- This was first printed in the Centre Daily Times on March
15, 2003.
- by David B. Miller, pastor, University Mennonite Church,
State College, PA
-
- The CDT's article on the faith based peace movement evoked
strong responses from Rob Johnson, Rev. Gabriel Morley, and Connie DiAndreth.
Their letters revealed a passionate concern for the suffering of the Iraqi
people, which I share. Their writing also revealed serious misconceptions
about Christians who are committed to the way of nonviolence. I write to
bring both historical perspective and clarity on some of the issues they
raised.
-
- Christians who are committed to nonviolence do not ground
their commitment in a liberal political agenda, nor is it the result of
having "been blackmailed by celebrities, relativists, fatalists and
terrorists..." The commitment to nonviolence is rooted in a radical
commitment to the meaning of the confession "Jesus is Lord".
We understand that to name Christ as Lord means to submit ourselves to
seek to do what Jesus taught in word and deed. We do not claim perfection,
but neither can we place the claim of nation above the commitment to Christ
as Lord.
-
- The text of Matthew 10:34 was quoted, "Do not think
that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring
peace, but a sword." On the surface, one would imagine that Jesus
is authorizing lethal force. However, read in context the passage means
the opposite, Jesus tells his disciples to anticipate bitter resistance,
but to "not fear those who can kill the body" for "Those
who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my
sake will find it." They are never authorized to kill, but told to
be ready to lay down there own lives.
-
- Most serious scholars of church history today agree that
for the first three centuries of the Christian church, Christians rejected
not only emperor worship and idolatry but also participation in the military.
Obedience to the gospel, the early church held, was consistent only with
a position of nonresistance and not serving in the military. Yale church
historian Roland Bainton writes, "From the end of the New Testament
period to the decade 170-180 there is no evidence whatever of Christians
in the army. All of the East and West repudiated participation in warfare
for Christians." None of the Christian leaders in the pre-Constantinian
era (313 AD) approved of a military career for disciples of Jesus Christ.
-
- The Christians that were found in the military prior
to Constantine were predominately persons who were already soldiers at
the time of their Christian conversion. These were given strict instructions
- "A soldier of the government must be told not to execute men; if
he should be ordered to do it, he shall not do it. He must be told not
to take the military oath. If he will not agree let him be rejected [from
baptism]. ... If a catechumen or baptized Christian wishes to become a
soldier, let him be cast out." Hippolytus, Apostolic Traditions, ca.
200 AD)
-
- It is linguistically correct that the injunction against
killing in the ten commandments is better translated, "You shall not
murder", rather than the more generic, "you shall not kill".
However, the early church, in the light of Jesus' teaching, understood
this to include a prohibition against state sanctioned killing - either
capitol punishment or warfare. Tertullian, in the early second century
wrote "Inquiry is made..whether a believer is able to turn himself
into military service... But how will a Christian war, indeed how will
he serve even in peace without a sword, which the Lord has taken away?
... The Lord in disarming Peter, unbelted every soldier."
-
- The early church believed that the vision of the prophets
Micah (4:3) and Isaiah 2:4 was to be realized in their life in the world.
Justin Martyr (ca. 150 AD) declared, "We who were full of war and
murder of one another and all wickedness have each changed his warlike
instruments - swords into plowshares and spears into agricultural instruments."
-
- Christians only began to 'make peace with war' following
the accession of Constantine to the Imperial throne. In a mere seventy
five years Christians went from being outlaws, condemned and persecuted
for their faith to those who wielded imperial power. At this critical juncture
most rationalized away the teaching of Jesus and the subsequent instructions
of the fathers of the early church and put in its stead a pragmatic, constrained
use of lethal power (just war) in the cause of justice and order. Jesus'
teachings came to be viewed as only applicable in the realm of private
behavior. In the wake of this rationalization came forced conversions,
the inquisition and the persecution of so-called heretics. This fateful
shift in ethics made way for a series of wars of 'liberation' that we know
of as the crusades. How different would relations between Christians, Jews
and Muslims be today if this killing under the banner of the church never
taken place?
-
- Christians who are committed to following Christ nonviolently
in the way of the cross are often told to be silent and be grateful for
those who have, by their lives, won them the freedom to believe and worship
freely. We do not deny the sacrifice that others have made! However, what
is often ignored in this statement is that the concept of religious freedom
and the separation of church and state was first held, not by those who
justify the use of violence, but by those committed to nonviolence. The
Anabaptists, Mennonites, Quakers, and Dunkards (Church of the Brethren)
nonviolently gave their lives by the thousands, dying at the hands of nationalist
Christians in Europe who believed that they were carrying out the will
of God by killing other Christians.
-
- It is usually assumed that invoking the example of Hitler
and Nazi Germany trumps all arguments and silences those committed to nonviolence.
