I truly believe that America’s churches could turn the world toward peace if every church lived and taught as Jesus lived and taught.
How to deal with people who threaten us (in the serious, hard cases called enemies), individually and collectively, is the most difficult and enduring question of human existence. Do we overpower and destroy them by whatever means necessary? Do we flee from them in fear? Or is there another way, a third way, of dealing with seriously threatening people? According to Jesus, there is. He lived and taught another way, the way of non-violence, and the church could well be expected to understand and demonstrate that way with its own life and teaching. But does it? Has it, over the centuries, shown anything better than the fight or flight responses to enemies?
The church is an extended human family and it is in the church family that the teaching of peacemaking must begin. In spite of the rampant individualism of modern Western society, human beings have not entirely lost the sense that we are creatures of community and relationship. We still feel that we need the security of supportive others, and the friendship of people in relationship. We are creatures of family and community relationships. That’s the way we are created.
But we’ve traded the security, which God intended and Jesus revealed, for a pact with the devil offering protection through guns and bombs, walls and separation. This hostility-based mode of relationships, rooted in fear, greed and blame, is managed in today’s world by nation states and corporations. They perpetuate history’s greatest protection racket, the false promise of protection from our enemies for the price of our unquestioned loyalty, blind support of military force and uninterrupted shopping at the mall.
It is not easy to think of the church as a community of trusting relationships and a central key to making peace. But it is possible to think that way, and there is every reason why Christians, or people considering themselves followers of Jesus, should think that the church is key in the challenge of peacemaking.
A community that orders its life on the principles of justice, forgiveness and compassion is a peacemaking community. The teaching of Jesus (in Matthew 18, etc) that offenses between people are to be dealt with by an honest assessment of justice breached and truth betrayed, forgiveness extended and relationship restored is not a marginal footnote for religious fanatics. It is the true way to run the world. Another way, to be sure- it is not the fight nor flight, annihilation or separation way--but it is a way, and a way that works, as demonstrated by Jesus and by the history of non-violent movements such as those led by Dr. King and by Gandhi.
Humanity will either learn that you cannot kill enough bad people to make the world safe, or it will kill itself by failing to learn this basic truth. This is what Jesus meant when he said that whoever lives by the sword will die by the sword. Like a lot of other things that Jesus said, this is usually falsely thought to apply, if at all, only to individuals. The fact is, it is an utterly social and political statement--groups and nations that live by the sword die by the sword. It is a profoundly useful commentary on what kind of behavior is suicidal. And so the church, the community charged with bearing witness to the truth which Jesus lived and taught, has the potential to make a decisive difference in humanity’s quest for peace--for a sustainable community based on love, sharing and non-violence instead of hate, greed and violence.
Anyone who believes in the church enough to see it as a meaningful human community (in all of its varied forms from huge mega-churches to small Quaker meetings) is able, on reflection, to see that the church should be the focus of an effort to make the third way of human relationships which Jesus revealed as the foundation of peacemaking and world renewal. It is time for the church to truly live what Jesus lived and taught. As Christians we must ask ourselves--Are we really following in the footsteps of Jesus? Are we working for peace or are we promoting war?Jesus’ third way is the hard way but it is the only way to true peace.
Joe Parko is a retired college professor who taught for 28 years in the School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University. He is a member of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) and serves on the steering committee of Cumberland Countians(Tennessee)for Peace and Justice.In 2007, he was the Quaker delegate on a peace mission to Israel and Palestine.
George Bush claimed he was a born again Christian and was elected because he was supported by Christian people who took him at his word. As the Bible states it is by ones actions one is judged.
Jesus is known as the Prince of Peace. Jesus taught - love your enemies.
If George Bush was a true Christian he would have fought the war on terrorism by trying to win the hearts of those who support terrorism; that is he would show his compassion by feeding the hungry, speaking out against violence wherever is exists, and giving aid and support to all who promote peace.
Our presidents actions show that he is anti-Christ (anti-love, anti-peace). The leading Republican candidate for our next president proposes to continue fighting this war and believes that to quit that war is to surrender. The fact that violence begets more violence has not been realized and so the war will continue without end.
Moderate Muslim people are saddened that their religion is being used as a call for violence; and Christian people should be just as saddened when our President chooses violence to fight violence. All true Christians and Muslims know in their heart that only peace and love can overcome violence.
In the upcoming elections I hope people will vote for that candidate who you think will bring peace and love.
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Philip Pease (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 110 comments)
on Tuesday, February 12, 2008 at 3:02:35 PM
My x-husband was born again, and he shoved me out of moving cars, dragged me acorss the bedroom floor by my ankle, etc, and when he visited my parents church, during the confession of sins in the liturgy he refused to utter a word, explaining later that once born again, you are saved no matter what you do, so there is no need for ongoing confession. That "christian" thinking is not CHrist centered but is a measure of hell insurance in their own minds...like the good book said, "I gave them what they wanted and sent leanness into their souls", (like giving the land of palestine to settlers who humiliate and demolish homes of christians), lean and mean, I'd say. Father forgivethem for they do not know the hell they wreck on others...and in the end, if there is karma, who is going to come back as who?
