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| Non-Violence Is Fine... When Delivered to Those Who Deserve ItJesus has ruined me.
I swear, I have the hardest time watching movies, reading books, listening to music, or hearing a lecture without it seeping into my soul and becoming dissected on a spiritual level. Call it over-thinking, but I can't shut it off, and it's led me to good places before... and to some not so good places. My brain just likes to ask, "Why?" and I think when guided by the Holy Spirit, it can be beneficial. I have a feeling that this is going to be long.
With that said, what I will type here is not meant to be preachy or judgmental. I am simply asking, "Why?" and at the end of the day, thats really all I want people to do. Of course, I know this will come across as preachy, extremely idealistic, irrational, and impractical; but hey, I bet people said the same things about the kind of message Jesus shared. In fact, they do. I'm not Jesus, but by His grace, I hope to encourage a search for truth. Blame any inconsistencies on the futility of my human condition; but please, by all means, ask yourself, "Why?"
Now that I've set up this blog in an extremely overly-dramatic manner, I will now actually begin to write about the topic I have burning in my mind. Please show me grace. It's been a while since I've blogged.
I just saw Iron Man with a group of my friends. I don't really know if I can say that I liked the movie, but I did enjoy it. I think overall it was a good film for me to see because it provoked thoughts and stirred up questions in my mind. The film is littered with anti-war sentiments making their way through both dialog and imagery. The film acts as commentary for a nuclear-age world and even contains a line that is akin to words that Jesus spoke. The story line follows the life of multi-millionaire, Tony Stark, owner of a worldwide weapons manufacturing company. After being captured by a conspicuously Middle Eastern terrorist cell, Tony gets a wake up call, and decides that his life of materialism, comfort, and ignorance at the expense of those less fortunate is over. He does what every good, well informed, moral American would do had we the means: he becomes a superhero. He starts flying around in a super-suit, defending those he has put into harms way. He becomes a spokesperson for peace within his company and decides to discontinue his company's manufacturing of weapons, which have been allowed to be put into the hands of terrorists.Truly, Tony Stark has become a real saint. He even gets to keep his fancy gadgets (which he uses to enforce justice, of course), excessively extravagant house, 7 immaculately kept luxury sport cars, and his conveniently attractive female personal assistant... who later becomes his hot(t) girlfriend as an added bonus. Ironically (no pun intended), Stark decides to rid the world of his company's weapons with another weapon. He enforces peace with an iron fist... erm... suit. He advocates non-violence, and destroys those that stand in the way.
Now, this is all very sarcastic and cynical, but I am serious about a few things. Don't get me wrong, I'm a guy; I like to see things explode. But there is a deeper truth here. Tony Starks' way seems to be the way of the world. Outside of Christ, it would seem that peace must always be enforced. How ironic. Sadly enough, the American church has bought into this idea that some things are worth killing for. It's okay to take a life if it means defending highly important ideals. When it comes down to it, I don't see Jesus ever conveying this principle. In fact, Jesus speaks against it. When Jesus was taken by the guards in the garden of Gethsemane, Peter whips out his sword in order to defend his teacher. If there was ever an appropriate time to use violence, defending the Savior of the world would be it, right? Apparently not. Jesus rebuked Peter and told him to put the sword away saying, "...all who take the sword shall perish by the sword." (Matthew 26)
This is mind blowing. Sure, we have hindsight, and we now know that Jesus knew that He had to be taken to be killed, but imagine what it was like to be Peter in that moment. Peter was simply doing what seemed to be the right course of action. He couldn't just stand by and let this happen. What's more is that Jesus basically says that He can take care of Himself. Jesus needed no human defense. He needs no human defense. Jesus always charges his disciples to be peace makers, not peace enforcers. He says things like, "if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also," (Matt 5), "love your enemies, do good to those who hate you," (Luke 6), and, "Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you..." (Matt 5). Paul says in Ephesians that our battle is not of this world. It is not against flesh and bone. We don't war with bombs and bullets. 1 Peter says, "Do not repay evil for evil or reviling
for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called,
that you may obtain a blessing."
One of the saddest moments in the film for me was Tony Starks' transformation. The defining moment for this character was when he realized that the weapons he created were being used to kill his own troops. It was not sad for me because it revealed such a heart-wrenching paradox, but because he was broken over the fact that he was essentially killing himself, not that he was killing... period. He was completely fine with killing until it actually affected him. Death doesn't disturb us if it simply means that the bad guys get what they deserve. There can even collateral damage if the job gets done. What happened to "do not murder?" Aren't we all bad guys? Don't we receive an unreasonable grace in spite of the blasphemy we have spoken upon the name of God?
I hate war. I support non-violence. I am not a pacifist. I support a life of action. I live in a land where certain political figures have convinced us that we can go to war for "Christian principles." Does that make absolutely no sense to anyone else? If I want to get really pushy, I could even question why we have programs called "Homeland Security," but I know the answer. Humanity. We decide that we need to defend ourselves and our beliefs with force. We stockpile guns and missiles and bombs in order to secure our place in the world. Does that seem Biblical? I believe in a bigger God than that. I firmly believe that Jesus is big enough to defend Himself. I don't believe that it is personally up to me to ensure that Christianity never gets wiped off the face of the earth. I have a bigger God than that. The truth of my God will never become extinct, no matter what man does. Granted, I would not even have the privilege to sit here and type this blog if it had not been for certain wars for freedom. However, as I live, I cannot personally ever advocate war. I cannot support death. Sure, these convictions and views will never change things on a large scale. America will never rid herself of weapons that destroy. War will never end until Christ comes back. But just because I can't change something doesn't mean I shouldn't be bothered by it. Murder is wrong. Period. I hope that my heart always recognizes that it is a great tragedy whenever war wages.
I hope that I'm making sense. I'm probably not conveying my thoughts as well as I would like, so I may revise this once I've had a little rest, but the bottom line is that I want to love Jesus, and I want to love the world like He does. I want to live and feel like He does. The Kingdom of Heaven is a very different kind of Kingdom. It is one that brings life and light, not death and darkness. These are truths we can't really argue with, so if it goes against the grain, are we willing to wonder why?
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| So many thoughts...
Oh, the places I go. I'll share my journeys at some point.
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| When I woke up this morning, both of my arms were asleep and I couldn't feel either one of them. I thought someone was hitting me in the face. | | |
| Who Would Want to Be a Tree Hugger With Branches Like These?
I think that Calvary was an ugly tree too.
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| God bless us, everyone | | |
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