OpEdNews - Page 3 of Article: The 64th Anniversary of USA Terrorism Enlightened by the Wisdom of Nonviolence

"[And then] we discover a new image of God. As we begin to imagine the peace and non-violence of God; we learn to worship the God of peace and non-violence; and in the process, become people of peace and non-violence.

"The one thing we can say for sure about Jesus is that he practiced active, public, creative non-violence. He called us to love our neighbors; to show compassion toward everyone; to seek justice for the poor; to forgive everyone; to put down the sword; to take up the cross in the struggle for justice and peace; to lay down our lives, to risk our lives if necessary, in love for all humanity, and most of all, to love our enemies. His last words to the community, to the church, to us, as the soldiers dragged him away, could not be clearer or more to the point: "Put down the sword."

"That's it. We are not allowed to kill. That's why they run away; they realize he is serious about non-violence"Jesus dies on the cross saying, "The violence stops here in my body, which is given for you. You are forgiven, but from now on, you are not allowed to kill:

"Violence doesn't work. War doesn't work. Violence in response to violence always leads to further violence. Those who live by the sword will die by the sword. Those who live by the bomb, the gun, the nuclear weapon, will die by bombs, guns and nuclear weapons. You reap what you sow. The means are the ends. What goes around comes around. War can not stop terrorism because war is terrorism. War only sows the seeds for future wars.

"Underneath this culture of war and injustice is a sophisticated spirituality of violence, a spirituality of war, a spirituality of empire, a spirituality of injustice that has nothing to do with the living God or the Gospel of Jesus. [Ibid]

Jesus is best known as The Prince of Peace and when he told Nicodemus, that you must be born again to enter the kingdom of heaven, he was not talking about an emotional high, but a TRANSFORMATION of heart and mind to wake up and see The Divine in ALL people and all of creation.

Every August 6th in the Eastern Orthodox, Catholic, and Anglican churches, there is a celebration of the Feast of the Transfiguration of Jesus, an event reported in the synoptic gospels in which Jesus became radiant having undergone a metamorphosis; a transformation.

In 2008, at the National Press Club, Rev. Dr. John Chryssavgis, Theological Advisor to the Ecumenical Patriarch on Environmental Issues, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America addressed President Bush's agenda known as COMPLEX TRANSFORMATION:

"The question is not how much more sophisticated our plants and weapons can become, but how serious we are as a nation to lead the world with an alternative vision which interprets power differently and promotes peaceful coexistence globally.

"Complex Transformation is the Bush administration's proposed plan to restructure the nation's nuclear weapons infrastructure. The administration's goal is to consolidate existing nuclear facilities while increasing the capacity to produce material for new nuclear weapons.

"According to a report jointly released by the Energy Department (DOE) on January 10, 2008, the administration seeks an annual production capacity of 80 plutonium pits (read: triggers for new nuclear bombs) as a result of the transformation.

"The main justification for the program is the perceived need for a more adaptable and responsive nuclear infrastructure to react to unnamed future threats."[6]

The Wisdom of Nonviolence

"The God of peace is never glorified by human violence" The radical truth of reality is that we are all one." - Thomas Merton

Gandhi's non-violence was a political tactic that evolved from the inner realization of spiritual unity within himself. Gandhi studied all the world's religions and after attending many churches, he remarked that Christianity was a great religion and all Christians should "TRY IT!"

The problem is not with Christianity, but that too few who claim to be have taken The Sermon on The Mount as their manifesto and live lives that express that God is Love and God Loves All.

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