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karmacounselor (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 6 diaries, 50 comments)
on Wednesday, February 13, 2008 at 7:42:04 AM
The OSAS doctrine has become a license to sin among many born again Christians. They are sadly mistaken. This doctrine is prevalent in Baptist denominations.
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Bob Gormley (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 909 comments)
on Wednesday, February 13, 2008 at 1:22:47 PM
The words of the Jesus you are talking about don't always match up with the words attributed to him by those claiming that they are acting as he instructed; who say they follow him but act in opposite ways, like supporting slaughters and wars, the death penalty, wasted money buying fraudulent weapon systems, etc., instead of buying food for the hungry, housing houseless children and their families.
I'm not even religious but I got so sick of this re-interpretation that a partner and I made Just His Words to be able to know the difference - and to be able to hand the truth of what he said to people who are supporting the destruction of the U.S. and other nations through what I call Neo-Christian Nationalism. It's a reference book only, and neither it or we are associated with a religion. As far as the religious or belief side of "Jesus" goes, we prefer to leave ourselves out of the discussion.
So you know for sure I'm not just a Jesus peddler passing through, I also voluntarily own and operate UsQueers.com, an Independent Communications Unit (we're currently pretending to be part of a nonexistent something called United Gay Force) and participate on ImpeachSpace under the profile UsQueersdotcom.
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JustHisWordsdotcom (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 14 comments)
on Tuesday, February 12, 2008 at 3:27:12 PM
There's a group of biblical scholars that meet every year to try to figure out, debate, and support with their own research just exactly what the words of the Christ were...
Regardless, He was a political revolutionary and many of his disciples were from unsavory backgrounds that weren't so peaceful or accepting. He challenged the status quo. He rebelled against the establishment (which was the religious rule under Roman supervision at the time). He went against the grain. He was accused of blasphemy. Put to death.
He didn't create the religion that surrounds him.
Nor the stupidity that drowns his enigma.
The article has no validity. Nor do any of the arguments against it.
It's completely moot.
Jesus doesn't have a thing to do with anything these days... especially not any churches or bibles.
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C.Bid (0 articles, 7 quicklinks, 7 diaries, 646 comments)
on Tuesday, February 12, 2008 at 6:44:15 PM
Joe has argued the key and perhaps the oldest good case for peace. Indeed all churches and all houses of worship - all of them - have clear roles to play for peace, as many,many have for centuries. To me this is religion's primary purpose, and anything argued in religious terms to the contrary is the anti-thesis of religion or peace.
It is unquestionable that Jesus would be for peace. It is equally unquestionable that the religious right, many hateful religionists, and many of the world's elite do not accept Jesus and his teachings. Strangely since 2005 there has been a UN movement to unite willing states, UN bureaucracies, and affiliated religions of all kinds in a Tripartite Forum for Interfaith Cooperation for Peace, since these members know current paradigms for peace are inadequate, and require the highest moral aspirations. Surely Jesus intended for us to pursue these in all areas of living. I often ask myself why are the churches not speaking out more for peace in the world today, especially in view of middle east wars threatening the start of WW III; the world's first nuclear war.
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harold burbank (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 7 comments)
on Tuesday, February 12, 2008 at 4:30:03 PM
Good job, Joe. I would only add that Christians should join people of all faiths in an interfaith movement, focusing on the core, universal principles and values that are common to all religions.
My favorite author speaks eloquently, I think, to that subject. In fact, he calls for a religious reformation. For example, this is from the home page of his web site:
"Now we must progress forward, because at this time only a thorough worldwide reformation of religions and governments, guided by the real and whole truth, will liberate us, set us free and bring lasting peace, because it just cannot be 'won.' Lasting peace can only be made by real peacemakers who are armed only with real truth and good will, because only good can overcome evil and only love can overcome hate, and two wrongs do not make a right. Moreover, the only 'weapons' of God's true servants are not carnal or lethal. They are, however, mighty through God for pulling down even the greatest stronghold of misused worldly power, as they will do in due time." -- Joseph J. Adamson
It's time to take back Christianity from the so-called "Christian" right who have substituted the Old Testament "eye for an eye" message of hate and revenge for the New Testament and Jesus' message of love and reconciliation.
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Joe Parko (6 articles, 2 quicklinks, 5 diaries, 10 comments)
on Tuesday, February 12, 2008 at 7:11:06 PM
For a very long time now I have been convinced that the evangelical church in the U.S. has been ruled by the Beast and I don't mean the president. I mean the inner beast that usurps your conscience and allows you to hate and envy and destroy. Think about those so called evangelists, not the Billy Grahams but the Falwells and Haggerts and others who suggest kidnapping heads of state of other countries. How evil, how utterly evil! What about all the "believers" hungering for blood? You know who you are, you are disgusting to the sight of God. You are all heading for a very hot place and you are allowing your destructive government to lead the way. Remember "Those who live by the sword will die by it". You are now learning the truth of that first hand.
