Jesus for President: Section @, Part 6

Controversial post about violence. Are we called to complete non-violence? I believe so. I have been having a huge debate with members of the seminary I will be attending in a few weeks. Here is a passage from Jesus for President that really stuck out to me and fits with what I ahve been thinking about immensely:

"There is another young man, a decorated veteran of the 1991 Gulf War, who felt that the world killed the good in him. You might remember reading the letters he wrote home from the war. He told his family he felt like he was turning into an animal because day after day it became a little easier to kill. His name was Timothy McVeigh.

He came home from the Special Forces in the Gulf War, horrified, crazy, dehumanized, and became the worst domestic terrorist this country has ever seen. His essays cry out against the bloodshed he saw and created in Iraq: 'Do people think that government workers in Irag are any less than those in Oklahoma City? Do they think that Iraqis don't have families who grieve and mourn the loss of their loved ones? Do people believe that the killing of foreigners is different from the killing of Americans.' [Essay on Hypocrisy] No doubt he had been deranged by the myth of redemptive violence. He bombed Oklahoma City in hopes that complacent Americans could see what "collateral damage" looks like and cry out against the bloodshed everywhere, eve in Iraq. Instead, the government that had trained him to kill, killed him, to teach the rest of us that it is wrong to kill. Dear God, liberate us from the logic of redemptive violence" (Jesus for President, p. 214).

"I am a soldier of Christ and it s not permissible for me to fight."

St. Martin of Tours, 315-397

Christians, instead of arming themselves with swords, extend their hands in prayer."

St. Athanasius

Murder, considered a crime when considered singly, is transformed into a virtue when the do it en masse."

St. Cyprian (200-258)

"If you enroll as one of God's people, heaven is your country and God your lawgiver."

St. Clement of Alexandria

"Christ, in disarming Peter, disarmed every soldier."

- Tertullian
(Jesus for President, p. 216)

Think about these things clearly. Pray about them that God would show us where we are wrong and on the right track as I do. Bless the Lord and pray his blessing on the world, not just our country, for God will not answer it if we limit it. We are citizens of another country, with brothers beyond all borders and love for our enemies.

Blessings and Peace!