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Following Jesus in nonviolent struggle for justice and peace, we love our neighbors and enemies as God loves us all, becoming a peace church to share in God’s work to save the world.

Jesus and World Religions: The Primacy of Embrace

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JESUS, ANTHROPOLOGY AND WORLD RELIGIONS
Some Good News

by John K. Stoner

3rd of 7.

3. The Primacy of Embrace

   But it will be asked, Why should we love our enemies when justice seems to demand something else? With this question we acknowledge the strongest reason which is given by those who justify homicide in some cases--specifically, who justify war.

   Having named the pursuit of justice as a strong reason (which will be dealt with in detail in this chapter) I will now name, in order to dispense with, some of the hidden, subtle, covert and unspoken weak and perverse reasons why the church has gotten sucked into justifying war. Let’s be clear that the devil as a liar uses these to great extent and advantage, masquerading these phony motivations under a stolen banner of pursuing justice, and even peace.

   First, greed is a great covert justifier of war. We want the oil that is under their soil; how did it get there? How can they refuse it to us? One people/nation wants to control the resources of another. An empire like the USA wants to control the resources of the world. It’s called our “national interest,” and our “way of life” which are euphemisms for our national greed, and our claim to vastly more than our share of the world’s resources.

   Second, profit. Closely related to greed, but focused in the greed of the military industrial corporations, profit is what makes perpetual war attractive to the rich and power-hungry. In the United States today it is impossible to overstate the corporate greed which drives war on and on. As long as the taxpayers will pony up hundreds of billions of dollars, the corporations will gladly receive and spend it. It is corporate welfare with a vengeance.

   Third, tribalism, nationalism, ideology, idolatry. Here I’ve pulled together just four words describing one big package of public opinion which justifies and motivates war. The slogans of this deceiving ideology include “united we stand,” “support the troops,” “these colors don’t run,” “9/11 Never Forget,” and similar mind-numbing utterances produced by and perpetuating group-think. The main visible symbol of this ideology is the flag. The public rituals of this false religion (idolatry of nation) include parades, pledging allegiance to the flag, military funerals, and school children collecting cookies and packages for people trained and commissioned to kill other people. (A Greek philosopher once said, “The first rule of good government is to call everything by its right name.”)

   None of the above causes of war have anything to do with justice or peace, but they are routinely camouflaged in empty rhetoric of concern for justice.

   Now, to the question “Why should we love our enemies when justice seems to require something else?”

   Here I am will borrow heavily from a paper by Miroslav Volf, professor of theology at Yale Divinity School, which appears as a chapter titled “Forgiveness, Reconciliation, and Justice” in STRICKEN BY GOD? edited by Brad Jersak and Michael Hardin. After noting that “not only have Christians committed atrocities and other lesser forms of violence but they have also drawn on religious beliefs to justify them,” Volf states his thesis thus: “The cure against religiously induced or legitimized violence is not less reli

Comments

This is good stuff, John. The "be all you can be" line reminded me of a church service a week ago, where the sermon was on Romans 12, and the verses which tell us to love our enemies. Specifically: "Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them" and "repay no one evil for evil...live peaceably with all" and "never avenge yourselves...overcome evil with good..." But what was striking was that that this reading and the subsequent sermon was given shortly after a young man (a son of the church) was brought in front of the sanctuary and introduced as a soldier in training in Carolina, who was learning to "operate a $26M assault vehicle." (this brought oohs and aahhs from the congregation!) It was striking in that nowhere in Romans 12 are the words to "assault your enemy", which is exactly what we were paying exorbitant $$ to have our young men do (with the resulting exorbitant cost of lives). Ignoring for now the waste of money that could be used for those who need it, let's look at the theme of the sermon, which was "Who's team are you on?" It was obviuos by the applause and support (not just for this young man's well-being, but for his vocation and what he represented) that the messages conflicted. The sermon was for God's team. The support for the soldier was for the U.S. team. Why aren't our churches and our congregations disturbed by this? Is it right to save life or to kill? I pray that we can challenge as Jesus challenged the "authorities" when given these opportunuties.

Pat Brady

Posted by: Pat Brady

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