Like you I marvel at the precision that people can apply in conjuring up their description of God. My spiritual formation was anchored by a definition that had us accept God as sacred mystery. Someone pressed the professor to explain what "sacred mystery" really means. He said it means we don't know, but we hold sacred what we do not yet fully comprehend. The same person asked the professor about people who insist they have a deep knowledge of of God's intention. I remember his answer like it was yesterday. He said, they may be deluded. More likely they are just lying to themselves and others.
Lots of territory here. Pacifism and Christianity is one of the most misunderstood. On an earlier thread in re this issue “I wrote:
A wonderful thread on the Pacifism of Jesus:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1657931/posts
POST 148
Jesus did warfare against the Romans, the Temple and others who set themselves up as God. His warfare was bloody and brutal. He put himself in harms way and became martyred by the forces of evil that surrounded him.
The sacrifice of his life was not an act of pacifism. It was in-your-face conflict. He encountered evil directly with the most powerful tool available, his life. His murder could never be construed as other than murder with evil intent. This is not the action of someone trying to avoid conflict. In fact Jesus forced conflict. He sought it out and demanded that evil show its hand.
So it is with armies of liberation. They force evil into the open. The war in Iraq is in the tradition of Christ and his war against evil. We have forced the evil doers onto the field by creating an environment of liberation from their tyranny that they cannot tolerate.
Our troops bring light into the darkness of Islamofascism. If these fascists were men of peace they would lay down their arms and celebrate the liberation of their people. Their bloodthirsty rampage proves their evil and we seek them out to encounter and destroy them.
We are God’s army, bringing justice and freedom where before there was murder and mayhem. Our soldiers march under the rubric of the cross of Christ. There is no more powerful or profound tradition opposing evil.
148 posted on 06/30/2006 4:39:53 AM EDT by Amos the Prophet (Here come I, gravitas in tow.)