- Adin Ballou in Non-Resistance in Relation to Human Governments
23.3.13
"Well," says the objector, "I should like to know how you would manage matters if the ruffian should actually break into your house with settled intent to rob and murder. Would you shrink back like a coward and see your wife and children slaughtered before your eyes?" I cannot tell you how I might act in such a dreadful emergency - how weak and frail I should prove. But I can tell how I ought to act - how I should wish to act. If I am a firm, consistent non-resistant, I should prove myself no coward; for it requires the noblest courage and the highest fortitude to be a true non-resistant. If I am what I ought to be, I should be calm and unruffled by the alarm at my door. I should meet my wretched fellow-man with a spirit, an air, a salutation, and a deportment so Christ-like, so little expected, so confounding, and so morally irresistible that in all probability his weapons of violence and death would fall harmless by his side. I would say "Friend, why do you come here? Surely not to injure those who wish you nothing but good? This house is one of peace and friendship to all mankind. If you are cold, warm yourself at our fire; if hungry, refresh yourself at our table; if you are weary, sleep in our bed; if you are destitute, poor, needy, freely take of our goods. Come, let us be friends, that God may keep us all from evil and bless us with his protection."
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Good luck with that strategy. If you love your wife and children, however, and wish to discharge your duties as a father and husband with honor, you may want to consult Luke 22:35-39, Exodus 22:2-3, or Psalm 82:4
ReplyDeleteThe Luke passage does present an interesting dynamic to Jesus's teaching, but it cannot be divorced from the rest of his teaching (turn the other cheek - Matt 5:39, love your enemies - Matt 5:34, don't respond to evil with evil - 1 Peter 3:9, all who live by the sword, die by the sword - Matt 26:52, and so on). Also, the Luke passage advocates just two swords for 11 people. I don't know the intended purpose of this verse, but it seems a stretch to use it in order to justify violence.
ReplyDeleteAs for Exodus, we know that Jesus did not come to abolish the Old Testament laws, but to fulfill them (Matt 5:17). The above statements of Jesus illustrate parts of the fulfilled law in respect to violence. As Christians, we are to strive to follow the fulfilled law rather than the hebrew laws.
Finally, Psalsm. I agree 100%! We just can't use violence to do it (see above). Throughout his time on Earth, Jesus continually advocated a third way; neither fight nor flight. As Christians, we are called to fearlessly confront evil and to selflessly protect the innocent, but we are called to do it in the same ways Jesus did it. We are to trust in the power of God to overcome evil rather than the illusion of our own power that violence creates.
Side note: We're told that there is no greater love than to lay down your life for a brother (John 15:13) not that there is no greater than to kill for a brother.
I, by no means, think this little ditty will change anyone's minds, but I challenge you to wrestle with these verses and the teachings of Jesus. I have been for the past year. A biblical justification use of violence would honestly make life a lot easier, but I am struggling to find one.