God Doesn't Believe in Pacifists
Sitting in the school library between classes, I guess I have time for a quick post, the minimalistic type where you'll have to fill in the blanks for yourselves...
Given this:
For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ... - 2 Corinthians 10:4-5
It seems obvious that everyone who follows Christ has to learn how to fight. There is a sense in which life is war, unavoidably, and we are in it. God is at war because he has enemies, and if you know God, you are expected to fight as well. War is woven into the fabric of reality and everyone finds a place on one side or the other. Therefore, there is to be a warlike dimension in every one of us. A spiritual toughness. Is this something we are prepared to look for, assess, and value, in our own lives and those of others?
I watched his fingers curl
around the coffee cup
and wondered
"What kind of fighter?"
Just something I'm thinking about.
3 comments:
whoa! While I do feel that pacifism is a philosophical perspective without any solid foundation, I also feel rather strongly that Christians are prone to overuse the war metaphor, and that such a metaphor is often extremely alienating; especially since culture has fundementally changed since the original context of such biblical battle references.
No doubt Mark Driscoll would dismiss this as being less than masculine (I say, bring it on--I'll kick you butt, and prove that battle metaphors are less than appropriate).
Really, war metaphors viewed in relation to current religious activity have NOTHING positive about them; Islamist jihad, ethnic cleansing, etc. And, while some Christians can clearly distinguish between these many (perhaps the majority) of non-Christians cannot, and have no great reason to make the effort.
First of all, I've got to say that the odds probably favor Mark Driscoll in a head to head match-up, but I appreciate your bring-it-on mentality. You know, the height/weight advantage plus all the practice Driscoll has beating up guys who attack him while he's preaching. But to your credit, Tim, the mental toughness would have an effect on the odds.
I also feel rather strongly that Christians are prone to overuse the war metaphor, and that such a metaphor is often extremely alienating...
I think one reason that war metaphors are widely frowned upon these days is because Christians have taken what was intended as a call to spiritual battle and adopted it as a political/cultural ("Moral Majority") rallying call. This is a big mistake, horribly close to what Islam actually teaches, and foreign to what Christ commanded and Paul expanded on.
Really, war metaphors viewed in relation to current religious activity have NOTHING positive about them...
I'm not convinced that war metaphors were very popular back in the first century either, especially in light of the Roman occupation and the religious persecution that took place under various crack-brained emperors. Cultural sensitivity is called for, but I think we need to acknowledge biblical metaphors where they exist.
Challenge: Can we provide a "new" metaphor that adequately hints at the nature of reality, i.e., spiritual forces in conflict? Is there another way to touch the chord in the human psyche that is ready to fight & die in defense of truth and beauty?
I don't think so but I'm open to suggestions...
Challenge: Can we provide a "new" metaphor that adequately hints at the nature of reality, i.e., spiritual forces in conflict?
I think I'd go so far as to say that a conscious attempt to replace Scriptural metaphors because of perceived insufficiency would be sin. (I'm also not suggesting that this is Tim's or Ariel's or anyone's position)
The way I see Scripture is that when God uses something like warfare as a metaphor/analogy to the Christian life, our effort to understand His meaning should extend to both sides of the relationship. By that I mean, that both physical and spiritual warfare can be properly understood through Scripture, and that we should make reasonable efforts to do so.
I guess the best example that I can think of right off the top of my head would be when Jesus said that he would make his disciples into "fishers of men". A frequent modern contextualization of that passage replaces fishing with nets (as the disciples did) to fishing with lures. A net catches fish by virtue of the fact that it is a net, that it is strong, and the the fish are present. A lure catches fish by appearing desirable. Secondary effects of the modern contextualization is that the disciples went out every day with their nets to catch fish. We think of fishing as a weekend pastime. The result is that The Weekend Angler becomes the Weekend Soulwinner armed with a "tackle box" of lures/tracts and techniques to catch a mess-o-heathen.
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