Non Violence

And the Nature of Christ

    Who did Jesus kill? There were Romans in his day who were indiscriminately murdering and raping women of his nationality in an oppressive occupation of his homeland. Who did he kill?  He told Peter to put away his sword when he himself was being captured in the Garden of Gethsemene that we are going to hear a lot about this Easter season. The radical call to non violence challenges us even today, as it runs counter-intuitively against the grain of human impulse.
    A talk was given by the author of the book Bonhoffer about Dietrich Bonhoffer, whom he calls a Martyr and Saint essentially for his opposition to Naziism. He spoke at this year's National Prayer breakfast and brags he gave a copy of his book to Obama "no pressure" he says, to read it (as if Obama isn't familiar with the story.)
     Bonhoffer lost his life in a Concentration camp arrested for either his involvement in a conspiracy to assassinate Hitler or his writings against the Nazi regime as a Christian pastor and theologian who opposed the political philosophy and its murderous manifestations. He felt he had to act to stop the madman.
    Does it undermine a Christian witness to plot assassinations of evil people? He argued, no, we applaud people like David who slew the Philistine Goliath.
   Did Jesus kill anyone who was evil? Let me ask it again. Did Jesus kill anyone who was evil?
"I came that you would have life and have it abundantly." He wishes that no man should die but that all have eternal life.
   The book author noted that Bonhoffer said abortion was murder.
So if it is right to assassinate an archevil guy like Hitler for murdering innocent people, is it right to murder abortion doctors who are murdering innocent people? He found the question either non analogous or simpleminded and rather than answer it, he insulted the questioner as not grasping the depth of evil of Hitler, as head of state. Well then, what about Cheney and Bush mass murdering over 100,000 innocent collaterally damaged Iraqis who didn't ask for bombs and foreign troops to stormtroop them from half across the world. Should we say that it is morally justified to assassinate Bush-Cheney while this attrocity was going on in the misnomer of national security? No, he argued, you can't just say its OK to kill leaders of countries because you disagree with them. How about if they kill off without the slightest hint of repentence hundreds of thousands of innocent people in foreign countries without provocation or justification? No, of course not, but why? He didn't have any answer to that- if it was OK to do it to Hitler, it's not OK to do it to anyone else. Because Hitler is just lightyears worse a demon?
    I am not advocating assassination of leaders- and in fact official policy is that we don't do it to foreign leaders. Unofficially, I don't want to know. Nor am I saying Hitler shouldn't have been stopped- of course he should have been. But the point is that what is the 'limiting principle' or dividing line between when it is OK to violate the basic Jesus Non Violence principle and when  is it not. The guys waging misnamed national security protection (fueled by the vicious paranoia of neocons like Feif whose father is a Holocaust survivor) who rigged intelligence with Cheney to such a degree he was investigated by a Spanish Judge's tribunal for possible War Crimes Indictment (and yet freely walks the streets of think tanks in Washington like killing over a hundred thousand people on a lark is no big deal)should be wondering- why am I allowed to get off so easily?  .There have been saner psychopaths than the people who ran the last Administration into mass murdering wars that were justified only by oil profits and fuled by ancient Holocaust paranoia, whose strategies actually harmed Israeli security interests. 

     The non-thinking republican right that want to argue for the right to commit violence under the banner of holier than thou Jesus flag carriers are not thinking through clearly who Jesus actually was and is and ever shall be. They may sell a bunch of books but get us no closer to the Kingdom on Earth as it is in Heaven.  Conversion not murder was what Jesus was about. Conversion doesn't allow just nuking people off the planet, especially when they didn't do anything to suggest they are about to attack you.
  You convert by love. Fierce, strong, love.  This is the Jesus strategy. Do you or do you not believe him? If you don't you can't really call yourself a Christian.