Anyways, no use dwelling on past mistakes. Let's continue on:
Quick, what is the opposite of violence?
...
The first thing I thought of was love. Violence is "behavior involving physical force intended to hurt, damage, or kill something or someone" (Apple's definition). Love is "the act of caring for something or someone else more than oneself" (my definition). Hurt versus care. Damage versus bless. Pain versus pleasure.
Death versus life.
Is violence ever justified?
(holy crap big question)
Before we launch into that, there's a very important issue of discussion we must address. We are operating under man-rules. Not God-rules. We are not gods. What does that mean?
Well, one of the problems with these discussions is that people often use the excuse "God did it" as justification for why we can do something. God is God - He is infallible and perfect. His decision is always right.
We are man.
If you make the argument that because God has ordered something be done we have the privilege of making the same decision, things can get kinda sticky fast. This means that man can officially forgive other men of all their sins, and grant them entrance into heaven. This means that man can claim to be God with no repercussions. This means that man can bring judgement on other men, contradicting what James writes at the end of his book.
This pushes man into the position of God. And we are not gods.
With that in mind, we plunge ahead. There are many, many problems I have with the idea of warfare, but let's stick to just three.
1) Basic logic.
2) America.
3) Faith.
1:
War is logically flawed. It is innate, yes, as much as is pride or envy. It is part of our basic nature that, when we've been hurt, we want to hurt. We like revenge. We even occasionally give it a false title: justice. But it is logically flawed.
Consider, for a moment, the idea of it all. We've been hurt, so we hurt them. But we're never content to deal out the same damage, so we do more. We show them. We teach them. We get our victory, our sweet revenge.
And we have become the monster.
So they lash back. And they hurt us even harder. And we lash back at them. And soon everyone is hurt.
"An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind."
2:
War is based on one thing: judgement. Judgement in saying "you have done a deed so heinous, you don't deserve to live" (much like the death sentence).
Let's be clear: it shouldn't matter what the deed is. I hope everyone (or every Christian, anyways) can agree that sheer "patriotism", expanding the borders and power of the United States of America, is a pathetic excuse for killing. The idea that our country is better because the founders had "Christian values" (they really didn't) is ridiculous. The idea that our country is better because the majority of people in it claim to be Christians is equally ridiculous. The idea that our country is better because it's a democracy is foolish. The Bible clearly indicates that God's people should answer to a higher Kingdom than any of this earth. He was to be Israel's King. He is to be our only King, master of the only Kingdom we should care about.
God is not American.
That out of the way, what about things that really shouldn't go unpunished? Actual crimes against humanity (though usually that reads "crimes against us")? 9/11 and what-not.
This leads us into...
3:
God can handle it.
Seriously, He really can. Jesus told us we needed to keep (at minimum) only two things in mind: 1) We are to give God our "everything": heart, soul, strength and mind. 2) After that, we are to love everyone. Care for everyone more than ourselves. If we follow those (the greatest commandments), God can take care of the rest.
Examine that second statement for a minute. How would executing Osama Bin-Laden satisfy it? How did sentencing Nazis to death satisfy it?
Jesus wanted us to love everyone, and let God take care of the punishment. Vengeance is His. When you decide that another human being deserves to die because of a crime they committed, you are saying, "God, I know you told us to love our enemies, to turn the other cheek, but in this instance, I think you're wrong. It would serve you better to disobey, and take matters into my hands. I know it wouldn't be very loving to kill this person, but that's the only option left."
Read this very carefully: God can do anything.
You've heard it a million times (probably) since you first walked into Sunday School. But think about it.
God can do anything.
God could end the Nazi regime while everyone in the world just tried to love them.
God could (will) bring Osama Bin-Laden to justice even if every Christian is praying for his safety. Even if every Christian is loving him. And maybe because of.
Think about it, for a second. What is more effective: A defiant man being killed for a crime he refuses to admit was evil? Or a hollow, humbled man, feeling the rawness of his evil, of his need for God. Hopefully you've been there (it's a place called redemption).
War begets war begets war. Pain begets pain begets pain. Death begets death begets death. Unless we love. Unless we break the cycle.
I'm sure many in the world disagree with me, and if you do, come have tea (really). We'll talk about it. I'm bored anyways.
Until next time.
(Edit: Go read the comments, Michael brought a big problem with this post)
Excellent post as always. First of all, You're not bored. Most of the time you're playing XBOX and refuse to have tea with me. So, next time I ask if you want to have tea, don't make stupid excuses, or else I just might have to make the tea. (from a tea bag....gasp!)
ReplyDeleteBeside that, I kind of want to bring up some things that caught my attention and/or I agree or disagree with. First, I really loved the line, whether it was a quote of someone else or not, "an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind." So simple and summational.
