A few weeks ago Michele asked about a view of Jesus espousing non-violence in relation to Jesus driving out the money-changers from the temple. How does a view of Jesus as teaching non-violence relate to his running around in the temple, turning over tables, with a whip in his hand? It is a good question, and it deserves a thoughtful answer.
My answer is not as fully formed as I would like, but here is my explaination nontheless:
1. Being a pacifist does not mean being passive. I have some Mennonite friends who use those words interchangably. They are, infact, quite different. Followers of Jesus, when doing their jobs, bring chaos into this world. Disciples of Christ provoke, prod, and make powers that be uncomfortable. That does not mean they use the "power of the sword" (see Greg Boyd's Myth of a Christian Nation) to accomplish this task. The Shalom (Peace in Hebrew) of God is an active force in transforming the world.
2. A careful reading of the Scripture when Jesus is in the temple driving out the money-changers does not ever have him causing physical harm to human beings. It has him single-handedly overturning an unjust economic practice that kept people from worshipping God. Instead of offering a reasonable price for travellers wanting something to sacrifice, they corruptly raised their prices to meet demand.
A few years ago I was at a Christian conference in Cincinatti. We went out to eat on a break at the conference, came back to the same parking spot, and they had doubled the price on the parking spot from before for that evenings event. It was a rip-off, and we were stuck. The same kind of thing was happening in the temple, and poor people were not allowed to worship God. So Jesus let all of the animals free, and drove them away from the market in the temple. Kind of a robin hood thing. But nothing is said about him hurting the people.
3. My personal beliefs about Christian non-violence relate to killing and maiming on behalf of the government. It extends to my personal way of relating to people (most of the time). Could I say personally that if someone broke into my home and were going to hurt my family that I would not hurt them? No. If some man hit my Jenny, I would lay him out in nothing flat! That doesn't mean I would be right, but I have to be honest!
This also does not extend, in my opinion to sports. We can all roughhouse and have fun without going against the teaching of Scripture.
But becoming a trained killer, being subject to a government with all sorts of mixed motives for power and such, and going and killing people and sending many of them to an eternity without Christ, that is something I cannot reconcile myself too.
There may be some sense in which fighting a just war is ok. Certainly there were wars that seem upon first glance to be justified by God for the theocracy of Israel. But is there any such situation now? No, I don't think so. And even in more justifiable situations, where does the the boundary for violence lie? Is ok to nuke Japan because it will save more American lives? Does God care whether we are Japenese or American? I dont think so? Is America a Christian nation? No more than any other!
Being a Christian means being a part of a countercultural community, that stands against the powers that be. Not some money grubbing, power-hungry elite that tries to enmesh itself with political power. That is what Christians have done for too long, whether in Hitler's Germany, English Imperialism, the Holy Roman Empire, up to our treatment of Native Americans and our invasion of Iraq. Scripture seems clear, God is on the side of love not on the side of the sword.
But I am hoping to develop these ideas better and answer some of my own questions as I continue to study more in the future. Those are my thoughts for now.
My answer is not as fully formed as I would like, but here is my explaination nontheless:
1. Being a pacifist does not mean being passive. I have some Mennonite friends who use those words interchangably. They are, infact, quite different. Followers of Jesus, when doing their jobs, bring chaos into this world. Disciples of Christ provoke, prod, and make powers that be uncomfortable. That does not mean they use the "power of the sword" (see Greg Boyd's Myth of a Christian Nation) to accomplish this task. The Shalom (Peace in Hebrew) of God is an active force in transforming the world.
2. A careful reading of the Scripture when Jesus is in the temple driving out the money-changers does not ever have him causing physical harm to human beings. It has him single-handedly overturning an unjust economic practice that kept people from worshipping God. Instead of offering a reasonable price for travellers wanting something to sacrifice, they corruptly raised their prices to meet demand.
A few years ago I was at a Christian conference in Cincinatti. We went out to eat on a break at the conference, came back to the same parking spot, and they had doubled the price on the parking spot from before for that evenings event. It was a rip-off, and we were stuck. The same kind of thing was happening in the temple, and poor people were not allowed to worship God. So Jesus let all of the animals free, and drove them away from the market in the temple. Kind of a robin hood thing. But nothing is said about him hurting the people.
3. My personal beliefs about Christian non-violence relate to killing and maiming on behalf of the government. It extends to my personal way of relating to people (most of the time). Could I say personally that if someone broke into my home and were going to hurt my family that I would not hurt them? No. If some man hit my Jenny, I would lay him out in nothing flat! That doesn't mean I would be right, but I have to be honest!
This also does not extend, in my opinion to sports. We can all roughhouse and have fun without going against the teaching of Scripture.
But becoming a trained killer, being subject to a government with all sorts of mixed motives for power and such, and going and killing people and sending many of them to an eternity without Christ, that is something I cannot reconcile myself too.
There may be some sense in which fighting a just war is ok. Certainly there were wars that seem upon first glance to be justified by God for the theocracy of Israel. But is there any such situation now? No, I don't think so. And even in more justifiable situations, where does the the boundary for violence lie? Is ok to nuke Japan because it will save more American lives? Does God care whether we are Japenese or American? I dont think so? Is America a Christian nation? No more than any other!
Being a Christian means being a part of a countercultural community, that stands against the powers that be. Not some money grubbing, power-hungry elite that tries to enmesh itself with political power. That is what Christians have done for too long, whether in Hitler's Germany, English Imperialism, the Holy Roman Empire, up to our treatment of Native Americans and our invasion of Iraq. Scripture seems clear, God is on the side of love not on the side of the sword.
But I am hoping to develop these ideas better and answer some of my own questions as I continue to study more in the future. Those are my thoughts for now.
3 comments:
food for thought anyway... so, it is mostly just against harm to humans? Do you recommend this book?
Very interesting, I must admit that I was raised on too many war movies and liked to put myself in fantasies of killing Nazis and Japs. But you have a valid point. I am reminded of those missionaries in Brazil a few years back that were held prisoner for awile then killed. During there captivity they considered escaping but read the passage Matt 5:41 "And whoever shall force you to go one mile, go with him two." Thus they stayed and witnessed in there captivity and some were killed. And as a result some were saved. Was it worth the price? Some of the men killed left behind families and young children. But if you look to the Apostles many were killed for preaching the word of God, we see than that is what we are supposted to be doing as followers of Christ.
When people point to Old Testmament commands by God to commit genoside as a justifacation for war we must point them to the New Testmament and say that the window of opportunity for genoside has closed. We are called now to love are fellow man and this extends to nations as well. It is very disappionting to see the mainstream Christian community so prone to war and the nut that stand for peace aren't otherwise credable. I'm not saying wars shouldn't be faught, just that it shouldn't be a first resort.
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