As I drove around today I noticed some protestors. They had poor arguments scribbled on their signs about why we should end the war. This thought hit me...
When I tell people that I am opposed to the war, the most common response is "Well, how should we have taken care of Saddam." Good question. Or is that even the point? As Christians, who are called to bring the Kingdom to earth, to love, to bring Shalom, are we to even be concerned with the dictator (other than his reconciliation)? Or should we be more concerned with bringing all the aforementioned things to the people in suffering? If we (myself being the hypocrite here) would just follow Jesus, I think there would be less of this "stuff" going on. War, violence, riots. Maybe I'm just an idealist, but I think that it could be that "simple." Simple, not because it's easy, but because it's kind of a no-brainer.
Please, I'd like some feedback on this one. Could following Christ by bringing peace and love be the way to end war and erradicate poverty and bring the world to a new level?
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A cure all? I don't know about that, I think if it were a mass effort of all Christ followers, Love and peace would make a huge difference, but people will still be human(sinful) and poverty will still exist, and sadly war is something that has been going for forever. I am on board with your thinking though, I don't agree that violence is the answer.
By the way, will you please let me know when and where you are going to be playing in So Cal, because I am going to be in town mid Dec.
I agree that it won't be a cure all,
but I do think that poverty can be eradicated, at least temporarily. Maybe on small scales, but if it could be eradicated in one town, it could be done on a much larger scale. Humans are sinful, there is no escaping that, but why not aim for more?
I think to truly follow Christ we have to start small--Like have peace within our own family and close relationships. Try to treat everyone you meet in a day in a way that Christ would. Easier said than done!
For most "Christians" even treating their family kindly and with Christ's love is not possible, but it should be something that we all work towards on a daily basis.
I personally don't think humans are capable of stopping violence and war without the direct intervention of God. I do think that poverty is evil and a form of violence and is absolutely ridicuous in such a rich country (I'm totally with Bono on this one!)
My advice would be to start your "Peace Movement" small--try to stay within your direct realm of influence. None of us realize the significant impact we can have on others' lives, even in very small ways.
Conversion happens one person at a time...
blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called the sons of God. peace not like no war but peace like wholeness in thier life peace like being healed by the love of christ. this leads to no war but isnt first. sons of God... like father like son to be the sons of God means to act in the same manner as God and he wants us to be whole and he wants to heal us with love. and so i say blessed are you mr. peacemaker, bring the shalom! i was thinkin of you today and if you want to come play in north dakota you can i mean your toes would freeze off but you could wear flip flops and not tuck yer shirt in. i hope all is well. on a side note i think that protesting might be the most pointless way to disagree with something. except the one protest i saw when the war started and people in san fran were puking on a government building now that will getcha goin!!!
Haven't you read Revelations? How Christ himself will come and war with evil. Our fallen nature has put us in this position of war and poverty, it is not God's fault, but He is the one that will correct it, in due time. Remember, there is an Armegeddon coming, not our doing but God's army.
Judith,
ahh, revelations. If you believe the somewhat new eschalatogical belief of "Left Behind" also known as Rapture Theology, then yes, all these things are unavoidable, but if you look at Revelations in context, it seems much less like a threat or prophecy of the end of the world and much more like a encrypted message for the people of the time and very near future.
The whole book, in my opinion, is a letter from John to the people of his day. A letter explaining the rise and fall of the Roman Empire. Of course, John couldn't write this to the people flat out, because the Romans had him bannished because they didn't like him teaching.
So, what did he do? He relied on the early Christians knowldge of Daniel, Isaiah, and the Torah. He used word pictures from them to describe what was and would happen. The people of the day would have understood it, however, some of the pictures, unless we really dig, are lost to us today.
And on a side note, even if you believe that The Final Battle will occur, it has nothing to do with the present war and poverty. We should still do all we can do, as Christians, to fight poverty and be a peaceful people.
So Judith and anyone else reading, I pray for your shalom. I pray thay peace like no othe infiltrates your life. And I also pray we take the words of Jesus very seriously, blessed are the peacemakers, and turn the other cheek.. we are here to bless Jesus, not defend the red, white, and blue.
It depends upon your interpretation of the meaning of "blessed are the peacemakers". Plenty of pacifists have very good arguments for their ideas, but so do those who think that there is a governmental mandate to use the sword in a responsible manner to carry out justice. (I tend toward the latter, but I recognize that those who take the former aren't idiots- I just disagree with them)
With that out of the way, I'd question whether or not you are truly contributing to the lessening of violence by allowing the Baath'ist regime to continue doing things like sending people through plastic shredders, imprisoning children and torturing them, or establishing state-imposed rape on a national level. That is a purely pragmatic/ultilitarian argument, and thus isn't entirely strong, nevertheless, it does raise an interesting question for the pacificst.
Having said that, I do think that your position does not deal with reality as it exists. I applaud you for having the convictions to hold to those beliefs, but I personally find it manifestly obvious that the "simple" solution can only be held amongst a larger view that seems to refuse to address the way reality works.
Now, I don't know if you are a pacifist- either way, I still respect you, however, I have to ask to what extent the "simple" solution would be employed- certainly if it one should look at the current war as having a better "simple" solution, then why not all wars? I fail to see where it stops.
Finally, I think that one can certainly find a compatible view between the two- it is clearly not enough to use force alone- those who use military action to "solve" (and I realize the usage of that word is contraversial in this discussion) a problem need to use your "simple" solution in its aftermath. Those left in the wake of such horrors deserve the caring, compassion, and love of Christians, regardless of their opinions. On that count, many who support the war fail miserably. But I have to agree that it was wise and necessary.
Excellent post.
You might consider Yoder's Politics of Jesus or the Colossians Remixed book, Jeff.
Certainly our eschatology helps us to understand who we are in the story of God. Certainly an escapist-theraputic theology about being rescued from a hell-hole of a world will cause people to feel that it's up to God to solve all the problems.
However, if our eschatology is grounded in the Biblical narrative (at least the one I read), then we see that God is in constant process of redeeming and healing and finding the lost parts of this world and, as Jesus said, "putting things in their proper place." So, if we see God at work doing this through sacrifice, then we must do the same. Our sacrifice in order to bring healing into this world is our call.
I do not think that we can maintain the lives we live and truly heal our world of heinous things such as poverty and war. It's greed that causes those things. People must, in the way of Jesus, live off less, give away more, and start supporting just systems and opposing unjust systems.
But that's just my twopence. The books, as I said, could prove helpful.
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