Now This Is Helpful

I couldn’t be President.  Outside of board games I struggle when to use aggressive force.  Inside the context of board/video games…I will destroy you!

How do we defend the cause of the powerless and balance the teachings of Jesus?  These aren’t easy questions or answers, and certainly this feeble mind won’t solve what the wrestled with since its inception. 

But I really appreciate these thoughts from a college professor of mine name Mark Moore.  Mark’s a brilliant thinker and speaker.  Check out his site, which contains some of his writings, sermons, and class lectures.

In this blog post Mark seeks to defend and define the pacifist.  He writes:

 

“Pacifism is not passivism—it is not sitting idly by while evil gains ground in this world…

“So what is pacifism? It is the uncompromising realization that we as humans are incapable of bringing about justice through violent retaliation. Hence, we relinquish all such acts to God in his sovereign and eschatological plan of judgment, justice, and mercy. Indeed, God have mercy on us.”

This is helpful as it gives me a clear interpretation of pacifism that I can attempt to get behind.  I’ve been guilty of understanding pacifism as “do-nothing-ism”, but in all fairness “do-nothing-ism” is how many pacifist live out their beliefs.  The pacifist here in America, much more often than not, does little to relieve the burden of oppression outside our own continent. 

My question today though is can pacifism be effective, or even displayed, without the counter balance of “righteous” aggression in our world?