CYPRESSWOOD CHURCH OF CHRIST

July 25, 2010

25424 Aldine-Westfield, Spring, TX. 77373

www.blakehart.com/cypresswoodbulletin.htm

LIFT UP IN PRAYER:

God’s will for our congregation Various relatives, friends and co-workers

Our nation, military and leaders The persecuted church

CONFRONTING EVIL - 2

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God" (Matthew 5:9).

The first subject that we will look at is that of pacifism. I am not an expert in the subject. Most of us are not. Maybe we should be because we all want peace. When this subject is discussed, several texts that come from the Sermon on the Mount by Jesus are used. Among them are "Blessed are the peacemakers…" (Matthew 5:9), "love your enemies" (5:44), and turn the other cheek (5:39). There is a context to these; the life that a disciple or follower of Jesus should live. It comes from Jesus teaching that He is fulfilling the Law, explaining or expanding on what God intended and intends His people to be like. In the first century context, this was the way to effect the world they lived in. The same could be said of today. We can bring our Christian ethic into the political realm, and should. The question about these texts is, can they be applied nationally?

That has been an ongoing debate since the 1930s, if not before. A number of preachers saw the coming war in Europe and realized that it could engulf the entire world. Some preached that the U.S. should stay out of the war and used the above texts. They supported the idea of disarmament that came after World War I, and that by rearming, a nation was just provoking war. They saw as evil war - an it is. Part of their argument was that the U.S. wasn’t perfect and had committed evil things in its history.

Opposed to these preachers were others, who realized that while pacifism was an honorable goal, recognized that Hitler’s Germany was evil and must be confronted. They, along with others such as Winston Churchill, wanted the Allied Powers to stop Germany before it became too powerful to stop (1). At the time, the preachers were influential in society. History professor Arlie J. Hoover, from Abilene Christian University, has studied the sermons from both World Wars. Preachers on all sides were often militant in their advocacy of war in favor of their countries, whether Germany, Britain, or the U.S. (2).

Prime Minister Chamberlain was a pacifist. He went to Germany and met with Adolf Hitler in 1938. After discussions in which Chamberlain gave parts of Eastern Europe to Hitler (as if he had the power to do that), he came home and declared, "We have peace in our time." One year later Germany invaded Poland and the Second World War began in earnest.

Hitler’s Germany was evil yet the European powers of France and Great Britain did not confront that evil. That evil would come fully to light at the end of the war. There were reasons why those nations did not confront a rebuilt Germany. World War I was disastrous. An almost entire generation of young men died in a horror war that used 19th Century tactics against 20th Century weapons. They were tired of war, and frightened as well. After World War I, all the signers of the treaty agreed to disarm. Hitler was offended at the results of the War, blamed it on the Jews in particular, and quietly rebuilt Germany, preparing it for war. It was quickly evident that England and France could not withstand Germany; France being overrun in six weeks, and accept for the rescue of the English at Dunkirk, would have been a complete disaster.

We need to take a little side trip here. The English General at Dunkirk sent a brief three word message to England seeking rescue; "But if not." This was a quote from Daniel 3 to a public that was still familiar with the Bible. When the English heard it, ships and boats of all kinds sailed across the English Channel and rescued thousands of soldiers. For some reason, the German offensive stopped for two days giving the English the opportunity to rescue its soldiers. Some suggest that God intervened, something to think about.

Europe had by this time pretty much done away with religion. The French Revolution was a rebellion as much against Christianity as it was against the monarchy in France. The idea was to make France a secular nation. Unlike the American Revolution, with a bases in Judeo-Christian philosophy, the French revolution was violent and destructive (3). Today, Europe is so secular that in the new European Constitution, any reference to Christianity and its history in Europe, was removed (4). As you can see, context is important; ideas do not happen in a vacuum.

There were a few German preachers who opposed Hitler, They were part of what they called the Confessing Church. Martin Niemoller preached against Hitler, was arrested and survived the War. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a pacifist who was also a part of the Confessing Church. He too opposed Hitler and supported the Jews. As the War progressed, he saw the dangers of an evil Hitler and what he would do to Germany. He became involved in an assassination attempt of Hitler along with a number of German officers. The bomb failed to kill Hitler and the assassins were arrested. Bonhoeffer wrote letters from prison which were published in book form after the War. About a month before Germany surrendered, Bonhoeffer was hung. He opposed evil and paid with his life, and one can understand the title of his book on the Sermon on the Mount, The Cost of Discipleship.

