| Monday, March 20, 2006 |
| A Softer Look |
First and foremost, I must apologize to my readers for being either too lax or too trepidatious to post for over a month. Due to some... much heated debate, I decided to take a little time off. But I am back; to the cheers of my fans and the chagrin of those I have not yet convinced.
Furthermore, I feel that I may (according to Mr. Wright-not "Right"- jokes, Kevin, you are one of my links on the side) have painted with "broad strokes" pacifism. That may be true but my question in regard to the larger roll of pacifism remains. Some of my readers may view my last writing in such a way that would paint me as a war-monger.
In my soul-searching month off I decided to read some other blogs and see where people were on this whole issue. I ran across one in particular whose name I shall forego in which he addressed the banal and often-raised question of, "If a man was raping your daughter/wife what would you do?" To which the blogger responded, "I would try to stop him without killing him and whether I succeeded or not that man would walk out of that room." Really? I think we as people often place ourselves mentally in situations that we do not really know how we would act. This is one of the foremost problems with North American pacifism- of any strand- very few of us have ever been in a situation that demands that type of response- thank God.
For instance, ideally, I would love to state that if someone was gave me the choice between my life and my faith that I would, without fight, give my life to show my faith. Do I know that I could do that? No.
The second problem with avoiding the fight is that the choice we make to do nothing is a violent choice within itself. We allow the killer to kill again, the rapist to rape again, the child molester to destroy another child, the terrorist to blow up another building (although they usually take themselves out), the warlord to conduct another "ethnic cleansing", and on and on we go. What do we accomplish when we allow violence to continue by becoming fodder for the slaughter?
Of course this is all hypothetical for all of us except for how we vote- conservatively or liberally- because we do not directly take out any of these people (most of the time and God forbid we are placed in that situation).
Recently I viewed a movie entitled "Lord of War". In the movie Nicholas Cage is an arms dealer who is unwilling to make any real moral decision because he is more concerned with money. In the end he is caught and released because the United States uses him as a front man in their illegal arms deals and he says; "The saying used to be, 'Evil prevails when good men do nothing,' it should be changed to, 'Evil prevails,'." This may be true because too few good men do nothing and thus choose to pass the responsibility and duty to someone else who may also try to pass it on until there is no good men left.
What is the tension that we must hold as Christians between being willing to die to gain in Christ- as the Apostle Paul was and eventually did- and not being an inactive participant in the perpetuation of violence in our world? Paul was concerned because he knew that the Kingdom of God would be better served if he stayed. When we continually "walk away" are we better serving the Kingdom? Or would we better served, at least some of the time, if we weeded out some of the evil so the good could flourish? These are decisions that we must personally make to affect and train our minds in how to respond like Christ in situations. It is not easy- but whatever we do, may we prevent evil from prevailing. |
posted by D.M. @ 10:18 AM  |
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| 7 Comments: |
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Killing a rapist in defense of your wife or daughter would be a righteous thing to do.
If rapist and child molesters were swiftly executed by our government according to God's Law, we would not have an epidemic in violent crime.
But we no longer have a Justice System in this country, now it is Just-a-System. Shamefully!
Another note to add...
We should never do evil that good may come of it.
Voting republican just because it is the lesser of two evils...is still EVIL! Bush is not a Christian.
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I usually avoid commenting on my own blog and just let conversation roll...but, I was not attempting to advocate one candidate over another. I am first and foremost a Christian, then a conservative, then a Republican. In that order.
I want to know how we, as individuals should act on this ideal of pacifism, not on how we should vote between our two major parties.
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Devin, although you know I disagree with you on this issue, I applaud you for posting this blog. It shows a measured approach that begins to appreciate the many facets of the issue. At the same time, you have conveyed your message well and no, you have not come off as a "war monger." Good job on a well written post.
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The rumor is that we are a Christian nation. Truth is we are a democracy which is ruled by the people not God. However, if we spend our time showing people Christ. Christ can (and does) change people. And a changed people can make a Christian nation And still be a democracy.
I know. This might sound familiar from me, but I had to chime in. How's FAM?
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YOU:"Or would we be better served, at least some of the time, if we weeded out some of the evil so the good could flourish?"
ME: I guess the question is how do WE weed out evil? By taking up arms? Or by the example of a humble servant, willing to die on a cross? Neither really weed out evil in any estimation. But one is more Christ-like...I'll go with option two.
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"Or would we better served, at least some of the time, if we weeded out some of the evil so the good could flourish?"
So we ought to use evil in order to stop the propagation of evil...when did the Kingdom ethics of Christ become defined by utilitarianism?
I think we delude ourselves when we think we can rid evil by evil.
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Hey D.M.! Thanks for taking the time to come read my blog at Noahpinion. I liked your comments and I'd like to talk more! My email address is nquixote@yahoo.com ...drop me a line!
Concerning pacifism, I agree with you; we shouldn't start fights but we should finish them if they come to us. As for whether Christianity is pacifistic or martial, I really can't say, not being a Christian myself (I'm Jewish).
Anyway, hope to hear from you soon!
- Noah Smith, aka "Mr. Noah"
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Name: D.M.
Home: Overland Park, Kansas, United States
About Me: I've lived at least 5 years in the last two but come out. After trials of fire and flame we are marching on and if we don't take the world we'll sure as heck die trying.
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Killing a rapist in defense of your wife or daughter would be a righteous thing to do.
If rapist and child molesters were swiftly executed by our government according to God's Law, we would not have an epidemic in violent crime.
But we no longer have a Justice System in this country, now it is Just-a-System. Shamefully!
Another note to add...
We should never do evil that good may come of it.
Voting republican just because it is the lesser of two evils...is still EVIL! Bush is not a Christian.