“But
I tell you, Do not resist an evil person.
If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also”.
Matthew 5:39 (NIV)
If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also”.
Matthew 5:39 (NIV)
Some
believe that Jesus is talking here only about how the Christian handles personal
injury. Others believe that
Jesus is giving a rationale for Christian Pacifism.
What do you think? Those
who believe Jesus is arguing for a Christian Ethic to guide a nation face the
following dilemma;
“This
is the dilemma: on the one hand going to war causes terrible evils, but on the
other hand not going to war permits them. Whichever horn one chooses to sit on,
the sitting should not be comfortable. Allowing evils to happen is not
necessarily innocent, any more than causing them is necessarily culpable.
Omission and commission are equally obliged to give an account of themselves.
Both stand in need of moral justification”
Nigel Bigger “In Defense of
War”
However,
to write off pacifism as naïve, unrealistic and impractical is (I think)
disrespectful to Ghandi, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and early Church martyrs.
Further it seems to me that Just War Theory (Augustine) is used as an
easy way to justify the violence of war when my comfortable world is threatened.
I think that we 21st Americans are way, way, way to
comfortable with violence. Just
last night I heard a commercial for the new movie “300”.
The promo said, “Watch it in 3D, it will leave you screaming and hungry
for more”. It appealed to
our thirst for violence. Do
you remember Presidential Candidate John McCain singing to the tune of “Barbara
Ann”, “bomb, bomb, bomb . . . bomb, bomb, bomb Iran” on Television?
Would
Jesus advocate the demilitarization of America?
Would Jesus tell you to defend yourself if your home were being invaded?
I do think these questions should at least make us think.
I also think that whatever our conclusion about going to war as a nation
or defending oneself personally, we should not ever allow ourselves the comfort
of knowing we are right. Instead I
think the best we can do is follow Jesus, repentantly, asking forgiveness for
whatever self justifications are present in our actions.
What
do you think?
“Lord, forgive us all for our over the
top tolerance of and even participation in things which glorify violence against
persons of any sorts whom you love and who are your children.
Lord, bring to mind ways that I can reject the world of violence and
enter your world of peacemaking. Amen”
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