About half way through the chapter, Chittister wrote that being at peace gives “the courage to evaluate what is patently wrong but never open for discussion.” As soon as I read her words, a brash comment made by an executive of an arms company several decades ago came to mind. We were at a meeting […]
The question is a good way to end our consideration of Christianity as a peace movement. The fourth of the weapons that Revelation offers might well be the critical one. Christians not only are to unveil the truth, speak God’s Word, and pray constantly, but also to be ready to give their lives for the […]
The Book of Revelation based the Christian peace movement on the truth of God’s Word. Believers could uncover truth by using God’s Word as a standard, but also by remaining in contact with God through prayer. In previous lessons, I maintained the Church is having trouble finding her voice in our present society. Her traditional […]
Strange as it might seem, I regard the Apostle John’s program in Revelation as the most coherent statement of the Christian peace movement. Although it uses mysterious apocalyptic language; it clearly lays out only four weapons available to believers: 1) Unveil the truth, 2) Proclaim the Word of God, 3) Pray, and 4) Lay down […]
We ended the last lesson suggesting we need a new story if we are to stop the cycle of war begetting war and violence begetting violence. You hear that same call implied when Roman Catholic statements observe, “Whatever good we hope to achieve in modern warfare is always outweighed by the destruction to human life […]
Abraham Lincoln probably articulates the story by which our nation now understands war in his Second Inaugural Address. It is very much like the one Derek posted earlier in this study. Lincoln called war a mighty scourge that God applies as penalty for sin, in this case slavery. He cautioned, “Let us judge not that […]
Perhaps it is time we recognize the Church is a peace movement. God comes to Father Abraham disgusted at the violence that has damaged his creation. Lamech epitomizes the brutality when he brags to his two wives that he has killed a man for wounding him and a young man for slapping him. After his […]
Martin Luther defined the relationship between church and state with a two kingdom doctrine. The standard of the Church is love as she inspires people by proclaiming the Gospel. The norm of the government is justice as it defends people from evil. Although many scholars believe this led to a separation of powers that enabled […]
Recently I received a long Facebook post from a young man who grew up in our congregation and now serves as an officer in Iraq. He was responding to the incident when a lady in a burka was thrown out of a Trump rally after she stood up. I received the post while pondering why […]
When I was growing up, my assumption was that history involved periods of warfare followed by periods of peace. I believed that one of the goals of Christianity was to lengthen the peaceful times. Although I was not certain any of the conflicts after the Second World War were warranted, I swallowed hard and chalked […]
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