The Dogs of War

So last night was interesting. Shari (my wife) and I are camping for a week because we're in between apartment leases, so we have three or four ice chests outside our camper. At about 12:30 a.m., we hear what we think are two people rummaging around our stuff. It sounded just like people walking around - I swear. Shari was absolutely terrified. I was skeptical, but at the same time, I wondered, "Who in their right mind would go through somebody's campsite this early in the night and be so loud?" I picked up a knife close by just in case somebody barged in, and I waited. The noises went away after about 20 minutes or so, and Shari and I had enough confidence to turn on the lights. I figured we were fine, but Shari wanted me to call the police, so I did. We waited a little longer, but we did not go outside until the police showed up. Nothing was missing except the meat in our coolers. It definitely wasn't raccoons - I've seen and heard the workings of raccoons before. Dogs. Stupid dogs. After the cops left, I felt absolutely ridiculous. Here I was, just waiting for some crazy to barge into our camper and hold us hostage, and my kitchen knife was supposed to stop him. It turns out that all I had to do was walk outside and scare the dogs away.

This little event got me thinking. I've been reading a lot of stuff about pacifism lately, and for the most part, I am convinced. Christians are called to be peacemakers and lead lives of nonviolence. BUT - what if somebody barges into your home and there is a legitimate threat against your family. I know I won't even hesitate - I will kill, or at least critically injure that person. To me, it is much more justifiable to harm the criminal than to allow your family to be harmed in any way. If I really love my family, I'm going to protect them. I'll do whatever it takes.

With that example, it's also important to note the difference between pacifism and pasivism. Being passive means that you just let things slide. For example, not going outside to scare the dogs away. A pacifist, on the other hand, takes action. A pacifist, like this guy or this guy, fights - he just does so nonviolently. So, what does a pacifist do in the situation mentioned above? How does he protect his family? Is it okay for a pacifist to kill in this situation?

Here's what I think: I think that pacifism, in this case, is irrelevant. If you look at the early Christians, they advocated nonviolence in direct response to persecution. Even when the Roman Empire would kill and torture Christians, the Christians would respond with nonviolence in order to show the love and mercy of Christ and to show that Christ was indeed truth. Even in the face of death, followers of Christ remained faithful. I believe that we, as Christians, are supposed to remain loyal to Christ and Christ alone. But I don't think the same scenario applies to situation above. The dog invading my camper is not attacking my belief in Christ, he just wants to hurt my family, and I am obligated to protect them - because I LOVE them.

To take this argument further (although I'm not even sure about what my argument really is at this point), what if this same type of situation could be applied on a larger scale? How do Christians respond when people are persecuting other people? Do we just give them food? That's not enough. Sometimes, I think that force may be necessary to adequately destroy social injustice. If you've seen Invisible Children (which you should) you know that the kids in Northern Uganda are having a rough time. They are being killed and abducted by the rebel army. If we want to adequately help these kids, then I think that force is the only answer. There are some nasty people out there who won't respond to grace. Tough love, in some cases, is necessary.

At the same time, I do not think that war among nation-states is justifiable for the Christian to be involved in. Nations have their own interests, and they ask citizens to die for their causes. Nations ask for loyal citizens to die and kill for them. To me, this is putting the nation over and above God. We are called to serve Christ, not America. We are called to love, not to hate. The book of Revelation, when properly understood, warns against the nation that exalts itself above God. Christians must not bow down to the nation-state. We must serve Christ, and Christ only. Just war, understood by most modern Americans, is completely bogus. We tend to think that if you mess with America, we can blow you up, and we think that God is behind us because we stand for democracy. Well guess what? God is not an American. God rules over the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus said that the Kingdom of Heaven is here and now. We need to follow Jesus, not American ideals of democracy.

In regards to pacifism or just war or whatever other terminology you want to use, I would call myself, as Dr. Steve Sadler puts it, a near pacifist. I think we are called to live nonviolently, but at the same time, I am not going to say that there is absolutely no circumstance in which the Christian should use force. So, when the dogs of war come tramping on your ice coolers, what are you going to do?