We Are Not Pacifists
Not purely so. But we ought to be close, and grow closer and closer to the sacred principle of “love your enemy” with every breath of the Spirit.
We are not pacifists. Bonhoeffer and Niebuhr and Barth, in whose intellectually faithful stream we happily swim, will not let us be, though they and we wish for a world a little less sin-soaked and suicidal so that the pacific way might become both right and possible for us to live. For now, we have to admit that violence, or its threat, is sometimes helpful for living, as in stopping a rapist with whatever force is necessary, or calling the police when one sees a neighbor under attack.
We are not pacifists. We have to admit that the taking up of arms to halt the advance of genocide or murderous aggression or naked totalitarianism may be the faithful choice, though in recent history, only World War II, the fight against Hitler's Nazism, impresses us as a just war. We’ve already let the Rwanda tragedy pass us by. But the situation in Darfur may yet become a proper cause for even Jesus-followers to take violent action in order that people may live who otherwise wouldn’t. But we don’t know that yet.
We are not pacifists. We do not take Matthew 5:39 literally—But I (Jesus) say to you, Do not resist an evil doer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also—literally. Neither do we take the even more problematic Matthew 5:44 literally: But I (guess Who again) say to you, Love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you. We do not take these commands from the Lord of our lives literally, but we do take them seriously. If an enemy needs killin’ (and who needed killing more than Adolph Hitler?), then one has to meditate night and day on the proposition that in some cases, killing an enemy is an act of loving the enemy (putting Hitler out of the misery his soul must have been writhing in?) and, beyond that, an act of prayer. It is to act in ways literally contrary to the expressed will of the Son of God, and, nonetheless, throwing oneself wholly upon God’s mercy.
We are not pacifists. But pacifism is the first impulse of Christians—that is, those who follow Jesus—when it comes to issues related to war and peace. Pacifism is the general rule for sincere Jesus students. Every now and then, there are exceptions to the rule. But the rule still holds.
We are not pacifists. It is nice to have principles and nicer to live by them. But, just as the weapons of war change at rates faster than the tactics of fighting a war can adjust to, and just as our technology is usually ahead of our ethics, principles have effectual limits. We can only live the truths of peacemaking and peaceableness. We cannot state them in ways that genuinely satisfy, that cover every extremity. Sometimes the body has to act (instinctively? Can we still call it that?) outside the boundaries set by the mind. Sometimes feelings, both intuitive and visceral, must take the lead. Maybe this is the clearest illustration of a lived dialectic. The truth is dynamic, living, active, growing, moving, developing, revealing itself in new and ever changing ways. It has a heart beat. To try to make it lie there, confined to paper, is to practice another form of violence. We tend to kill what we want to nail down. Ossify what we first admired as lively. Right wing politicos and doctrinophiles call this relativism, but they are idiots. Blithering idiots, I meant to say.
We are not pacifists. But we are patriots. As patriots, we work for the improvement of our country, and part of that responsibility is to call a bad war when we see one. We oppose wars fought for political purposes, that is, ones waged in order to impose a political system, even a good one like democracy, upon a nation. Those wars can’t work. Won’t never work nowhere nohow. They aren’t worth killing people over. We can’t even make our children behave. What makes us think we can make people from a culture that varies widely from ours sit up and act right?
We are not pacifists. But we don’t like “preemptive” wars the least little bit. Followers of Jesus understand that sometimes we might need to finish a war here and there. But we are not the kind of people who start wars. The only kind of war worth fighting, worth all the physical and spiritual risks every war (even “good” ones) involve, is a war forced on us, a war that we cannot avoid and would never choose.
We are not pacifists. But we haven’t seen a war we “like,” as in support, for a long, long time. If we thought a war were just and necessary, then we would gladly join it and/or send our sons and daughters into it and advise others to do likewise because it is a matter of life and death. But no such war exists. This is not just our opinion. We believe that God is tired of all this unnecessary killing, too. We believe that peace occupies the heart of Jesus, and that Jesus’ peaceful center reveals the heart of God.
We are not pacifists. But someday—and we hope that day arrives soon—when the kingdom of God comes, when God’s will is freely done, not just in heaven, but on earth, we shall become as God desires, transformed into the likeness of Christ. We shall become pacifists. Peacemakers. Cheek turners. Enemy lovers. Prayer warriors for the people who hate us. People whose most deadly weapon is kindness. Those who live peaceably with all. And if we truly mean all, and if we trust that God can make that happen, then what hinders us from getting started a little personal peace process now?
