a continuation of my time with thomas merton on the complexities of war, peace, & the Christian. day 1: day 2: day 3: day 4: day 5: day 6: day 7
as i've come into this advent season i've kept pondering this thought of "peace on earth, good will towards man." call it Christmas or Holiday this is a time of year that we spend trying to be nice or at least pleasant towards one another. but as the Christ child comes upon us, he's a king to bring peace to earth. peace that comes through the kingdom of God, as earth as it is in heaven. what does it take for peace on earth in today's day and age? my thoughts will extend here from not just a war time peace, but what is the peace that comes from "good will towards man."
(we must) discern accurately when peace is and is not really threatened, when there is and is not a serious emergency, and how the calculated threats and recriminations of power politicians are really to be interpreted. This gravely affects the whole question of deciding when there really exists and "extreme danger" which makes defensive measures urgent and obligatory.
how truly threatened are we and because of what? i will not discount that there are many ways a country could be attacked, but what provokes the attack? and even if we promote a fear that polarizes everyone to action of defense are we still vulnerable to attack? and who are the people making decisions for the defense?
First of all there is no serious guarantee that a nuclear war will ever be kept "limited." Still less is there any indication that the military strategists have any intention of "limiting" a nuclear war unless it appears in some way expedient to do so.
Secondly it must be asked how a Christian can commit himself in conscience to support a ruthless policy of power the exercise of which remains largely dependent on the decisions of a military and economic elite which has discarded Christian moral principles and operates on a basis of vague pragmatism without any definite or verifiable ideology.
as a super power we must look at our actions objectively and without bias to ask the question of motive. are we really threatened? is our lively hood in jeopardy? are we scared of loosing a prestige of being elite within the world community?
It would however be insufficient to limit Christian obligation, in the present crisis, merely to a course of action that can be somehow reconciled with moral principles. The problem is deeper. What is needed is a social action that will have the power to renew society because it springs from the inner renewal of the Christian and of his Church.
The real problem of our time is basically spiritual. One important aspect of this problem is the fact that in many Christians, the Christian conscience seems to function only as a rudimentary vestigial faculty, robbed of its full vigor and incapable of attaining its real purpose: a life completely transformed by Christ.
if our political leaders, not just nationally but locally as well, were people who were transformed by Christ, would we have that games of politics that we see today? there would certainly be policies of what is right or wrong & stewards of resources, but abuse or use of power would no longer be a part of politics. however, the tendency today seems to jump on a few comfortable ideologies that fit the current political framework. why? why only a few? could it be that if you were a mr. smith transformed by Christ and sought to do those things that you would be under attack by your colleagues. they'd fish some old dirt to try and wipe out credibility or smear ones personal life, regardless of virtue or intention. where are our true disciples of Christ leading us? have we dismissed them because a narrow minded ideology cannot allow us to see them and uplift them?
If we continue to yield to theoretically resistible determinism and the vague "historic forces" without striving to resist and control them, if we let these forces drive us to demonic activism in the realms of politics and technology, we face something more than the material evil of universal destruction. We face moral responsibility for the destruction of civilization or even for global suicide. Much more than that, we are going to find ourselves gradually moving into a situation in which we are practically compelled by the "logic of circumstances" deliberately to choose a course which leads to destruction.
The great danger is then the savage and self-destructive commitment to a policy of nationalism and blind hate, and the refusal of all other policies more constructive and more in accordance with Christian ethical tradition. Let us realize that this is a matter of choice, not of pure blind determinism.
as the proverb goes, we must not forget our history or we are bound to repeat it. the scary part of this is how as our warring technology gets more destructive and productive we become more able to do greater damage. even with smart technology there is nothing full-proof. we can choose a solution that could lead away from war into a place of peace. as mentioned before, this takes great courage and creative thought as it takes breaking away from shackles of worn concepts whose time has come.
The logic of all serious efforts to preserve peace demands that our very endeavors themselves do not help the war effort of the "enemy," and thus precipitate war. There is sometimes a danger that our pacifism may be somewhat short-sighted and immature. It may consequently be more an expression of rebellion against the status quo in our country than a effective opposition to war itself.
i get bothered by claims of pacifism, and it is possible that i believe that pacifism in our current world spectrum cannot be logical. however, the pacifism, that is activism, is much more about doing the same history ideology against the same traditions and reasons of war. neither bring peace, if they did peace on earth would have been achieved years ago. so building weapons for war in order to maintain peace, if that were the case we'd have a very peaceful world with more countries with nuclear weapon capability. so what does it take?
good will towards man?
what are the actions to take within the world that would be considered "good will." some of the more prominent social actions for today would be debt relief, humanitarian aid, medical aid & education for all persons, use of renewable energy, taking care of orphaned children, fair & living wages, etc.
if our hearts are transformed by Christ and not corrupted or convoluted by cultural ideology then we will see that changing the hearts of people in our social actions will make a larger impact than any missile.
so as our Christ is born in a little town this week, let us do the things that give "good will towards mankind" as this and only this will transform hearts & bring "peace on earth."
i suggested to a few people that they should start blogging, many who have started blogging and then stopped for a long period of time, they all say the same thing that many other bloggers say "i don't know what to say." this is the big question that plagues many, what is one to say when one has nothing to say?
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