I believe Jesus is a pacifist...First off I just wanted to say this is not something I approach with ease. I also am just presenting only my opinion. Things get very complicated when you are out on the lines, and I acknowledge that I have no idea what that is like. To make matters even more tricky, it gets complicated when your only brother decides to enlist... I want to take a stab at this, this one is rated PG-13.
Anywho, I think when you put together all of the evidence it is almost impossible to really think otherwise about the pacifism bit. Let's look at some of the more obvious texts. If we start from the very core into the Old Testament, we have the ten commandments given to Moses. These are all very important commandments to have been given to Moses in such a bold manner. The sixth commandment of Exodus 20:13 states, "Thou shalt not kill." Pretty simple stuff... Notice there aren't any "buts."
Moving once again back to Jesus. I want you all to come back to the scene where the Roman soldiers are about to take Jesus away in the garden. This is right after his betrayal. Let me just drop you some texts, Matthew 26:50-53...
"Then the men stepped forward, seized Jesus and arrested him. With that, one of Jesus' companions reached for his sword, drew it out and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear. "Put your sword back in its place," Jesus said to him, "for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?"
Ok so here we see true brute force being used for the most just cause and Jesus lays it out very clearly. You start shooting people, you will get shot. He's saying that is not the way to resolve anything. This all seems very clear...
BUT
At the same time, why does this all just not sit well with me...
Have any of you ever seen the movie Hotel Rwanda? You know the scenes where people are just laying all over the road. They had been just slashed to death by giant knives. How about the movie Schindler's List. Have you seen that one, where about 5.1 million Jews are senselessly slaughtered by the millions? You all know those are portrayals of real things that have happened right? What about the lost souls using rape as a type of warfare in some third world countries as I type this right now?
Knowing all of these things, and knowing that in your hand you hold the ability to make it stop
, would you? Is there any such thing as a "just war?" Why knowing all those scriptures do I still think it's okay for my brother to go pick up a weapon and stick up for people who can't stick up for themselves? (Very Biblical by the way.)War is a really terrible thing. But wars have also saved lives, freed people, ended oppression and all sorts of things... Does any of that even matter? Why do I feel like this isn't just one of those black and white issues. To be completely honest, for the first time in my blog I will say this... I have no idea. I really don't, I'm going to be working my way through this one for a while... what do you think?
3 comments:
Hoorah!
First off: I don't know either, and here are my thoughts:
"knowing that in your hand you hold the ability to make it stop..." Really? I cannot always find where God is in everything, but I do think that when we think we have the ability to make something stop with a weapon in our hands, it may not be God driving that feeling. This goes to how much is His will and how much is ours. How much would He want us to kill in His name, or would He at all. Again, I do not know, I just know that Biblically I cannot accept it at the moment.
Sorry Ev.
Flora,
your question about the ability to make it stop is interesting to me. Does war really make these things stop? Doesn't it simply change where the corpses come from? Also, does joining the army mean that you'll be able to stop something like what happened in Rwanda? Because the U.S. knew beforehand what was going to happen and denied it. The international community had a list of names of people who were to be targeted and they ignored it. Our nation was too busy being obsessed with the OJ Simpson trial to care about over 1 million people dying. The entire international community is guilty for what happened in Rwanda because they knew and did nothing.
And I wonder if war is the only way to stick up for those who can't stick up for themselves. My understanding is that you've taken a "ends justifies the means" stance. I wonder what justifies the ends.
I think we're too committed to what we think is the most effective and a lot of times I'll agree that this looks like war. However, I find this logic flawed beyond reason as a Christian. Why am I concerned with what is effective? Shouldn't I be concerned with faithfulness? I think the question lies in where our allegiance lies. Are we Christians first or Americans first?
I'm not hating on Evan either. I love the kid. I just can't find any reason to support war, any war.
This is just my opinion. Sorry if it comes off as overly harsh. I'm just throwing a couple more questions into the mix.
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