Non-Violent Resistance

kick

What if the way to end a war begins with saying, “There is no war.”?

A couple of days ago, I was browsing through my Blog Reader and came across this title”

“Winning The Drug War By Ending It”

The title refers to a short post from Andrew Sullivan on the war on drugs, but it got me thinking about what Jesus said.

Luke 6:29 – If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also.

What if Jesus is giving us the more radical and wholistic means to end conflict. What if the best way to end conflict is to simply hold onto the idea that, “There is no war.”  When we strike back, aren’t we validating the notion that there is a war?

What if the most courageous person in a fight is the one who is willing to see the true identity and dignity of the other person, and by holding back the punch, we are reminding the other person of who they really are?  A child of the living God, called very good.  And when we hold onto to that standard of justice, we are validating it in our own life.  We are in essence saying, “This is true.”  And not because it is true cosmically, even though it is, but because we need we need it to be true in our lives.

So when we say, “there is no war” were not ignoring the obvious in justice.  We’re calling out the reality that non-violent resistance is actually first about holding on to what is true in our lives?

Share and Enjoy:
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Digg
  • StumbleUpon
  • del.icio.us
  • Print

If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.

  • What if that person is attempting to hurt someone else, say a child? Should we fight to protect the innocent?
  • Thank you Storm. You have dislodge a post about this. It is a legitimate question and one I've wrestled with. I think I've finally found the answer. Should be up sometime in the next couple of days.
  • kylejnolan
    Read Walter Wink's Jesus and Nonviolence, or the part of Jesus for President referring to Wink's work about Jesus' teaching on turning the other cheek.

    Not only is Jesus calling us to recognize the humanity of the one who has initiated violence, he's calling us to force them to recognize our own humanity.
blog comments powered by Disqus