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Archie (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 967 comments)
on Tuesday, February 12, 2008 at 7:45:23 PM
Seems I remember reading, or maybe it was watching Jesus Christ Super Star, that the only things that "pissed off" Jesus :-) were hypocricts and money lenders, if he were around today he would be in full time anger management. O deary me.
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davy (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 241 comments)
on Wednesday, February 13, 2008 at 9:44:15 AM
Nobody knows how Jesus lived exactly. The only things we do know about him happened at about the age of 30, where he rebelled against a highly corrupted jewish church-state. He was caught and he was executed. Everything else that is said about him that didn't happen during this period was made up.
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Haxx (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 14 comments)
on Wednesday, February 13, 2008 at 5:59:37 PM
The reason it was "made up" is because of the erroneous doctrines of men.
That is explained by my favorite author, who wrote the following on one of the pages on his web site. It's about the virgin birth story, and he says this about it:
"The idea that the Christ Jesus was born of a virgin, that he was the 'only begotten son of God,' or even God 'Himself' or 'God Incarnate,' and that the only way we can avoid being condemned to hell for eternity is to profess belief of that, is a big part of Christian tradition. The trouble is, it is part of the doctrines of men that the Christ Jesus warned us about."
"Granted, many good Christians have believed in it, and many good Christians still do. However, it is a doctrine that can be and has been used by those who have claimed to be Christians but are not. In fact, in that sense, it is a man-made, patriarchal, theocratic, imperialistic doctrine of preeminence and superiority."
"As I mentioned in the pages on Christians Divided and The Martyrdom of Jesus, and much more thoroughly in the books, that man-made doctrine is not consistent with Judaic Scriptures (the Old Testament) and not consistent with the actual, core teachings of the Christ Jesus. It has led to horrendous abuses of power during the last sixteen centuries since Christianity was 'adopted' by a military empire, and it is still causing a lot of conflict today."
"The problem is a misguided theology called 'Christian Apologetics,' which has for all those centuries been concerned with the defense of man-made 'Christian' doctrine about the birth, life, teachings and death of Jesus as expressed in the Nicene Creed. That theology tries to defend that doctrine because it has long been and still is refuted by many Jewish Rabbinical scholars, and it is questioned and even refuted by many modern Christian scholars, like Karen Armstrong, Marcus Borg, other members of the respected Jesus Seminar, John Shelby Spong, John Dominic Crossan, William Sloan Coffin, Robert Boston, Robert Fuller, and Michael Barkun, among many others modern religious scholars and authors. And rightly so."
"Many people throughout history have come to the same conclusion about such things, about what the birth, life, teachings and death of the Christ Jesus was really about. So in that respect, some of what I say about Jesus is really not new, especially about the myth of the virgin birth."
"For example, in 1823 Thomas Jefferson (the author of the Declaration of Independence and the third U.S. President) wrote: 'The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus by the Supreme Being as his father, in the womb of a virgin, will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter.'"
"In more recent times, John Shelby Spong, retired Episcopal Bishop of Newark, NJ, wrote: 'In time, the virgin birth account will join Adam and Eve and the story of the cosmic ascension as clearly recognized mythological elements in our faith tradition, whose purpose was not to describe a literal event but to capture the transcendent dimensions of God in the earthbound words and concepts of first-century human beings.'"
Morality, tolerance, love for one's fellow humanity, even of other life is felt and practiced by agnostics, humanists. People do not need to be religious, per se, to pursue peace. The mention of forgiveness is crucial. The process of peace requires forgiveness, something which can be very hard to come by. Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, a great Christian leader, has written and practiced this process of forgiveness extensively calling it "realpolitik." Part of both Mahatma Gandhi's and Martin Luther King, Jr's ongoing campaigns to bring about justice required both confrontational non-violence and forgiveness.
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Pat Williams (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 82 comments)
on Saturday, February 23, 2008 at 11:58:18 AM
The pre-Constantinian church was very clear that one could not be a Christian and be a soldier. Soldiers who converted ran the risk of being executed, and some of those who were remain Saints in the Catholic Church today.
Since the time of Constantine, there has always been a remnant in the Church which upheld the peace witness of Christ. In the last few hundred years, that has notably been done by the Historic Peace Churches.
In recent decades, a broader spectrum of Christians has been recognizing that Jesus really was the Prince of Peace. There are Peace Fellowships in most major denominations. The Roman Catholic Church has been moving closer and closer to being a peace church, with the current Pope being a former army deserter who feels a deep call to promoting peace (unfortunately the American bishops have been moving in the opposite direction from the Vatican). Protestant theologians and church leaders from outside the Peace Church tradition have been discovering and writing about Christ's call for us to be peacemakers - people like Stanley Hauerwas, Glen Howard Stassen and Brian McLaren.
Let us pray and work for a time when this movement spreads far and wide, and Christianity as a whole is seen as a force for peace.
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Bill Samuel (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 228 comments)
on Saturday, February 23, 2008 at 12:29:52 PM
the Gospel of Luke Ch22/38: "........And they said: "Look Master, here are two swords!" And He said to them: "That is enough."
i still think he was a revolutionary
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David Walters (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 4 comments)
on Saturday, February 23, 2008 at 6:28:40 PM
