Jesus, Tom Fox, and Cal Thomas walk into a war...
Jesus, Tom Fox, and Cal Thomas walk into a war…
“Love thy enemy�—Jesus
"I am to stand firm against the kidnapper as I am to stand firm against the soldier. Does that mean I walk into a raging battle to confront the soldiers? Does that mean I walk the streets of Baghdad with a sign saying 'American for the Taking'? No to both counts. But if Jesus and Gandhi are right, then I am asked to risk my life and if I lose it to be as forgiving as they were when murdered by the forces of Satan."—Tom Fox, Christian Peace Activist kidnapped and killed in Iraq.
“Peace happens when evil is vanquished. The theology of Christian Peacemaker Teams is as wrong as its politics… Peace ‘activism’ may make its practitioners feel good, or validate their belief that they are doing the will of God, but evil cannot be accommodated. Evil must be defeated if peace on earth is to exist. That Fox and his colleagues could not, or would not see this, is most tragic of all.� – Cal Thomas, purported conservative, in his syndicated column, “The Tom Fox Tragedy�)
Let us witness truth. Evil begets evil. Love begets love. Non-violence begets non-violence. Violence begets violence. Non-violence is the way and choice of Jesus and Tom Fox. Violence is the choice of Cal Thomas and the “War President.� When the latter talk about vanquishing evil, what they mean is that killing people will lead to peace. If Cal Thomas were confronted with the state-sponsored terrorism Jesus faced, no doubt he would have advocated a so-called “muscular Christianity�, a Rambo approach. Blow up the crosses, assassinate the Roman soldiers, “take out� Pontius Pilate with “shock and awe.� (All in the name of good, of course.)
Doesn’t have he same ring, the same power as agreeing to die upon the cross for the sins of humanity?
Let that one sink in. According to his own reasoning (you can read his entire article at http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/calthomas/2006/03/14/189678.html), Cal Thomas is calling Jesus both a coward and a comforter of terrorists for choosing to die on the Cross rather than kill, for choosing to love rather than hate his adversaries. Mr. Thomas is saying the greatest sacrifice in the history of humankind was the act of a dupe and a fool. Perhaps Jesus should have preemptively killed and tortured his adversaries instead. Maybe he could have struck up some deal with the neighboring warlords and dictators growing opium and abusing their own people for the expedient purpose of “eliminating Roman evil.�
Yes, when put that way the folly becomes glaring. The hypocrisy and the shear twistedness of Mr. Thomas’s thinking becomes apparent. There is no way to create good through evil means. There is no way to create peace through violent means. We have seen this over and over again. When Rumsfeld and the US allied with the “evil� Hussein to take on the supposedly greater evil of Iran, when US policy makers decided to strike a deal with the devilish Taliban to fight the Russians in Afghanistan, did this create peace or did it create more violence and death? What does it take to convince? Both the realist and the idealist can see the lesson that Jesus saw so clearly 2000 years ago. For it is a timeless truth: There is no violent path toward peace.
This does not mean rolling over and dying under the hand of an attacker, nor “counseling� terrorists. Non-violence also means protecting against and challenging violent acts. In this endeavor, force may be necessary. However, force can only be a place holder, a check on oppression and abuse. The work of lasting peace is always one of love, of surrender and not of conquest. Those who attempt to conquer evil will become evil. Those who truly, deeply, and courageously love will establish peace.
Peace and Love,
Zeus
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Comments
Peace is the Way
In this country presidential elections occur without bloodshed. This peaceful transfer of power is astonishing when viewed through the lens of time where history records bloody coups as the norm. I like to think that during the time of “bloody coups as the norm,” there were people who talked up peaceful transfers of power and who advocated for debates, democracy and voting over power grabs, murder and mayhem. These peacemakers were I’m sure, criticized and rebuked by the Cal Thomases of their day. It’s very hard to be a prophet -- to be the one to point out a better way and have a longer vision of things. Tom Fox was such a prophet. Of course we are still in an age where war seems to be necessary. Cal Thomas understands this. The people who saved the three other hostages risked their lives willingly. They are heroes. But there are civilian women, children and men who have death forced on them through no choice of their own. That can’t be right. War doesn’t work for them. Abraham Maslow said, ““If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.” We use war as a tool and sometimes it seems like war is the only way to solve our problems. What Tom Fox offers the world is a different tool to work with and therefore a different way of seeing the problem of international and domestic dispute. Slowly, over time, a new ethic will emerge and the hammer of war will be the tool of absolutely last resort. And slowly, over more time, war will be seen as archaic, useless, and cruel and absolutely out of the question. But someone has to be brave enough to talk up peace in a time when war seems to be the only good tool around. Tom Fox was one of those people. He saw that war was not a good tool and then acted on that vision.He’s not the only one. There are millions who seek peaceful ways. But for others the only way to combat the terror they feel is to lash out in all directions and hit everywhere in the hopes of somehow fixing the problem. War is their tool of choice. But ultimately war only serves to hammer nails into coffins. Nobody wins. It is imperative that Peace becomes a priority for this country and the world. But it will take work to make it a reality. It can happen. The fact that in this country the peaceful transfer of power is the norm over bloody coups gives me tremendous hope for the future of peace. Let's work with the peacemakers of the planet to make peace a viable tool that brings hope, life and healing to a hurting world.
prophetic words
Wow, Linda your message is as powerful and true as it is clear and calm. Prophetic words for a confused and grasping world. Thank you,
Zeus
Zeus Yiamouyiannis, Ph.D.
Berkeley, CA
Amen!
Zeus, You are absolutely correct! Cal Thomas has made quite a few curt remarks over the capture of the Christian Peacemaker Teams members. I am afraid that Mr. Thomas has not removed his thoughts of action from the world. Christ calls upon us to think in the context of the Kingdom of God. For Christians - of all stripes - our citizenship to the Kingdom of God and its order should supercede any citizenship and order we have on earth. It is time Cal Thomas and the other members of the Religious Right woke up and removed their collective heads out of the sand. Christ calls on His followers to take on the teachings that He has set forth; not the lessons of the world that promote social darwinism and the "kill or be killed" attitude.Cal, my name is Jarrod Cochran. Wake up, my brother! The Kingdom of God is more important than the nation of America. It is high time you realized this. God's calling us to something more than empty partisanship and idolatrous nationalism and it is high time you ceased in furthering the Religious Right's agenda and answered Him.