The Irresistible Revolution, Ch. 4a (p 91-103)

The Irresistible Revolution, Ch. 4a (p 91-103)
When Comfort Becomes Uncomfortable

(1) "I had been doing a study whose central premise was that rather than waiting around for God's special plan for your life, you should just go find where God is at work and join in" (p 93). What do you think? How does this fit your experience and biblical understanding?

(2) "He [Shane's roommate in the ROTC] explained to me that he did not believe Christians should go to war" (p 95). This is such a loaded topic. State: kill our enemies. Jesus: love your enemies. That's pretty hard to reconcile. Derek Webb has a great line, "I would rather die than to take your life. How can I kill the ones I'm supposed to love" (My Enemies are Men Like Me). I think this issue raises how closely we align ourselves with a given state or government as opposed to the government of God.

It's clear to a majority of folks, I would imagine, that Nazi soldiers should have disobeyed their leaders. They had a moral obligation not to commit genocide just because their leaders wanted them to. What seems less clear is how closely Christians in countries around the world should place their lives, hopes and futures in the armies of their respective governments. What would happen if the millions of Christians around the world refused to fight their secular government's battles? What if rather we embraced and lived non-violent social action? What if we refused to kill the ones we're supposed to love?

Even if you embrace a "just war" theory, how many of those have you seen in the past 100 years? We'll get back to this topic again. Developing a "consistent ethic of life" demands that we revisit and wrestle with this.

For those looking for thoughts on becoming a conscientious objector, click here--Wikipedia or Mennonite Central Committee.

(3) "So I learned not to be so quick to judge" (p 101). I'm still working on this one. Any stories of when you quickly judged someone incorrectly, or when you withheld judgment and were glad you had?

(4) "Jesus never says to the poor, 'Come find the church,' but he says to those of us in the church, 'Go into the world and find the poor, hungry, homeless, imprisoned,' Jesus in his disguises" (p 102). I rarely do this. I read about doing this. I talk about doing this. When have you gone?

[we'll finish ch 4 next week]