Shaun Groves has an amazing blog. If you’re not follow it – you should be. Monday he wrote a post that shook me. It took my ideas of pacifism and really made me rethink my ideas — and more importantly God’s ideas.
Shaun quotes theologian Stanley Hauerwas ::
“I’m a pacifist because I’m a violent son of a bitch.”
What in the world?
Let’s look at that again….
“I’m a pacifist because I’m a violent son of a bitch.”
OK. Really, its OK to go back and read that a couple more times. Think on it. Chew on it. Wrestle with it.
Shaun writes that while he doesn’t particularly care for his choice of words but he’s a big fan of Stanley’s honesty.
His brief explanation gets directly to one of the most convincing (at least for me) reasons I, a follower of Christ, must embrace non-violence: I am, by nature, violent.
He continues…
I am sinful so I must embrace virtue.
To be more specific…
I lust after women who are not my wife, so I must embrace monogamy.
I covet your cell phone and your neighborhood and your jeans, so I must embrace simplicity.
I lie to get a laugh or make my life easier, so I must embrace honesty.
I think I’m smarter than you, so I must embrace humility.
I need to be in control, so I must embrace submission.
I’m a loner, so I must embrace community.
I want to ruin your name, so I must embrace forgiveness.
I want to be served, so I must embrace service.
And I want to harm when I’m harmed, so I must embrace non-violence.
As Christians aren’t we called to put away the selfish and old way of doing things? Aren’t we called to take part in this upside down Kingdom of God?
Isn’t the Kingdom of God really about the great reversal? Where the last will be first and the first will be last? Isn’t the Kingdom of God really about serving the meek and loving our enemies — no matter how many times they’ve hurt us or ignored us in the past?
The sinful nature of mankind is often cited in arguments against Christian non-violence. Violence, it’s said, is sometimes necessary to slow or even stop sin’s march across the world.
Mankind’s nature? What about my own?
Non-violence stops my sinful nature’s march from within me into the world. Into your world.
I’m a pacifist because I know who I really am.
What about you?
I love Hauerwas.
I’m a pacifist because, well, if I believe that killing is just for the greater good, i will in no way be different from the purposes of Islam, or any other religion for that matter. I watched the movie “Traitor” (you should definitely check it out) and it tried to explain the reason why War was acceptable. When can we ever say we are truly just in our wars? I dunno, but the movie really made me think about how war is used and justified by others.
I love Hauerwas.
I’m a pacifist because, well, if I believe that killing is just for the greater good, i will in no way be different from the purposes of Islam, or any other religion for that matter. I watched the movie “Traitor” (you should definitely check it out) and it tried to explain the reason why War was acceptable. When can we ever say we are truly just in our wars? I dunno, but the movie really made me think about how war is used and justified by others.