks of us to believe in Him, and that all who follow Him will reach Paradise. He is, of course, asking of us to be faithful. And a man with boundless faith will never waver in his path. However, if you have faith at your side, but not logic, you fail to grasp His teachings; He often spoke in parable, and even His apostles frequently failed to understand Him in His entirety. A man unshaken by doubt but empty of mind is blind, and prone to making mistakes out of ignorance; and should this man believe his error to be correct, and insist upon it, he becomes proud, and evil - for evil is the brother of foolishness, and both are of the dark.

Jesus is also the personification of truth. He is the philosophical magnum opus; the result of thousands of years of human thinking, the culmination of all of men's questions and answers, the response to their desperate pleas for salvation. Thus, an intelligent man with logic at his side will be able to understand Him. However, if the man is faithless in the truth, he may fall into darkness. If you know what the right thing to do is at all times, but have no moral strength to supress your desires and instincts nor the faith to be assured that your reward will only come in the long term, you won't be able to uphold your ideals.

Ideal, enlightened Christians know to pair their intellect with their faith, and thus, are invincible in their struggle, unwavering in their path, immune to lies and distortions of the truth. They can only feel pity toward the man who would slap their cheeks, and they pray for his salvation, for they know deep inside him lies a frail light seeking freedom from the overwhelming darkness.

Of course, to turn the other cheek does not mean to be passive and abandon all strivings and dreams - on the contrary, it means that one should not avoid the martyrdom that comes with their pursuits; it means that one should prioritize the greater good, the greater dream, above his own well-being; it means that one's soul is worth more than his body, and that causing suffering is the antithesis of salvation. Turning the other cheek does not make one weak, but strong; and to think otherwise is to forsake Christ, who willingly walked toward His death in an act supremely emblematic of this very teaching.

Thank you all so much for your continued support! I'm finally back to working on the Dark Souls II video, and in the meantime, I've also started writing the script for the Dark Souls III series. :)