Bombs & Jesus

"You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.But I say to you that you must not oppose those who want to hurt you. If people slap you on your right cheek, you must turn the left cheek to them as well."/Matthew 5:38-39

“You have heard that it was said, You must love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who harass you so that you will be acting as children of your Father who is in heaven. He makes the sun rise on both the evil and the good and sends rain on both the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love only those who love you, what reward do you have? Don’t even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing? Don’t even the Gentiles do the same? Therefore, just as your heavenly Father is complete in showing love to everyone, so also you must be complete."/Matthew 5:43-48

I want to ask a serious question...

And I know that it deals with some seriously sensitive subjects, so I don't want to be callous. But it's a question that I can't just overlook...

Why is it that in the evangelical church it is widespread for people to use the Bible to support homosexual marriage not being legalized, and yet we gloss over the teaching's of Jesus that would suggest that Christians should not support war?

If we are going to argue that some archaic laws from Leviticus and a couple of lines from Paul are enough to define what our nation's policy should be towards gay marriage, then shouldn't Jesus' clear teachings on non-violence define our foreign policy?

What if we 'turned the other cheek' when people attacked us?

Wouldn't anything else be inconsistent?

And Jesus didn't just teach 'turn the other cheek' and 'love your neighbors', he lived it. Jesus sets a radical and yet clear example with his life and death that in God's Kingdom love is infinitely more powerful than violence.

Jesus doesn't try to kill those who oppose him. Jesus lets them kill him. He is willing to die rather than harness his power against his murderers, even though he was innocent. 

As followers of Jesus are we not called to be willing to do the same?

Are we not called to love and pray for terrorist rather than try to kill them?

And I know that some people will say that if we don't kill the bad guys they will come kill us. We have to use violence to keep ourselves safe.

But doesn't Jesus call us to be a light into the dark world? 

Using violence on others to protect yourself from violence sounds a lot like trying to overcome darkness with more darkness. What if when the world threw darkness our way we refused to resort to darkness ourselves?

If vengeance belongs only to the Lord then how can a follower of Jesus take it upon themselves to kill another person, rather they deserve it or not?

Let's not forget that Jesus was willing to die for every single terrorist that ever lived.

Let's not forget that Paul himself was a violent terrorist who specifically attacked Christians at one point in his life. Not even the most ardent extremist is beyond the reconciling power of God's love.

I grew up believing that violence and murder were the only reasonable answers to violence and murder. But nothing about that sets me a part as a Christian. We are called to be set apart from the world by our unlimited, unreserved, grace-filled, Christ-like love.

That's how the world will recognize us as followers of Jesus.

Grace & Peace