Members of the Evangelical community are once again shaking their heads in disapproval after Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump revealed that his favourite Bible verse is "an eye for an eye" from the Old Testament.
After hedging on his previous response to the same question, Trump finally disclosed the biblical quote that he likes best during a recent radio interview.
Asked what his favourite Bible verse or story that has guided his thinking or his character throughout his life, Trump replied, "Well, I think many. I mean, when we get into the Bible, I think many, so many. And some people, look, an eye for an eye, you can almost say that," referring to Deuteronomy 19:21.
"That's not a particularly nice thing. But you know, if you look at what's happening to our country, I mean, when you see what's going on with our country, how people are taking advantage of us, and how they scoff at us and laugh at us. And they laugh at our face, and they're taking our jobs, they're taking our money, they're taking the health of our country. And we have to be very firm and have to be very strong. And we can learn a lot from the Bible, that I can tell you," he said.
Many in the Evangelical community say the billionaire businessman's remark is another demonstration of his lack of Biblical knowledge, the Gospel Herald reports.
They say that the "eye for an eye" Mosaic Law was specifically declared obsolete by Jesus Christ during his Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:38).
However, Jesus did not actually reject the "principle of proportionate justice" but rather the "ancient tradition that had distorted and warped the intention of God's law," National Review contributor Joe Rigney says.
"Eye-for-an-eye was given as a way of regulating personal vengeance by turning it into public justice. No more reckless blood feuds; we'll have trials and standards," he explains.
"Eye-for-an-eye was a law that was meant to be applied in judicial contexts, with judges rendering verdicts in public on the testimony of two or three witnesses. However, based on Jesus' correction, it seems that the principle of eye-for-an-eye had been extended. It had jumped the bounds of public justice and was now being used in private quarrels," Rigney says.
"Ironically enough, this misapplication and twisting of the original law seems to be precisely what Trump likes about it," he says. "People are taking advantage of us? We should take advantage of them. People scoff at the U.S.A.? Then unleash an army of our own scoffers. If we're mocked and laughed at, we ought to give them a taste of their own medicine."
A self-identified Presbyterian, Trump has made previous statements that appeared off-tangent to his claims that he is a practicing Christian with the Bible as his favourite book.
In January, he was criticised when during his speech at Liberty University, he referred to the book of Second Corinthians as "Two Corinthians."
Earlier, he admitted that he had never asked forgiveness from God, saying, "I try and lead a life where I don't have to ask God for forgiveness."
