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”
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?
