Evangelical Friend, March/April 1992 (Vol. 25, No. 4)
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Digital Commons @ George Fox University Northwest Yearly Meeting of Friends Church Evangelical Friend (Quakers) 3-1992 Evangelical Friend, March/April 1992 (Vol. 25, No. 4) Evangelical Friends Alliance Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/nwym_evangelical_friend Recommended Citation Evangelical Friends Alliance, "Evangelical Friend, March/April 1992 (Vol. 25, No. 4)" (1992). Evangelical Friend. 254. https://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/nwym_evangelical_friend/254 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the Northwest Yearly Meeting of Friends Church (Quakers) at Digital Commons @ George Fox University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Evangelical Friend by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ George Fox University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Appreciating diversity PAGES 12-16 Onward Christian Soldiers BY CHUCK 0RWILER HE FIRST COMMANDMENT seems to be under- Yet, his heroism remains unsung even (especially?) in . stood by many as this: Love God more than Christian circles. How so? This is a good time to remind T almost anything, and the second is like it: Love ourselves of why our Faith and Practices read as they do. your neighbor, unless he doesn't really deserve it. Any discussion of participation in war is emotion The recent Gulf War has shined a favorable light on laden. And for good reason. Jesus said that, "Greater love conflict resolution by combat. War is good, it seems, has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his when its target is someone as bad as Saddam Hussein. friends:' For all the bad press that the military endures, Weren't we all glad for such swift, decisive action? Weren't the fact remains that armies are composed of men and we relieved that Hussein was rendered so apparently women who are ready to die for their countrymen. Never impotent so quickly? Weren't we impressed with the dis should the supreme nobility of that act be demeaned. cretion and restraint exercised by the commanding Even if war is wrong, the fact remains that soldiers have officers reporting to us on our televisions? Didn't it all given all that they could, their lives, for the benefit of you seem so clean? "Surgical" was a word we often heard. and me. To mock that kind of sacrifice is blatant cruelty. Sometimes we have to endure the pain of removing the Nevertheless, while some exercise courage on the putrid organ to save the body. All in all, if we're going to battlefield, the disciple of Christ is called to exercise cour have a war, this is how it ought to be. Or is it? age elsewhere. I've always struggled with the word What would Jesus have done? "pacifism:' It sounds like "passive-ism:' Jesus has not We Quakers have a stock answer to that question, but called us to do nothing. Rather, He has repeatedly, with it's not a popular one these days. I suspect that pacifistic unmistakable clarity called His disciples to love their ratings have hit a 30-year low among the friendly per neighbors as themselves. suaders. Nevertheless, as the ticker tape litter is being swept from the streets, as the &reworks fade, and as our This is not some obscure truth revealed only by a corporate sigh of relief is expelled, the essential question strained exegesis of a vague biblical text. Although the emerges in all its discomforting persistence. What would second great commandment would be enough on its own, Jesus have done? there are certainly more explicit teachings. Let's look at One man had the courage to answer that question. just two examples. Last winter in the height of enthusiasm for our troops in "You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor the Gulf, Marco Lokar took a stand. While his basketball and hate your enemy: But I tell you: Love your enemies teammates at Seton Hall added American flags to their and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be uniforms, Lokar refused. He was doomed when the sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise media caught on. Soon his life and his family were threat on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous ened by overzealous "patriots" to the point of forcing his and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, departure from this country. what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors Lokar's motive for his unpopular action is notably dis doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are similar to the publicized protests of the VietNam era. His you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? inner directive was simple, "... I can never condone war. Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect:' . To do that would be to reject the teachings of Jesus:' Matthew 5:43-48 (Sports Illustrated, 11/4/91, p. 53) In an age when moral The meaning of this passage is plain. Jesus has not courage is rare, and only religious sham is newsworthy, called us to hate our enemies, but to love them, as well as Marco Lokar's purity of faith and strength of character are those who are easy to love. He notes that God loves peo monumental. His commitment to follow in the steps of ple in such a way that He blesses both the good and the his Lord continues to be tested today as the Yugoslav evil with rain and sun. Furthermore, and this is most army batters his homeland of Slovenia. important, God does not ask us to judge as He judges, but 2/EVANGELICAL FRIEND He commands us to love as He loves. We leave judgment to mock the military, but indeed to to God. imitate them by being willing even Can we reconcile loving our enemy and killing our to die for what we believe in. enemy simultaneously? Are these not mutually exclusive Practically speaking, what does activities? all this mean? First of all, Jesus Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it commanded us to love our enemies. were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by Yes, Saddam Hussein is our neigh the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place:' bor, but he is not likely the primary John 18:36 enemy to most of us. Closer to This is a hard saying. As citizens of the Kingdom of home we must master loving our God we maintain a dual citizenship. We are citizens of an own president or senator or mayor. earthly kingdom (e.g. the USA), and also citizens of God's We must learn to love the ACLU and excessive TV evan kingdom. While these kingdoms can be in harmony, they gelists. Isn't our enemy much more likely to be a belliger can also be in conflict. In other words, sometimes we ent boss, or an estranged spouse, or a stepparent, or an must choose where our ultimate loyalty lies. Don't think unsympathetic creditor? Loving Hussein is a real issue, this is an easy task. When I was 18 and registering for the but are we ready to address loving this distant neighbor draft, I chose loyalty to country over the Kingdom of God. when we may be at war with the enemy next door? Although I would choose differently today, I still distinctly Our loss for words regarding this business of loving remember the agony of that deliberation. our enemies is evidence of how revolutionary this notion EVERTHELESS, THE differences between the is. Returning evil for evil is the order of the day. It's how kingdoms are real. Earthly kingdoms can be, things are done. It is fully acceptable. To do otherwise is N and often have been, established or lost by fight abnormal. ing. That is just what Jesus was saying when he said that If we are waiting for someone else to initiate returning if His were an earthly kingdom, Pilate would have a fight good for evil (besides Jesus) we can wait for a lifetime. But on his hands. But fighting is not how victories are won the time to begin is now, and the one to begin is me. I have and territory established in the Kingdom of God. When no need to grapple with hypothetical situations. Each of we go to war it is for some other reason than for God's us can record who our enemies are and how we can kingdom to come, and His will to be done on earth as it is return good for the evil they have delivered to us. Is it not in heaven. Jesus plainly demonstrated this truth. true that we can hardly address the problem of a distant Jesus also plainly demonstrated that although He enemy if we have not mastered the one at hand? would not kill for God's kingdom, He would die for it. The Nevertheless, the question still remains, what do we Way of the Cross is not the way of cowardice. The soldier do with an evil tyrant such as Hussein? I don't know. But of the cross makes the same depth of commitment that I don't know how to repel a SCUD missile either. I know the army soldier makes, a willingness to give everything, there is a way to blast missiles out of the sky even though including one's life. As disciples of Christ, our call is not {Continued on page 19} JESUS' TEACHINGS ON PEACE A SUMMARY • Jesus commands His followers to love seek fi.rst the Kingdom of Heaven and its 8:34-38; John 12:25-26).