What if the Church was Unified for Peace

We know how to organize warfare, but do we know how to act when confronted with peace? – Jacques-Yves Cousteau (1910-1997)

I recently came across this quote by the famed French deep sea explorer Jacques-Yves Cousteau. Though his life’s work was based on marine biology and discovery with in the oceans of our world, he makes a powerful statement here. Cousteau must have known peace in the sense of God’s creation as he was so familiar with the serenity and beauty of the seas. He explored nature in a way many of us never will and saw so much interesting life that it must have brought him into an understanding of peace that few will ever be blessed with.

So let’s look at this quote from a Christian perspective. War has been with us as long as we have lived on this earth. Many Christians for centuries have stood up for the cause of peace because of their convictions. So how do we confront those who organize warfare with a message of peace in a way that is loving, compassionate and yet convincing? What is the churches role in the confronting the world with a message of peace? Have we that support peace done a good job with trying to bring the message to those around us?

I often am up late nights trying to answer questions like these. In these times I am confronted with choices, do I support this or not. Take the current situation in Iraq, for me it is easy to say I do not support this war based on my faith in Jesus Christ and my belief in his message of peace. I feel this way about all wars but some are easier to say “I am against it” then others. I have often been asked “Well what about World War II?” Many Christians and most people feel this war was necessary evil in order to stop evil from taking over the world. While the war did put an end to the Nazi Regime that threatened the world and put an end to the Holocaust, it did come at an enormous price. When we finally were faced with peace it was not as much joy but relief that finally the war had ended. Though victorious I have heard many Vets say it was not completely happy ending, it came at an enormous cost. From the bombs we dropped on Japan to end that War to the blood that spilled at Normandy, it was a war of sacrifice, heartbreak and death. The winners were also losers because there countries, families and lives were torn apart as much as they were brought together.

I often wonder what if WWII could have been prevented or if the holocaust could have been ended before it started. What if the Christians in Germany had stood up to the Nazi’s? Though completely hypothetical, what if they could have changed the course of history by simply following God’s call for us to love our enemies? Could men like Dietrich Bonhoeffer have been able to successfully defeat Hitler without a long drawn out war if he had the entire church on his side? Would this man, who was a pacifist, be saved from going against his own beliefs plot to kill a man who was evil for the good of the world? I often wonder what would have been different if when Bonhoeffer visited the United States during the early days of the Third Reich. What if those in the Church would have joined him in the discussion of removing Hitler from power in a peaceful way? Could Christians have at least spared the world the horror of the holocaust be responding in a Christ like way? Could an outraged church stand together in a nonviolent, peaceful way and prayerfully respond to the horrors that were beginning to unfold in Germany?

I think about how Jesus stressed for us to love our enemies. In Romans 12:14-21 Paul gives the church in Rome instructions of how to deal with those who persecuted them.

14 Bless those who persecute you. Don’t curse them; pray that God will bless them. 15 Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all! 17 Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. 18 Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone.

19 Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say,

“I will take revenge;
I will pay them back,”^[g]
says the Lord.

20 Instead,

“If your enemies are hungry, feed them.
If they are thirsty, give them something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap
burning coals of shame on their heads.”

21 Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good. (NLT)

What if Christians had banded together to stand up for those being persecuted, as well as the Christians who were being persecuted, and responded with love. In a worldly sense, most would assume the Nazi’s would have rolled over the church and continue on with its path of destruction. However what if the church cried out to God for strength and the Holy Spirit were to intervene in the hearts of those within the Nazi leadership? Many of those who served in Hitler’s ranks had Christian backgrounds and had been active in the church. Once the Nazi’s controlled Germany the church became part of the state and no longer the church of Jesus Christ. So could the church have resisted and won out through love? Maybe not, but do we believe in God’s ability to change hearts, transform and do all things? I do, and although this hypothetical situation is obviously not what happened, just imagine if it had. Imagine if Christians banded together for peace and changed the world through acting out of love.

So now that I have taken you through the idealistic world of “what if”, let’s look at ways we could affect our world in the here and now. Can we as a church in America and worldwide become a voice and instrument of peace? We are living in a time of warfare almost constantly. Whether it is in Iraq, Afghanistan, Africa, Asia or elsewhere, there seems to always be conflicts arising. When they do could the church be an influence for peace without becoming part of the violence? I think of people like Oscar Romero, Mother Theresa, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Martin Luther King Jr. and so many others who not only spoke out for peace but were coming from a place of Christian conviction. They were powerful in their words and actions. What would happen if every church in the world had someone like this? A person who God called to be an instrument of peace in a world of conflict. How would the world respond to thousands of Dr. Kings, thousands of Mother Theresa’s or thousands of peaceful Christians devoted to loving their enemies and serving those around us? It would be so powerful because of the solidarity we would have through Christ that strengthens us. Would we end war? No, but imagine the effect we could have on the world. Imagine if we went into hostile places, as many do, and loved those who hate us. Imagine if we did this even at home, in our war torn neighborhoods where gangs and poverty have waged war for years. Imagine if we as Christians left the wars and policing to the government and we focused on loving, caring and changing lives! It would be nothing short of amazing to see Christians taking over the role of peace keepers, social services and other life sustaining areas.

I am not talking revolution here by any means; I am talking about getting back to what our church was built on. The principles of love, compassion, grace, forgiveness and most of all salvation. We are called to speak life to a world of death. We may differ on where we stand when it comes to a message of peace but we can not deny it is something Christ stood for. He was not a man of physical warfare but the son of God that showed us how to combat evil through his undying love.

2 Corinthians 10:4 states: We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. (NLT)

Our weapons are not of this world nor is our cause to be passive in the face of evil. We are to fight injustice, evil and hatred but with our weapons that God has given us. We are to do what’s right even in the face of what is most wrong with society. To love those who despise us even when it puts us in danger. It is true that violence is a reality that we have to live with but are we to join in? Can we be loving towards our enemies if we are battling them through human warfare?

There are a lot of questions that I raise but they are all valid. I hope for a day that the church is united. I hope for the day when we can band together despite our different theologies, denominations and traditions to positively change the world in a way that has never been done before. Just think if we as a collective body gave submitted completely to the work of Christ in serving the poor, needy and our enemies. To try and comprehend the impact it would have is almost mind boggling. I would love to see AIDS eradicated in Africa as well as around the world. I would love more to see the church be the ones responsible for it. It would be amazing if the hatred that extremist Muslims have toward our nation as well as Christians was nullified-through our loving those who hate us. I know I am speaking in ideals and pipe dreams but the older I get I realize there are some things that only God can do. We have heard people talk about the want for peace, for the end of hunger and the cure for disease. We often pass these folks off as weirdo’s, dreamers or hippies left over from an age of misguided thinking. Before you wrote me off as that please hear me because I am speaking solely to the church. Sure pipe dreams and ideals are often attached to political extremist and the like but we are talking about the Body of Christ. The power that is in our unity. The reality of the risen Lord and his grace that flows over us. This is the peace that passes all understanding!!! The love that know no bounds.

I leave you with Paul’s words in Romans 8:37-39 where he let’s us know just how powerful his love for us is and how much we should desire to share that love with a hostile world.

37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (NLT)

May God bless you and bring you peace all the days of your life

Amen