We are not pacifists. Bonhoeffer and Niebuhr and Barth, in whose intellectually faithful stream we happily swim, will not let us be, though they and we wish for a world a little less sin-soaked and suicidal so that the pacific way might become both right and possible for us to live. For now, we have to admit that violence, or its threat, is sometimes helpful for living, as in stopping a rapist with whatever force is necessary, or calling the police when one sees a neighbor under attack.
We are not pacifists. We have to admit that the taking up of arms to halt the advance of genocide or murderous aggression or naked totalitarianism may be the faithful choice, though in recent history, only World War II, the fight against Hitler's Nazism, impresses us as a just war. We’ve already let the Rwanda tragedy pass us by. But the situation in Darfur may yet become a proper cause for even Jesus-followers to take violent action in order that people may live who otherwise wouldn’t. But we don’t know that yet.
We are not pacifists. We do not take Matthew 5:39 literally—But I (Jesus) say to you, Do not resist an evil doer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also—literally. Neither do we take the even more problematic Matthew 5:44 literally: But I (guess Who again) say to you, Love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you. We do not take these commands from the Lord of our lives literally, but we do take them seriously. If an enemy needs killin’ (and who needed killing more than Adolph Hitler?), then one has to meditate night and day on the proposition that in some cases, killing an enemy is an act of loving the enemy (putting Hitler out of the misery his soul must have been writhing in?) and, beyond that, an act of prayer. It is to act in ways literally contrary to the expressed will of the Son of God, and, nonetheless, throwing oneself wholly upon God’s mercy.
We are not pacifists. But pacifism is the first impulse of Christians—that is, those who follow Jesus—when it comes to issues related to war and peace. Pacifism is the general rule for sincere Jesus students. Every now and then, there are exceptions to the rule. But the rule still holds.
We are not pacifists. It is nice to have principles and nicer to live by them. But, just as the weapons of war change at rates faster than the tactics of fighting a war can adjust to, and just as our technology is usually ahead of our ethics, principles have effectual limits. We can only live the truths of peacemaking and peaceableness. We cannot state them in ways that genuinely satisfy, that cover every extremity. Sometimes the body has to act (instinctively? Can we still call it that?) outside the boundaries set by the mind. Sometimes feelings, both intuitive and visceral, must take the lead. Maybe this is the clearest illustration of a lived dialectic. The truth is dynamic, living, active, growing, moving, developing, revealing itself in new and ever changing ways. It has a heart beat. To try to make it lie there, confined to paper, is to practice another form of violence. We tend to kill what we want to nail down. Ossify what we first admired as lively. Right wing politicos and doctrinophiles call this relativism, but they are idiots. Blithering idiots, I meant to say.
We are not pacifists. But we are patriots. As patriots, we work for the improvement of our country, and part of that responsibility is to call a bad war when we see one. We oppose wars fought for political purposes, that is, ones waged in order to impose a political system, even a good one like democracy, upon a nation. Those wars can’t work. Won’t never work nowhere nohow. They aren’t worth killing people over. We can’t even make our children behave. What makes us think we can make people from a culture that varies widely from ours sit up and act right?
We are not pacifists. But we don’t like “preemptive” wars the least little bit. Followers of Jesus understand that sometimes we might need to finish a war here and there. But we are not the kind of people who start wars. The only kind of war worth fighting, worth all the physical and spiritual risks every war (even “good” ones) involve, is a war forced on us, a war that we cannot avoid and would never choose.
We are not pacifists. But we haven’t seen a war we “like,” as in support, for a long, long time. If we thought a war were just and necessary, then we would gladly join it and/or send our sons and daughters into it and advise others to do likewise because it is a matter of life and death. But no such war exists. This is not just our opinion. We believe that God is tired of all this unnecessary killing, too. We believe that peace occupies the heart of Jesus, and that Jesus’ peaceful center reveals the heart of God.
We are not pacifists. But someday—and we hope that day arrives soon—when the kingdom of God comes, when God’s will is freely done, not just in heaven, but on earth, we shall become as God desires, transformed into the likeness of Christ. We shall become pacifists. Peacemakers. Cheek turners. Enemy lovers. Prayer warriors for the people who hate us. People whose most deadly weapon is kindness. Those who live peaceably with all. And if we truly mean all, and if we trust that God can make that happen, then what hinders us from getting started a little personal peace process now?
Pax vobiscum,
Dee
Dee
posted by Rick at 1:44 PM
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