CYPRESSWOOD CHURCH OF CHRIST
September 5, 2010
25424 Aldine-Westfield, Spring, TX. 7737
www.blakehart.com/cypresswoodbulletin.htm
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CONFRONTING EVIL - 8
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:29-31).
We have been looking at how to confront evil and some of the discussion that surrounds the issue. Most prominent is that of pacifism verses war. When looking at various issues, people often bring up passed events and define evil as any and all events often found in war without considering the context of the events. We recognize that no nation is perfect and that our nation has done what we would call evil things. That being said, we have also made a great effort in correcting those evils, unlike what we see in any number of nations who either refuse to confront their past or continue in activities that are evil because of their cultural understandings and religious influences that reject them as evil.
Our choices in confronting evil are somewhat limited. We have tried diplomatic and economic means to resist evil and stop it, but for the most part, these often do little in stopping evil. Confronting evil by force is often the only way, and sadly, young men and women die and there is often collateral damage in warfare that brings anguish to many. The other choice is pacifism, but its track record is mixed in stopping evil.
As I conclude this series, let me say a couple of things about pacifism. First, I believe that pacifism is a noble ideal. Following Jesus in particular in this way, that of loving our enemies and neighbors, turning the other cheek, and peace makers, are worthy ways of living. Both individually and congregationally, this is something that we all can practice.
The early church in the Roman Empire was basically pacifist, that is, they preached the good news in both life and word, and faced at times Empire persecution, yet willingly went to death standing firm in their faith in Christ. That example eventually led to a change in which Christianity became the dominant religion of the Empire. How people lived and died was a great influence on the spread of the gospel. That worked in Greek and Roman culture. It did not work as well in the eastern parts of the world, especially when the Muslims became the dominant force (1). Convert or die often became the command. Eventually fewer and fewer Christians were found in Muslim lands, and even today, that continues.
As I see, pacifism works when those who are the opponents of the pacifists have a Judeo-Christian ethic involved. Maybe this is a lack of faith on my part, but R. J. Rummel seems to concur when he states that democratic nations rarely, if ever, go to war against each other. We should practice a non-violent reaction to bad speech, verbal threats, and even physical threats if it will calm things down (see Proverbs 15:1). For all the controversy Glenn Beck raised on the subject of social justice, he offers on his website the following Pledge of Nonviolence (2). Included in his ten points are mediating on the life and teachings of Jesus, seeking justice and reconciliation, walking in the love of God, praying, sacrificing personal wishes, observing all ordinary rules of courtesy, serving, refraining from violence in speech, heart, and action, being healthy spiritually and physically, and following carefully.
Self-defense is a choice. Some pacifists will not use that even if their own families are involved. That however might be an extreme in the movement. What then has a higher priority, neighbor or enemy? Difficult choices are something we all face.
Second, as noble as pacifism is, it is also utopian in its ideal (5). By that I mean that it doesn’t really take into account the extremism of evil. It assumes that evil will eventually stop. Dennis Prager has no respect for the pacifist, understandable because he is a Jew and all one has to do is see how pacifism ignored the Jewish question in Europe before World War II and the results of six million dead Jews along with millions more of Slavs, Christians, and other “undesirables.” It took millions of deaths to end that.
There is evil in this world, and there always will be. Not all evil can be changed by laws or protest. Some will have to be confronted with force. Unless we recognize this, we will again face a violent, worldwide confrontation, this time with weapons of mass destruction. If you think that this is an exaggeration, consider this conversation I heard recently. David Horowitz, a Jew, was speaking on the campus of the University of California at San Diego. After his talk, a woman who was a member of the Muslim Student Association began a dialogue with him. Near the end, Mr. Horowitz made the following statement followed by a question. A leader of Hamas, the terrorist group in Palestine stated that he wished all Jews would move to Israel so that he could kill them all at one time rather than having to hunt them down (3). He then asked her, are you against it or for it. After a brief moment of silence, she said quietly, “For it” (4). This should be disturbing to all of us! Here is a religious group who wants to eliminate an entire group of people for any number of reasons, all of which are insane, yet we cannot see the danger. The words of Martin Niemoller ring true. “First they came for the Jews, but I wasn’t a Jew so I said nothing. Then they came for the communist, but I wasn’t a communist, so I said nothing. Then they came for the trade unionists, but I wasn’t a trade unionist, so I said nothing. Then they came for me, and there was no one left to say anything” (6).
There are no easy answers in confronting evil. Most of us in this country would prefer to be left alone but the world has a way of interfering in our isolationist views. As such, we have taken on the role of confronting evil, right or wrong, and have paid dearly for doing so. Should we stop? Good question. But evil isn’t outside of us. We find it in our society as a cultural becomes more narcissistic and selfish, and willing support evil as opposed to the Judeo-Christian ethic. A number of elites in this country want us to be more like Europe, which has lost its Christian foundation, and its way, and is defended by the United States. Who then will defend us if we become like Europe?
Multiculturalism sees all cultures as the same, equal in all ways. That’s why the Arizona law attempting to deal with illegal immigration has caused such controversy. There are those who want no borders but a global world without borders. One might want to consider Genesis 10 and the problems associated with that. That’s why we see opponents to the Arizona law waving Mexican flags, though if one listens to the more radical of these protesters, their goal is to reclaim the southwest for Mexico. The multicultural views caused an assistant principle in a California high school to tell five students who had the American flag on their T-shirts on Cinco de Mayo day in May to turn them inside out for fear of causing a riot.
It appears that the pacifist position wants to ignore national boundaries. They view our citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3:20), and rightly so. They see that our loyalty should be to Jesus as Lord and not to a nation, again something that we all need to consider. That being said, God still has set national boundaries (see Acts 17:26). Being patriotic doesn’t necessarily mean that one has to agree with everything that national leaders decide is important. We have been blessed in this country with both freedom of speech and the obligation to vote. We can change things. By withdrawing from this, we might be bringing problems on that we have not intended. I can also see the argument that by voting we might be in opposition to God, but the same could be said in reverse.
There are good things that do come out of the use of power, even though in using power there is destruction. Richard Baggett was a teacher of mine and a former missionary to Japan. He was also a veteran of World War II. He told us one day in class that the War opened up the eyes of the church to a big world out there. When the veterans returned from the War, they told congregations of the need to spread the gospel to Europe and Asia. For the next fifteen to twenty years, missionaries from churches of Christ were influenced by those veterans to go throughout the world proclaiming God’s word, and many continue to do so today.
Again, there are no easy answers to confront evil. Hopefully these articles have given you something to think about. All I can say is to continue to study, as we should on many topics.
George B. Mearns
(1) See Philip Jenkins, The Lost History of Christianity.
(2) www.glennbeck.com copied on 4/26/2010.
(3) Muslim leaders were in Nazi Germany before and during World War II watching and participating in the holocaust. Those who fled at the end of the War brought the German philosophy with them into the Islamic world and are continuing what began in Germany.
(4) Heard on William Bennett, Mornings In America, 5/13/2010.
(5) For a good contrast about pacifism, see Craig Carter, The Politics of the Cross versus Liberal Pacifism and Liberal Pacifism is Not Christian Pacifism at http://politicsofthecrossresurrected.blogspot.com copied on 6/23/2010.
(5) Niemoller was a member of the Confessing Church in Germany and spent all of World War II in concentration camps.