Second, I want to speak in general terms of war, not specifically America (I'll deal with that mess in a moment). Is it possible that God could ever use war. I mean, he can do anything. God used battles and wars many times in the old testament, and, in fact, demanded that Kings of Israel defend His chosen people. I just wonder if God can still use wars today. (I don't know the answer, but I do have an opinion) Now, obviously, the world wars were not the result of God telling a ruler to protect His people, but were they part of what God intended to happen? Would you consider them punishment? Or maybe they are the kind of war you talk about, the dangerous, cyclical war of the modern day.
Also, near the end of your second section (rant?) I wanted to point out the statement "He is to be our only King, master of the only Kingdom we should care about." I agree that He is our only King, and His kingdom should be our number one focus. However, that doesn't mean that we disregard other authorities put in place and ignore the world around us. I think that we still have a role to play in this world (or kingdom to relate it to your quote). Otherwise we wouldn't be needed here. I think we still should care about the world we live in, since we were given dominion over the earth at the time it was created. I think you probably meant this to be included in your statement, but I just wanted to make sure.
On to your third point. oh, America. The part where you said "God could (will) bring Osama Bin-Laden to justice even if every Christian is praying for his safety" really caught me off guard. I had to think for a moment and check myself. What would that look like? Praying for the safety of the person my country tells me I should hate, who is most worthy of death, the man who I (and even you) think God should bring supreme justice to? Sort of like a slap in the face.
So, now, here is my question. Is there a man in all of the earth that is godly enough, holy enough, righteous enough, to be used by God to carry out His judgement (punishment)? If there ever were, then is violence justified?
First of all, this post is subjective to when I wrote it. I was bored and you were gone. Second of all, i wrote that anyone could come for tea. In reality, I meant i would go for tea with anyone (wanna go to starbucks later?)
ReplyDelete(second paragraph) I believe that line is Gandhi - I didn't quote it for drama and b/c I thought it was well known.
(third paragraph) Yes, that's an excellent point. And technically, my opinion allows for modern day justified wars (the idea being that God might in fact use people to do his work, God having already judged them). The thing is, I don't see how that fits with the fact that the character of Jesus, whom we are instructed to strive for, is never, ever violent. Ever. The only time he was violent (that comes immediately to my mind) is when he went to town on the market in the temple. Even there, he didn't kill anybody. And to his last breath he desired not retribution, but forgiveness for all (even the people killing him). It seems to me that, even in the face of great struggle and great evil, we should hold fast to a Godly character, not participating in killing others. This brings up an interesting poing I forgot about though, which is that we should not be "wimps". By this I mean, pacifists are often just trying to get out of warfare, to not die. Instead, what if Christians were "conscientious participators" (Shane Claiborne)? That is, people who go to these places in times of war and preach the gospel, do good works, help people. God knows places drenched in war need some hope and love.
(fourth paragraph) I didn't mean to indiciate that we are to disregard our earthly masters, just keep them in their place. That is an important clarification, thank you.
(fifth paragraph) Thank you for pointing out (unintentionally) a huge flaw in my writing. I do not want Osama Bin-Laden brought to supreme justice. I want him to have what I have and what you-have: forgiveness. Forgiveness from God for what he's done. Grace screws up justice, and that's what I want to happen.
(last paragraph): Theoretically yes. See above (paragraph 3 response) for complete answer.
Thanks, let's go get some tea!
Jon, I have many words about this. I don't feel like typing at all. LETS ALL (me + you + Michael) DO TEA TOGETHER. I <3 TEA (not really, but still).
ReplyDelete@Kristina
ReplyDeleteWe will have tea! AND YOU WILL LIKE IT (okay maybe not)
Starbucks?
I would like to briefly pipe in about the issue of God using wars for his will.
ReplyDeleteGod uses our sin in certain situations and whatnot, and while I still haven't really developed an opinion on whether he causes this to happen because it's best, or he allows it and makes the best of it...it's still important that in the sinful world God isn't at a loss...so even in completely unjustified wars, they can be used for God's purposes, but that doesn't mean that we should go into unjustified wars willingly or allow them to happen. If you see someone in sin, we have the calling, and even responsibility, to help our brother not fall into such sin, even while God may use it hugely later in life. I think the same principle may be applied to war and violence. God's use of it does not justify our support of it, but we can appreciate how God can use such twisted things so beautifully.
Also: I want some tea with you guys.
@Jonathan I'd prefer tea, strictly on the grounds that starbucks is so pricey:)
ReplyDeleteI'd love to get tea, Jon! And Kristina and Dylan, I would love to see you guys too! Starbucks sounds even better. In fact, how about I buy us all tea, or coffee, whichever you prefer, then we can discuss life? This weekend, before you leave for home?
ReplyDeleteI have many other matters to discuss with you, but I kind of feel we are all taking similar sides at this point.