Seeking Peace

Should a person blocking someone who seeks to end injustice be considered a peacemaker? Should someone enabling violence by hindering authority figures -- to whom we are subject -- be considered a peacemaker?

If the person who is seeking to "end injustice" is using unjust means; and if the authority figures are violating God's laws, to whom they are subject - then I answer with a resounding yes!

John,

Who decides what those unjust means are.? How do we determine which of God's laws the authority figures are violating. I didn't think that we in our finite minds could know this or should judge others. I was lectured all last week about how there is so much gray and we can't really know what God thinks and how He feels about anything? So can we know what God's laws are and should we proclaim them and expect not only ourselves to follow them but others as well, or not?

This arcticle reminded me that awhile back I was trying to define the term "Christian" because I found it a confusing term. For my own personal reasons, I do not want to be labeled an "Evangelical" and am beginning to not even like the term "Christian". I like "follower of Jesus", because I think the word Christian does not really explain much these days.

Anyway, the first definition I came up with was based on the Great Commission and reads as follows: "A Christian is disciple of Christ, who makes disciples and baptizes them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, while teaching them and learning himself/herself to obey all Christ's commands."

Then I came across Romans 4:5 which says, "However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness."

So my final definition of a Christian is "one who TRUSTS GOD with a believing faith in Jesus Christ".

I say all of this just to make the point that there are people who fulfill the Great Commission who do not have faith and they will not be justified as righteous before God. Do not get too focused on the outward work that you feel "needs to be done", because in the end, the work that Christ does inside of you will be your final judgement.

If there is anything that we all must be mindful of is our faith in Jesus. Without faith, it doesn't matter what good or bad things you have done or will do, your eternity will not be pleasant.

I enjoyed reading your heartfelt thoughts and feelings.

Keep it real,

CJ Howard

(This turned out way longer than it was supposed to, sorry)

Mike,
I know how you feel. I just got back from Iraq where, thankfully, I never had to pull the trigger in combat. But, as a Christian, I disagree with you almost entirely. Here's why:

First, I think you are making the dangerous, but futile, mistake of trying to align the mission of a governmental military with the mission of Christianity - which is impossible because they are two completely different entities with two completely different purposes, and which probably explains your angst (I've been there). It's like trying to reconcile the idea of living generously while going to work at job in a capitalist society - the worker works for a means to live as a generous person, not because working makes them more generous. One doesn't enlist in the military because it's what all Christians should do (not the sane ones at least).

Two, if you're going to have a set of morals as a Christian, why should you not hold other Christians accountable to them? If they're not worth holding others accountable to, what's the point?

Three, have you considered the cultural context to which Jesus and Paul were speaking to when they uttered the New Testament quotes you used? Largely, they were speaking to a Jewish people who were waiting for a true Messiah to deliver and lead them, as their God had many times before in Jewish history from various exiles, from the oppression of the pagan Romans. There cause was just and, historically, their expectation for military revolt completely founded, but they were mixing purposes (like I warned against in the first point). Israel was called to be the light of the world, the means by which God would save the whole world, and as Jesus pointed out when he came to fulfill not only the role of the Messiah-King but also that which Israel thought they were fighting for, this was not to be done by force. Paradoxically, God's purpose was going to fulfilled by a seeming act of failure at the hands of their Roman oppressors, by a man who was doing for Israel and the world what Israel had always been called to do. It took a long time before people were able to understand that the victory of God was not going to be a military one, a message we frequently hear in the Bible being communicated to them. However, that is not the same thing as saying "no matter what the cost, no matter if a robber is about to kill your family, or if Hitler's army is blitzkrieg-ing through Europe and contributing to genocide, or if an army is attacking your nation, NEVER are you to act in a defensive act that may result in another's death." I have not read that verse.

I usually don't like speaking hypothetically, but, for a moment, lets. Pretend you're a doctor and a patient needs chemotherapy - a destructive diagnosis made so that the whole body might, maybe, live in the end. Do you administer it? Or what if you find yourself in a public place where a man with a gun is firing into crowds of people and they are dropping like flies. Before you, at your feet, is a gun. Do you use it? These are the questions we're trying to answer here, and not everyone has the stomach to do so. (whether or not our current war is one that begs the same set of questions is not for this lengthy response)

I applaud the fact that you were finally able to see your vocation not in the military but rather in the missionary field - that takes some heavy discerning. And I am in complete agreement that our task as Christians, to bring God's redeeming light and love to this sorry world, is never to be accompanied by violence whatsoever. But we are still in this world, and it's not fixed yet, and at the sake of defending not myself, but others, I can't rule out the option of taking someone's life as a very last resort. But, if I ever have to, in the end I will more likely cry than thank God for giving me the strength to shed blood. It's a sad thing. Until the sickness that plagues the human race is gone, death will be a tragic but inevitable result, sometimes even necessary. While we, as Christians, fight to bring God's love to the world and cure it's sickness, we also, as humans, have to be wary of the symptoms that are still raging - ready to act on behalf of all, not just on behalf of our own consciences. And pray, with true angst, that the day will soon come when death will be defeated by the light of God's saving and redeeming love.

peace
zach

For too long, people have used God as a means to wage war on those who they deem to be less connected or have a more distant relationship to Him. Let us remember that we are all equally loved by God. If we stand by this, then we cannot justify killing each other - especially in the name of morality or justice. It IS that simple. I have been to war and have seen the ugly face of violence. God is saddened by the carelessness of the way in which we wage war. If you could spend a day with those serving in the military, you would quickly find that they are NOT favored by God. To think that every Marine or soldier is an angel of justice is hopelessly romatic and wrong. Many are just hungry to kill - regardless of consequence....
War is a bad thing.

michael, i loved every part about this article. thank you for writing it. i was challenged and encouraged. keep it up.

Carlos, that is a pretty critical generalization. I have served in the military for the last 5+ years, alongside many Marines. To describe the majority of them as "hungry to kill" is incorrect and damaging. As always, it varies from person to person, but I personally do not know any so-called "bloodthirsty" Marines. I do, however, know plenty of Marines who make living for God their first priority. You seem quick to lay the blame at the foot of the American GI, when you really should be taking into consideration the fact that we swore an oath to follow the directions of the officers appointed over us (this includes the President, of course). We follow orders, which is what God asks of us. We do not like war, but we must obey those appointed over us, so here we are.

As for your saying that we are not favored by God, I simply do not understand. How many days have you spent with the military, if I may ask? God loves us just like He loves each and every one of his children, and He has not withheld (and never will) His favor of us just because we wear the uniform of the United States military. Our love for God is just as good as others' love for Him.