Jesus isn't cool with shooting people.
I feel like this is the reaction when I drop any suttle hints of Jesus' take on war to the crowd in Cassville, "you mean we shouldn't protect God's counrty at all costs?"
I spoke with some of you about this already. Yesterday (a Wednesday night service for all ages) I was given the text of Mt. 5:10-12--Blessed are those who are persecuted... Well in this talk Jesus' offensive or challenging teachings come to the surface quite naturally. I felt I needed to pose the question, why are we not persecuted too harshly today in America? Well perhaps we don't stay true to Jesus' teachings on war, divorce, money, hell, and his exclusivity is the clear answer to me. All are well accepted teachings in Cassville except for war.
I teach with an elder in the crowd who is an ex-Marine with a flag pole in his front yard and a WW2 vet faithfully staring at me who lost friends in the war against Hitler. Many times I am tempted to leave peace out of the discussion or let it stay in the confines of a nice idea Jesus had for you to get along with your family and co-workers. Undoubtedly, not everyone would agree with my interpretation of Jesus' take on war if it was presented. Yet it has to be said. My question is not so much as whether or not we should stay true to Jesus but how we should say these things to a generation that's been lied to. How to say these things when your not a circuit speaker who can simply leave his disgruntled audience the next day. Most importantly how to get them to embrace a fuller understanding of the Prince of Peace.
I want to hear what you guys think. For that reason,.at this moment I am not telling you what I said last night so as not to draw critique but fresh ideas.
Love you guys, this blog is sweet.
posted by Jay Greer @ 7:27 AM
5 Comments:
ok, my bad on the black type. I am really blowing this whole post thing.
I know lots of people are interested in the questions of pacifism and such. I am too and look forward to people thoughts on those themes. Since part of the question relates with influencing others to adopt Jesus' method, whatever we determine that to be, I would rather focus on that for a second. I'm just wondering if the patriotism, war-sentimentality thing is something we ought to address indirectly. Most likely the ex-Marine flagpole guy is going to have a hard time embracing Jesus' method as the first step in his further sanctification. It probably start with really embracing Jesus more. So how do we get people to do that? I don't have answers right now. Just more questions. I look forward to hearing how you dealt with it.
I just thought of a funny piece of history. I remember thinking I might be a pacifist my junior year. Like the dear brother he is, Michael pointed me to C.S. Lewis' essay "Why I'm Not a Pacifist". I'll have to read that again.
Nick, I appreciated you post alot, especially the part about why we aren't against law enforcement, etc. I was talking with Lane about this issue today. We were wondering if Jesus isn't so much against violence as he is against hatred and apathy. Let me give a disclaimer by saying that we were just talking without any scripture or anything, so correct me if that thought is totally heretical. This may be a sinful heart issue, but I dont think I could let anyone hurt Aanna if I could stop them by whatever means necessary. I would try to avoid killing if at all possible of course, but if it came to Aanna's life or a murderer's or rapist's, I would choose Aanna's. Lane said this about Kelly as well. Am I sinful because I feel this way?
Nick-
You cut to the core of me. Your first question is great, how do Christians approach social responsability. I can think of plenty of people that didn't press charges when they were assualted, i.e. Martin Luther King Jr., Paul in Acts 16. I think this is what you're asking, but maybe I've missed the question. To your second question, I think that certainly Christians ought to be salt and light politically. The questoin is what does it look like to be salt and light? Well it means adopting the political means of Jesus, well that is certainly easy, both to determine and act out. My biggest question with this whole issue currently is similar, what is the Christian message to the state if anything? Certainly we know the church ought to act out the words and example of Jesus, and by doing so is being political, but what does that mean for America, or Thailand or wherever? It doesn't seem like the NT speaks to the issue. The church had no ability to participate in government. Maybe that is the way for us. The church just ought to be the church without much reference to politics of the world.
Logan-
Is the Christian way to protect Anna through violence? The way Jesus protected us was through sacrafice. Don't get me wrong, I understand your tension, I don't know what I would do.
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