PACIFISTS VERSUS PEACE (and Buddha versus the Christian Pacifists)

God bless Thomas Sowell for his regular confirmations that there do still exist a few professors willing to reason and educate rather than to preach and pontificate. I can't remember a time he has been wrong.

His current article (Pacifists Versus Peace) contains a well reasoned analysis of why most peace movements should be considered strategic failures. He did not use (or need) any irrational patriotism or moral interpretations to reach his conclusion.

But I do get a kick out of some of the morality-based comments I have found here and on other sites, especially from Christian pacifists.

My favorite is the assertion that '..if everyone was a pacifist..' there would be no war. Yeah, and if largemouth bass would only fly then I could finally use my shotguns for fishing... it's just NOT gonna happen! As any Christian should know there will always be wars and rumors of wars until the reign of the King of kings. (Except for a short period of false peace which I do not expect will earn any peaceniks a crown of glory.) It seems to me near heresy to think the world can achieve real peace without Him.

Was Abraham wrong to wage war for the return of his kidnapped nephew Lot - a goal at least loosely analogous to the current situation in Israel both morally and geographically? If so, then God's priest Melchizedec was really wrong to afterwards give His blessings to Abe and to recognize the Father's help in delivering Chedorlaomer and his men...not to the negotiating table but to the 'slaughter'. Abraham's God-approved aggression had nothing to do with the later wars to take the promised land when, according to a some I guess, God and His chosen people were still not 'civilized' yet as they killed everything that breathed in some cities.

I am not one to discount the lessons and laws of the old testament. But for those that do, there is also nothing in the new that suggests you are a sinner for being a soldier or a cop or anyone who occassionally needs to shed blood to achieve relative peace.

Many Christians forget that even during Paul's long lecture to the Romans on how to be a good Christian he qualifies the call to niceness by saying 'If it be possible...live peaceably with all men'. I'm no genius, but I'll bet that when rockets are raining down on your neighborhood or planes full of innocents are crashed into your vertical cities then it might be ok to put down the tambourines and the peace pipes, invoke the 'if it be possible' qualifier and get to work protecting your family and your country.

One chance to advocate pacifism was missed when Roman soldiers came seeking to be baptized by John and they inquired as to what they should now do with their lives. His advice was not to quit their jobs and start chanting for peace. He told them to do their work honestly and to be satisified with their pay.

Later, when Jesus Himself met up with a centurian, rather than lecturing the guy about his poor choice of occupation, the Lord praised him for having more faith than any in Israel and suggested that it is guys like that soldier who will one day 'sit down with Abraham, Issac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven'. Jesus then granted his request for a remote healing of his servant.

After Christ's crucifixion another opportunity to codify the imagined 11th commandment, Thou Shalt Pacify, was missed when God used another Romanan soldier, Cornelius the centurian, in His divine scheme to get Peter off his high horse and start preaching to the so-called 'unclean'. Cornelius was highly praised and honored with a personal visit by an angel of God and later with gifts from the Holy Spirit.

I suppose the pacifists would say that when Jesus was throwing tables around, cracking that whip and generally kicking butt at the temple He was just clearing room for His peacenik followers to play hacky sack.

He did not advise His mates to sell their swords to buy more hemp clothing. Quite the opposite, He advised that a guy with no money for a sword should 'sell his robe and buy one'.

Very shortly thereafter, when Peter quite nimbly lopped off Malchus' ear while physically defending Christ, the Lord told him to put the sword back 'into its place' meaning into the sheath on Peter's hip. Jesus then chastised Peter a bit for thinking the spiritual war could be fought like a physical one and for not remembering what He had foretold them about Him being delivered up for sacrifice to fulfill prophesy. But, take note that He never told Peter anything close to 'Hey, trade that thing in for a frisbee. We're trying to be good pacifists here!'

I sure hope Cindy Sheehan and her Bush-hating comrades are too busy lighting incense to notice when Michael and his angels again war with Satan and his angels. I don't think I could stomach the chants of 'God lied, angels died!'.

If all Christians were required to be pacifists, then the only way we would ever know they had once existed would be from the small mention of their misguided ways in our German language history books.

Worse yet, if EVERYONE were a pacifist, it would only take one non-conforming disgruntled postal worker to conquer the world. I'll verify this with Pat Robertson, but I don't think God's will is for us all to be ruled by a guy who wears shorts with black socks.

Here are a couple of hymns by the Methodist lay leader Leila Morris that are most certainly not pacifist. Leila Morris wrote a number of good hymns, including Sweet Will of God (1900), one of my favorites, but if there are any Methodists in the crowd, don't bother looking for these songs in your current hymnal, which contains none of her hymns.

The Conflict of the Ages

Lo, the conflict of the ages is upon us today,
And the armies are assembling all in battle array;
Are you numbered with the faithful, one of God’s loyal few,
Who have sworn Him full allegiance? can He count upon you?

Refrain

Have your eyes caught the vision?
Have your hearts felt the thrill?
To the call of the Master do you answer, “I will”?
For the conflict of the ages, told by prophets and by sages,
In its fury is upon us, is upon us today.

Catch the vision of a lost world going downward in sin,
While the Master’s great commission long unheeded has been;
See the children of the kingdom joined in heart and in hand,
Pressing forward in the struggle to redeem this fair land.

Refrain

See the Church of God awaking and with glorious zest
She is laying on her altars now her noblest and blest;
T’ward the final consummation we are hastening on,
And the time for loyal service will forever be done.

Refrain

Leila Morris, 1912

The Fight Is On

The fight is on, the trumpet sound is ringing out,
The cry “To arms!” is heard afar and near;
The Lord of hosts is marching on to victory,
The triumph of the Christ will soon appear.

Refrain

The fight is on, O Christian soldier,
And face to face in stern array,
With armor gleaming, and colors streaming,
The right and wrong engage today!
The fight is on, but be not weary;
Be strong, and in His might hold fast;
If God be for us, His banner o’er us,
We’ll sing the victor’s song at last!

The fight is on, arouse, ye soldiers brave and true!
Jehovah leads, and victory will assure;
Go buckle on the armor God has given you,
And in His strength unto the end endure.

Refrain

The Lord is leading on to certain victory;
The bow of promise spans the eastern sky;
His glorious Name in every land shall honored be;
The morn will break, the dawn of peace is nigh.

Refrain

Leila Morris, 1905

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