The slope is getting very slippery
by John O'Keefe
Let
me start by saying that I have no desire to speak
about Iraq, Bush, Germany, France, the UN, or
anything political – I just want to talk about
war. I
know that many people like to maintain a political
view of the war, but I believe that is a set-up
for failure.
If we argue politics we are arguing human
standards, and for me war is a faith issue.
I have written before on this subject, and
I think it was my own arrogance that told me that
that would be the last word on the subject – I
either over thought my importance, or understated
my stance; I tend to think I over thought my
importance, we all do – I also have no desire to
talk too long about a “just war theory”
(notice I did not say “doctrine”).
Because it is not biblical, at any level,
and has no value except to allow the state some
twisted view of morality that allows it to think
it has the “right” to wage war. Interestingly enough, it has that right.
Sound strange for a pacifist to say the
state has a right to fight a war?
Well, it does – the state is “secular”
(a modern dualism) and as a “non-Christian”
authority is not governed by Christian teachings. But, I as a Christian do not have to support that view, and I
as a Christian do not need to support war at any
level – any level.
The
“just war” is only a tradition (that’s
right, I said “only a tradition”), and just
because it has been around for a while does not
make it right, theologically – in a human
reality a just war is a great thing – it allows
people to fight a war while thinking they have the
“great god in the book” to protect them every
time they rub it.
Now, I don’t want to spend too much time
on a “just war” (I did so on 01.01.03
in an article entitled “the frosted mini-wheat
look at war) but it is a good introduction to
certain questions I have been asked concerning my
stance on war – in general.
I was thinking about using them for a “hard
question” but I received so many, it was easier
to address them in this format:
The
first question that seems to be coming in, in
differing forms, is, “is pacifism an ‘absolute’
of the Christian faith?”
I believe it is. Too many, who are not Christians, they tend to see it as a
“strong feeling.”
They believe that a “pacifist” stance
is a personal feeling.
But in so doing they discount the true
nature of a pacifist conviction.
You see, a feeling, as all feelings, can
change as the need comes along, but a conviction
is something that changes you in the core.
I have a friend who has a “belief system”
but not a “faith conviction.”
In his belief system, three years ago war
was wrong, but today war is all right.
But a conviction changes our core and who
we are; when I became “convicted” in Christ I
became a new person, changed and reborn.
Another
thing that I have been asked is, “isn’t it
hard to understand the bible on this point?” Yes, but not impossible.
We somehow have taken the idea that “hard
means impossible.”
While it may be hard, it is far from
impossible. One
of the things we need to ask ourselves, and do so
with complete honesty, is, are we finding it hard
because we don’t want to see the reality that
war is wrong, or are we seeing it hard because it
truly is? I
have found that many people find it hard, because
they do not desire to have the conviction.
I know, because I was one of them.
If you go back in the archives of faithmaps,
or postmodern_theology
you will find that at one time I actually felt
that there was a justified reason for war.
But in my study I was convicted.
I did what most people who claim to follow
Christ did; I buried my head in the sand and
desired to take a more “human” popular stance.
A
few people wrote to tell me, that going to “war
is not easy.”
They wanted me to know that they supported
a war, and that I had a simplistic view of the
world. As
they said, in many ways and in some cases with a
more colorful verbiage,
“All that’s fine, but don’t we live
in the real world?”
That depends, define “real world” –
and when I would ask them to do that, I never got
an email back (as if I should have known what
their view of a real world is and that it is the
only definition).
I am a Christian, and as a Christian I need
to not follow the “culture” around me; meaning
I need to filter everything that happens through
my faith. That also means that I do not filter my faith through the
culture. While
I have no problem with a “worldview” that
excludes faith, I have a hard time dealing with
either/or; I do have a problem when that worldview
tells me my worldview is invalid.
From a Christian point of view, I would not
say that a pacifist view is easy – in fact,
having a worldview of peace is hard in a world
ready for war.
When
we base our faith, our understanding of war, on
anything other then scripture we start down a
slippery slope that will open us to all kinds of
problems. Human
politics fail, positions change, people make
alliances based on economics, yet God never
changes. Let
me add this, it does not mean that we need to
blindly accept the standard Evangelical Doctrines
– I don’t and I would never expect anyone to
do it. But we need to develop a solid Christ centered footing to
stand on. By
standing on politics we are set for the fall.
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