I have no question that Hitler needed to be stopped, but there is no reason
to begin our ethical reasoning with Hitler in 1939. Indeed, had the Christians,
who were the clear majority population of Germany, continued in the teachings
of Jesus, there would have been no army for Hitler to raise. The same texts
calling for obedience to state authority and going to war (such as Romans
13) are routinely invoked on both sides of a war. It is then left to the
victors to declare that God was on their side.
-
- Make no mistake about it - in this present crisis, we
clearly see the evil done by Saddam Hussein. The nations of the world are
right in demanding that Saddam disarm. But we also have heard from Iraqi
Christians who have appealed to Christians in America to pray and work
for peace. They remind us that the books of the New Testament and the leaders
of the early church that taught those who followed Christ to follow in
the way of nonviolence did so under the reality of persecution and suffering.
We are free, even commanded to lay down our lives for other, but we are
not permitted to take the life of another. This is the path we are constrained
to follow.
- http://peace.mennolink.org/articles/opedmiller.html
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- Addendum
-
- Christians and Enemies
-
- 1. Everyone has enemies.
- The Bible takes enemies seriously. King David and
Jesus had enemies. If having enemies weren't a part of life, Jesus wouldn't
have had to tell his disciples to love their enemies.
- Matthew 5:43-44
- 2. We either fight or run from them.
- Humans often respond to enemies in two ways: we
either fight back or flee. Both are natural responses-our instinct is self-preservation.
However, when we flee from our enemies, we can still carry them inside
us. When we fight back, we take on the character of our enemies. If we
strike back at our enemies, we might set off a downward spiral of attack
and counterattack that quickly gets out of control.
- 3. We want to curse our enemies.
- Many psalms that deal with enemies make Christians
uncomfortable. The psalmist didn't just pray for them or for his own protection.
He often cursed his enemies, seeking bloodthirsty revenge. Instead of dismissing
these psalms, we can use them as God-given words for dealing with our own
feelings of fear and anger toward enemies. If we pray these words, we release
our hate and hostility to God. Then we don't need to act on our feelings
of vulnerability and hostility. Then we can trust God to protect us from
our enemies.
- Psalms 55-59; 137:7-9
- 4. God loves them.
- Jesus taught us that God loves enemies and treats
them justly: God "makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good,
and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous." God "is
kind to the ungrateful and the wicked." Therefore, we too should "be
merciful, just as your Father is merciful."
- Matthew 5:45b; Luke 6:35-36
- 5. Jesus makes peace possible.
- Jesus didn't just teach his disciples the way of
peace. Jesus is our peace. The apostle Paul said that while we were warring
against God, Christ died to make peace with us. Although we sinful human
beings were at odds with God, God took initiative to make peace with us-through
the life, death, and resurrection of his Son. Jesus has reconciled us to
God in order to stop our warring madness with God and with each other.
- Romans 5:6-11; 2 Corinthians 5:16-21; Ephesians
2:14, 17-18; Colossians 1:20
- 6. God's family makes peace.
- If God makes peace with enemies, then so do God's
children. As Jesus said in the Beatitudes: "Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God." Peacemaking is a family
trait in God's family. When God's children work for peace, they are demonstrating
a family likeness, just as children in human families show traits of their
parents. Matthew 5:9
- 7. We disarm our enemies.
- Jesus taught his disciples to respond to enemies
in unexpected ways-ways that sometimes "disarm" them. "If
anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; and if anyone
wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; and if anyone
forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile." Jesus' disciples
respond in concrete ways to their enemies. They do not retaliate or seek
revenge. They pray for their enemies. They do good to those who want to
harm them.
- Matthew 5:39-41; Matthew 5:44; Luke 6:27; Romans
12:17-21
- 8. Enemies can hurt us.
- "Disarming" actions do not guarantee
that Christian disciples will win over enemies. In fact, Christians are
still persecuted and even killed by their enemies. It is not an accident
that Jesus linked the Beatitude about peacemakers with the one about persecution.
But Jesus' disciples believe there are worse things than dying. We would
rather die than take another's life, since we have hope for eternal life.
- Matthew 5:9-12; Matthew 10:28; 1 Corinthians 15;
Philippians 1:21
- 9. We "arm" ourselves against the real enemy.
- Christians are not fighting against flesh and blood.
We are not struggling with Adolf Hitler or the latest terrorist, but with
principalities and powers, dark and evil spiritual forces. Our weapons
are not worldly ones but spiritual ones: truth, righteousness, the gospel
of peace, faith, salvation, the Spirit, and the word of God.
- Ephesians 6:10-17
- 10. We can learn from our enemies.
- Sometimes our enemies do us a service. Friends
tend to accept or overlook our weaknesses, but enemies reflect back to
us aspects of our personalities we don't like. So we ought to listen to
our enemies. What are they saying to us about who we are? What can we learn
from them about ourselves? Can they make us better people? We cannot be
reconciled with our enemies unless we're able to see the situation from
their perspective.
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- also see: http://www.hccentral.com/eller1/cc121466.html
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