Pacifism

For the past four years I have struggled with the issue of pacifism. As I have read the pages of the of the Old and New Testament this issue has constantly arose in my mind. As I have read of the full manifestation of God in Jesus and seen through the eyes of scripture how our King lived and of how many like him entrusted themselves to the Father for their justice I have been humbled and amazed. One of the major themes of scripture is the vindication of God for His people. (Ps.97:10,Rev.6:9-11) Combine this with the specific passage in John 18:36, where Jesus expresses that His servants could have but didn't fight (despite Peter's best efforts), and I have had the perspective that all violence is ungodly and that the only godly thing would be to trust in the vindication that God said he would bring. However, I have always been intrigued and never been able to answer certain passages in scripture where God has confirmed and commanded his people to violent action. What is intriguing is the contrast in passages such as Nehemiah 13:25 and Genesis 34 (cf. Gen 49:5-7) where severe action is taken place and people are beat up / killed. The distinction, however, between these passages is what helps us to understand the whole of this issue.

As I stated earlier, I have been convinced for a good while that the statement, "all violence is ungodly" would be correct. However, this would be completely illogical since the thing I would be trusting in for my vindication would be God, and that would be to say that God would be wrong in violence (if it was the case that all violence is ungodly). So I feel like we have come full circle to say that the issue is not necessarily violence, but motivation.

If I was struck by someone and struck in return that would be me entrusting myself for vindication and judgment of that person. We are commanded to love our neighbor as ourselves. What would be the loving thing to do for your neighbor, sit and watch while someone terrorizes them and say (God will vindicate them), or step in and protect and sacrifice yourself for your neighbor?

We cannot sit at the feet of Jesus, read the word the Spirit has given us and say that all violence is wrong. The issue in both the Old and the New Testament is dependence. When it comes to our ego and our self reliance scripture is clear all around that these are ungodly. However, when we can lower ourselves, trust God, and love people we can say that we are God-glorifying. So...when I can come to the point of dying to my flesh, trusting in God, and loving people, then I can say that violence is godly.