so i started reading Deuteronomy over again and I found myself confronted with the fact that God commands Moses to wipe-out various people groups. I'm also currently reading a book called Love Your Enemies. The apparent paradox might make my head explode. I find it hard to believe that one could say i love you to an enemy whilst bashing in their heads along with their children's heads...so I'm in quite a quandary. Add to it the last 7 years of our enemies being reduced to the words insurgents or terrorists, thus having their humanity stripped away, making it easier to see them killed, and well, i'm a bit confused.
i've never been one to jump to agree with pacifism. most pacifists i know aren't exactly imposing figures...its as if they are pacifists out of necessity...sorry dave ;)...so I'm stuck in this place of trying to reconcile Jesus command to love our enemies with the Father's command to wipe out people groups...
...i love my God, I'm so thankful that he wishes for us to think and wrestle with these things and not accept something blindly, to God be the glory now and forever...
3 comments:
Yeah, tough stuff. I consider myself now pretty much a pacifist. But I still struggle with and am challenged by things like Bonhoeffer's response to Hitler.
Call me a Marcionite, if you'd like...but I believe and interpret scripture (all of which I believe is a revelation of God) with the premise that the fullest revelation of God is in Jesus Christ. I have no problem taking the words and actions of Jesus over those of his and our faith ancestor(s): Moses and his people.
I tend to think that the Old Testament is the story of God and his people, as seen through the inspired eyes of those people. God's speaking is passed on and written down as understood by those people. Sometimes, just as with us today as God's people, their actions were misguided and wrong.
I'm not sure if I'm being clear, but are you at least catching on to what I mean?
My hermeneutic greatly shapes what I'm saying.
I agree with jeremy. I also struggle with the Bonhoeffer situation. Stop calling me a wimp mucky!!!!
i have read tons of material on this because there is no easy answer. Greg Boyd has written a lot on this, as has Yoder, Vernard Eller, Hauerwas and Shane Claiborne. i think they confirmed what i have felt all along, that our faith is lived out through love and peace with enemies. most of those guys are a lot more radical than myself, but you should check out their peace writings, if you haven't already.
here's a good site with a bunch of non-resistance writings:
http://www.bluffton.edu/~mastg/pacifism.htm#social
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