A second pacifist that is often mentioned is Gandhi of India. Gandhi is often put forward as an example of a philosopher whose pacifism worked. In his younger years, he faced the racial discord of South Africa, yet worked with the British Army. In India, he organized a group demanding independence from the British. As such, he opposed India’s involvement in World War II unless Britain granted them independence. He was imprisoned by the British during the early part of the War but was released because of health reasons.

Many think that his pacifism was effective, a non-violent activity that eventually drove the British to grant India its independence in 1946. There is truth in this but do not let Hollywood misled you in thinking this is all that is involved. The British, at least at that time, were from a Christian nation with Christian influences. They could be harsh but after another World War, they were tired and did not want another war so soon. Gandhi understood some Christian principles. He once was asked why he wasn’t a Christian. He stated that if Christians would live those principles, he would become one (5). But while Gandhi’s pacifism seemed effective, he was not popular in every way with either the British or the Indian people. He was assassinated by a militant Hindu.

His problem, as well as the problem with others, is that he did not understand the danger of evil. He told the Jews to lay down before Hitler and accept the consequences. Coming from a Hindu, that would be understandable because of his religious beliefs in reincarnation; where one would come back as something better on the way to Nirvana. Jews such as Dennis Prager have no use for Gandhi because of the death of six million Jews (and others) in the concentration camps of Nazi Germany. Pacifism, according to Prager, is a cowardly and evil way to confront evil (6).

Gandhi’s pacifism only worked to a limited extend because of the historical and religious context of the British and World War II.

The third example of pacifism is Martin Luther King, Jr. Following his interpretation of Jesus and the Sermon on the Mount as well as being influenced by Gandhi, he practiced a non-violent protest against the injustice and racism, especially in the South of the U.S. He was beaten and imprisoned, led marches, his most famous being the March on Washington in 1963, joined by such people as Charlton Heston and many Jews. His mountain top speech is considered a classical and his desire was that people would be judged, not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

Not a perfect man - he had his own personal sins - nevertheless he was influential in the pacifist movement. Part of his success was the advent of television and the reporters who went into the South to record the marches and the reactions of police and government officials. He continued to urge a non-violent response to the injustice, and as long as he was alive, he maintained this direction. His efforts lead to major legislation being passed in voting rights and anti-discrimination laws under the Johnson administration. What is interesting here is that if it was not for the Republicans voting percentage wise in a greater number for the legislation, it would not have passed the Democrat controlled Congress (7).

King was assassinated in 1968 and this led to riots throughout the country, his followers deciding that violence would be more effective. It became controversial and caused many who would have a positive view of racial reconciliation to be repulsed. In the ensuing decades, racial tensions have decreased and reconciliation is being practice in many places including among churches of Christ and our colleges. That being said, racism has not ended; we need to keep in mind that God is no respecter of persons (Acts 10). We want to respect people of other races and nationalities and should speak in beneficial ways (see Ephesians 4) (8).

King’s pacifism worked for at least two reasons. One was the Judeo-Christian ethic that he was protesting in. Even though Christians were among the racists - more on this later - other Christians recognized the evil and repented. They saw the evil for what it was and demanded change. The second was the factor of television which brought the images into our living rooms. Seeing how people were mistreated for simply protesting caused the silent to react against such activity. This pacifism was effective because of this context. If these were not present, I doubt that any change would have occurred. Our free press, for much as we struggle with it today, was effective in this situation.

George B. Mearns

 

(1) See, Joseph Loconte, The End of Illusions, Religious Leaders Confront Hitler’s Gathering Storm. See also Kevin DeYoung, Remembering Memorial Day, copied on 5/31/2010 at http://thegospelcoalition.org; Peter W. Schramm, Memorial Day Speech, copied on 5/31/2010 at www.ashbrook.org

(2) These were college studies and the books expensive and are now out of print.

(3) Some like N.T. Wright see the earthquake in Lisbon in 1755 as the beginning of the fall of Christian influence in Europe.

(4) See more on modern Europe the following: Theodore Dalrymple, The New Vichy Syndrome, Why European Intellectuals Surrender to Barbarism, Encounter, 2010 and Melanie Phillips, The World Turned Upside Down, Encounter, 2010.

(5) The British missionary, E. Stanley Jones, certainly understood Gandhi as he preached the gospel in India. For more see his books.

(6) See Dennis Prager, Think A Second Time, Harper, 1996, p. 159-196.

(7) Among those voting against this was Al Gore Sr., William Fulbright, and other well known politicians.

(8) My personal opinion is that those who find racism in almost every comment or action is like the little boy in the fairy tale crying "wolf." Eventually the real wolf came but no one came to help him because he overused the cry of help. I also realize that I do not understand what others have gone through being discriminated against, so I need to be careful in my speech. Much more could be said but this is enough.