Anyone who is surprised and shocked by war is an ignorant fool. They obviously never heard of Cannae, Carthage, Thebes, the Mongol Horde or My Lai. What great event or epiphany has mankind undergone that erased the millennia of the horror and barbarity of man’s nature when he wages war? Has fretting over carbon footprints and mashing aluminum cans transformed our specie into a noble and saintly, godlike race that has transcended our genetic proclivities in one generation, by forsaking our creator and substituting arrogance for humility?
“forsaking our creator and substituting arrogance for humility?”
Agree with you. I was just reading this from John Wesley earlier today.
General Rules:
To do no harm, to do good, to attend the ordinances of God [spiritual disciplines] of (the righteousness of a Pharisee) are all external;
Spiritual disciplines are “means of grace” that enable us to grow in the Christian faith. There are others but Wesley specifically mentioned six ordinances:
-The public worship of God.
-The ministry of the Word, either read or expounded.
-The Supper of the Lord.
-Family and private prayer.
-Searching the Scriptures.
-Fasting or abstinence.
whereas, on the contrary, poverty of spirit, mourning, meekness, hunger and thirst after righteousness, the love of our neighbor, and purity of heart (the righteousness of a Christian) are all internal.
And even peacemaking (or doing good) and suffering for righteousness’ sake, stand entitled to the blessings annexed to them only as they imply these inward dispositions, as they spring from, exercise, and confirm them.
So that whereas the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees was external only, it may be said in some sense that the righteousness of a Christian is internal only: all his actions and sufferings being as nothing in themselves, being estimated before God only by the tempers from which they spring.
In other words, the external righteousness of the ‘General Rules’ must be accompanied by an inward transformation. Otherwise it is what Wesley would call “the righteousness of a Pharisee.”
Wesley spends a great deal of time talking about inward transformation in his sermons, particularly those thirteen sermons dedicated to the Sermon on the Mount. For Wesley, holiness was an inward state that manifested itself in outward actions.
The outward actions were empty without the inward change of heart, and the inward change of heart, if genuine, would necessarily result in a new way of living.
The General Rules, then, are both righteous and helpful, as long as they do not lead one to demonstrate “the outward form of godliness” while “denying its power” (2 Tim 3:5).
To be a Christian, for Wesley, is to be changed by the power of God.