Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/5/84; site reed.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxt!houxm!vax135!cornell!uw-beaver!tektronix!reed!purtell From: purtell@reed.UUCP (Lady Godiva) Newsgroups: net.religion.christian Subject: Re: What does it mean to be a christian Message-ID: <1546@reed.UUCP> Date: Sun, 19-May-85 15:32:00 EDT Article-I.D.: reed.1546 Posted: Sun May 19 15:32:00 1985 Date-Received: Sat, 1-Jun-85 02:16:52 EDT References: <29@denelvx.UUCP> Reply-To: purtell@reed.UUCP (Lady Godiva) Distribution: net Organization: Reed College, Portland, Oregon Lines: 72 Keywords: answers Summary: In article <29@denelvx.UUCP> robert@denelvx.UUCP (Robert Sparks) writes: >Jesus' life as an example seems to say that we MUST REJECT ALL VIOLENCE ! >Perhaps it is only when we reject all violence that we are forced, against >all that society tries to teach us, to find CHRISTIAN SOLUTIONS ! >It is NOT enough to say violence is wrong. Christians must come up with >SOLUTIONS ! CHRISTIAN SOLUTIONS ! EFFECTIVE CHRISTIAN SOLUTIONS ! >Apathy is not an acceptable christian solution. Ignoring suffering is not an >acceptable christian solution. Violence is not an acceptable christian >solution. So what is an acceptable christian solution ? >I am not sure. I do know that there are christian answers. Answers which >are not as "soul satisfying" as a "final solution", but which can help. >So I ask you, I challenge you. What are good christian solutions to central >america, south africa, the middle east, ... ? The fate of the world, & >our individual peace of mind hangs in the balance. When reading this I was reminded of the movie "Witness", particularly the talk between the little boy (his name escapes me at the moment) and his grandfather about the gun and violence. I thought that was a wonderful scene and had a lot of good things to say. I agree that Jesus' life says that we should reject all violence. "What are the Christian answers?" That's a tough one. I think demonstrating is one of them though. Peaceful demonstrations. They do help, although sometimes we would believe otherwise. They help to change laws. The best example I can think of for an example of a peaceful Christian demonstrator is Martin Luther King Jr. He certainly had an effect, and I don't see why others couldn't have similar effects using similar methods. That's national. International problems are, of course, a much more complex problem. I think that as a nation, rather than sending military aid to countries, particularly countries with a high degree of poverty, we should be sending food and medical aid. We should be helping the people of the country rather than trying to decide what government should rule there. So many Christians are terrified that the communists will take over the U.S. I'm not certain if they are afraid of this because they don't want to lose their chance (and their children's chance) to become finacially secure in our capitalistic society, or if it's because they're afraid that the communist idealogy will become more prominant than the Christian one, and corrupt the future generations. What seems so ridiculous to me about each of these is that 1) Christians are supposed to not care about material possessions, so why is everyone so in favor of capitalism anyway, and 2) it seems that since so many people would obviously rather destroy the Russians with nuclear bombs than become ruled by them, I don't see how our idealogies could become more corrupted. Christ didn't nuke his captors, (and I don't believe that he had to go to the cross, I think it was his choice) so why should we? I do understand that many people fear the communists because they don't want to lose a democratic repubic and thus lose freedom of speech, etc. and I can sympathise with that. But I still don't believe that that justifies killing off an entire nation, and quite possibly the population of the world. Jesus said that the meek shall inherit the earth. I don't see getting involved in other people's wars, invading tiny islands, or having more nulear weapons than any other nation in the world as being particularly meek. Sorry that I rambled on so. Back to the original question, I think that at least some of the answers are to demonstrate (peacefully) and to help the poor of other countries, as well as our own, both as a nation and as individuals. (After all that's what the Peace Corps and Mother Theresa are all about.) Also prayer. I believe that prayer helps a great deal, and I know that I wish I did more of it than I do. I'm sure, or at least I hope, that these are not the only answers. They may not even be the best ones. But then, I'm not a preacher or a saint. I'm just a struggling Christian idealist in a small liberal arts college in the northwest trying desperately to make sense out of things... elizabeth g. purtell (Lady Godiva)