Some one will undoubtedly say that due to the subject of my last few postings, that my leftist or rightist or libertarian politics are showing. But I assure you I have a deeper agenda than mere ideological spin.
I do not highlight the hypocrisy of American foreign policy for sheer giggles of uncovering hypocrisy. I need not write a thing in order to expose such vice. Looking in the mirror daily will suffice for that.
Rather it is the wider call of the disciple of Jesus upon me. That possibly, the issue of violence and force are better understood in this arena since we as a nation are forced to examine and the fears of more violence in a region of the world rather obscure now threaten us.
I like to think I am a realist. Coming from the mean streets of Bridgeport, Connecticut taught me something. Violence is the order of necessity. Since we are creatures of necessity, violence is the dominant trend. Like gravity or erosion, they are here. Which is exactly the line of thought I found in the writings of Jacques Ellul
What I've learned thus far...
That when I, as a mere man or as part of a greater nation, CHOOSE the path of violence I enter a system of necessities that subjects me and untold others to the indefinite reproduction of violence. Reciprocity.
I am not surprised when a women, trapped in her basement by a molester, strikes him dead and runs into the sunlight, or an enslaved people take up arms to produce liberty for themselves. Indeed, I applaud such action. But being a realist, the violence used is never without further consequences.
Having studied the ideas of "Just wars" and such that the theologians have articulated I find them all to be wanting. All violence is, in the end, the same and it has no limits even though, it seems, we like to think we can just declare them.
Terrorism is but a tactic of violence. It is escalation of violence in the hope of securing victory. That we choose to not employ it in favor of other tactics doesn't make it evil and 'us' right. When a US Marine throws a fragmentation grenade into a house that harbors enemies that are killing his comrades, he may not intend for women and children also in that house to die and most likely desires the opposite. But, as most would say, it is an unfortunate result. Collateral damage. We may mourn and cry. Drink away the nightmares but the terrorist is likewise employing violence to achieve an end that while never fully realized continues the insanity.
I am not here equating Marines to Terrorists. But violence, once unleashed, knows no boundaries and has only one certain goal. Reciprocity. Escalation.
I've been in war and it is madness. There are no rules though we like to think there are.
"Violence is a single thing, and it is always the same. In this respect, too, Jesus saw the reality. He declared that there is no difference between murdering a fellow man and being angry with him or insulting him (Matthew 5:21-22).
This passage is no "evangelical counsel for the converted"; it is, purely and simply, a description of the nature of violence." - Jacques Ellul
Once I open that nasty bag of tricks, there is no controlling the flow. When for instance, little Georgia declared independence in the early 1990's, many moved quickly to recognize it. Knowing as humans do that positions of power require violence and force to maintain. Not soon after, regions within Georgia declared Independence from it but because they were sympathetic to Russian alliances, no one acknowledged it. Much like the little US Colonies in 1776. In that day the known Empire thought it violent and obscene, but in time and thru violence, the nation of America was recognized.
We all decry violence aimed against us and yet we use and justify violence for ourselves. Whether its parents, police, bankers, politicians, employers or rioters.
Ah , you say. So true, violence begets violence-nothing else. But as long as the ends are desirable it is justified. Al Quadi's end goal, the Russian's end goal, the guy down the street whom I detest end goal, are not justifiable therefor he is condemned while my use of violence against them, is!
Violence can never realize a noble aim, can never create liberty or justice. The removal of Russian violence in the Balkans opened up suppressed violence among the various tribes and ethnic groups. Remove them with violent means will beget you more violence and this unforeseen.
Violence never attains the objectives it announces as justifying its use. Nations, Governments and institutions established through "just" violence are never an
improvement. Ask the American Indian and African slave how the war of Independence established freedom and justice for all. Ask the Vietnamese farmer how the ousting of France and the US established the great age of prosperity and peace.
Pacifism is not an answer either. It is not realistic. Unaware of the real evil and danger that lurks. Siding with the enemy is not a solution though the condemnation of all violence is agreed with.
Another way exists.
The first duty of a Christian is to reject idealism. Christian realism leads to the conclusion that violence is natural and normal to man and society, that violence is a kind of necessity imposed on governors and governed, on rich and poor.
What Christ does for us is above all to make us free. Man becomes free through the Spirit of God, through conversion to and communion with the Lord. This is the one way to true freedom.
But to have true freedom is to escape necessity or, rather, to be
free to struggle against necessity. Therefore, only one line of action is open to the Christian who is free in Christ. He must struggle against violence precisely because, apart from Christ, violence is the form that human relations normally and necessarily take. In other words, the more completely violence seems to be of the order of necessity, the greater is the obligation of believers in Christ's Lordship to overcome it by challenging necessity.
In the Old Testament, man shatters the necessity of eating by fasting, the necessity of toil by keeping the Sabbath; and when he fasts or keeps the Sabbath he recovers his real freedom, because he has been found again by the God who has re-established communion with him.
And this freedom is fully accomplished by and through Jesus Christ. For Christ, even death ceases to be a necessity: I give my life for my sheep; it is not taken from me, I give it." And the constant stress on the importance of giving signifies a breaking away from the necessity of money.
For the role of the Christian in society, in the midst of men, is to shatter
fatalities and necessities. And he cannot fulfill this role by using violent
means, simply because violence is of the order of necessity.
To use violence is to be of the world.
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