Perhaps this is just an example of Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon, but ever since I wrote an article about Christianity and government, I have been seeing the topic everywhere. For example, there was just recently an article in the Harding Bison entitled, “Whatever Happened to Christian Pacifism?” It’s a slightly different topic than I dealt with in my article, but I think the articles support one another to a large degree. The author - Keith Stanglin - introduces his piece with a quote from J.N. Armstrong, the first president of Harding University.
We cannot join in the hating, the bitterness, but must keep the spirit of Christ, and try to heal the wounds of the world in the love of men. The problems of the world are not ours to solve. Whether our statesmen in putting the nation into war are wise or otherwise is not ours to decide.We are sojourners and pilgrims, strangers on our way home.So we Christians are not in the war; it is not our war. We are not on either side.
Stanglin does a good job of criticizing the “method of discourse” (moral dilemmas, proof texts, etc.) in the debate between pacifists and just war advocates. It’s a thought-provoking piece. I look forward to exploring the concept of Christian pacifism (vs. “just war”) in the course of broadening my original article on Christian citizenship (or, a case for Christian Libertarianism).
3 responses so far ↓
1 suzi // Nov 3, 2006 at 11:29 pm
I’m looking forward to reading some more of your thoughts on these lines..
I did a paper on ‘War and Peace’ that covered Just War at a very secular university, and classes often erupted in some fascinating debates - being such a huge and contentious topic!
For instance, can God be a God of peace and war? How does George Bush, as a christian, justify his war on terror? Was Jesus really a pacifist? Do we have the right to take life whether in defense or offense? it went on and on..
so all the best for your explorations, I’m sure you will find draw some amazing conclusions.
2 Dan Shubin // May 3, 2007 at 8:48 am
The purpose of the Gospel taught by Jesus Christ was to terminate the senseless trend of self-destruction caused by war. Pacifism is the essence of the Gospel. See my web page: http://www.peacehost.net/peacechurch
3 GKB // Jul 28, 2007 at 8:10 pm
I don’t know why, but this only showed up in my Google reader today. I’m glad to see others out there are asking the question, and I’m not the only lunatic on the fringe!
Leave a Comment