Body of War

Jenna and I recently had DirecTV installed at our house, which has brought several blessings into my life, mainly the Fox Soccer Channel but also the Documentary Channel. This weekend, I’ve been watching several documentaries that I recorded on the DVR this week.

One in particular has opened my eyes. The documentary is called “Body of War.” It is the story of a veteran of the Iraq War who took a bullet to the spinal cord and came back paralyzed.

Stirred by the same emotions that stirred in many of us, the soldier signed up for the Army on September 13, 2001, two days after that rather significant event in the United States’ History. Now, like me, he wonders how we ended up in Iraq, looking for weapons that were never there.

While telling the story of this soldier, the documentary interjects clips of members of Congress debating the vote that allowed George W. Bush to invade Iraq. It’s amazing what some of the Congressmen and women told us before this war began.

“This war will cost no more than $200 billion.” Some estimates now say we have already spent 5 times that amount.

“We cannot wait for the smoking gun. Each day we wait, Saddam grows stronger.” Eight and a half years later, we haven’t found a smoking gun. We haven’t even found an unloaded gun.

“A war in Iraq will lead to resentment towards the United States from the Muslim world.” Indeed it has Representative Waters. Indeed it has.

“We must look towards our own economy before worrying about Iraq.” This was said in 2002, six years before our recession. If only we had listened to Nancy Pelosi. Perhaps, she was correct on this one.

History will look back and mourn the presence of the United States in the Middle East. I will not wait for that time.

A New Year

I can’t recall ever making a truly intentional New Years resolution. I’ve said things such as “I want to read the Bible this year” or “I’m going to brush my teeth every night this year,” but I’ve never sat down and thought through or written down goals for the year. But this year, for some reason, I’m more excited about the upcoming year. I am excited about fresh opportunities and new possibilities, and I realize that each day brings those opportunities and possibilities, but still…a new year, a new chance.

This year, I’m setting forth several goals. Some goals are individual goals; others are for my (future) marriage. I would love to share some of those.

In 2011, I will…

• Work for prayer to be a reflex, where I pray as soon as I see an opportunity or a need.
• Make my faith more about “action” than “belief.”
• Take better care of myself physically: eliminating fast food, cokes, and chocolate desserts (chocolate milk is too awesome to quit), as well as exercising more and returning to a habit of running.
• Continue to stretch myself intellectually by reading more regularly.
• Learn to be more efficient, to waste less time.

So here’s to 2011, to new opportunities and endless possibilities, another year of the Lord’s favor.

Walter Wink: Jesus and Nonviolence (Part 2)

In the previous post, I discussed some of the pragmatic parts of Walter Wink’s book Jesus and Nonviolence. In chapter 5, he begins to discuss the deeper reasons for the Christian to see this 3^rd way of Jesus.

Wink begins by rooting Christian nonviolence in Jesus’ “Love of enemies.” Even for many that practice nonviolence, love of enemies is not considered nor demanded. Therefore, we dehumanize those that we oppose, and our use of nonviolence can actually become a source of pride, which has never been a goal of Christian nonviolence.

Wink writes, “Love of enemies is the recognition that the enemy, too, is a child of God.”

If we recognize that our enemy is made in the image of the Almighty, violence becomes treason against the creator, and even the face of nonviolence must be reconsidered.

Wink also reminds us that any struggle that we fight with nonviolence is not against an actual person but against a system or an idea that a person or group may represent. In fact, Wink tells us, our goal is not to defeat the person across the way but to “liberate the oppressor,” who is also a victim of the system, albeit differently than direct victims.

As Wink concludes his section on love of enemies, he tells the reader, “Love of enemies is trusting God for the miracle of divine forgiveness. If God can forgive, redeem, and transform, I must also believe that God can work such wonders in anyone.”

Some may say that those who support nonviolent resistance against the system are indeed anarchists. However, Wink says that those who practice nonviolence must be willing to suffer the consequences for breaking any laws. If the goal is to show how unjust the laws are, then we must be able and willing to suffer those unjust consequences.

Wink has given us a great book that will, at a minimum, cause the reader to think through questions that are rarely asked in a church setting. At the end of the day, I agree that pacifism may be an unrealistic ideal for a fallen creation, but calling something an “unrealistic ideal” does not mean that it is not the way of the Christ, the way of the cross.

I do believe that nonviolent resistance is preferable to violent revolution, but violently opposing systems of injustice and oppression is better than a stance of neutrality that allows the injustice to continue.

Violence or nonviolence? The way of the crucified Messiah.