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Leonard Brabson sent me a book on Paul, which I am enjoying. The authors make a clear distinction between the imperial theology of Rome, where victory leads to peace, and the theology of Paul, where equality and justice lead to peace. I'm all for equality and justice, but there is a question, that relates to practicality, survival and personal choices- what do you do when another person isn't interested in equality and justice, but just wants to kill you because they despise you?

This is where Christianity, if practiced by the standards described by Paul and the preachings of Jesus, is poorly suited to be an enculturated religion. Unless we are all willing to die for our beliefs, we must resist someone else's desire to kill us and our families.

In an ideal world, we could all talk to each other and settle our differences. No one would lie, and no one would secretly build weapons to impose their will on another person. But we all know these things happen, and most people really are not ready to die for their pacifism, or perhaps better said the non-pacifism of others, or let their children be killed for it.

Here I draw a clear difference between the kingdom of God and the affairs of Man. There is no problem with an individual choosing not to resist aggression, but it is difficult for a nation and a leader. Macchiavelli dealt with this issue tortuously in 'The Prince', with the concepts of a just war and the requirements of a Christian ruler. 

I have listened to some Christians say they are opposed to all war. I appreciate their sentiments, but have never gotten to ask one what they would do if they knew aggression and murder were taking place. Was it righteous for the US to get involved in WW2? When is it right or wrong to pursue military solutions? 

Once again I assert that I am not a very good Christian. It seems obvious to me that the way to avoid trouble is to confront it early and plainly. Trouble rarely just 'goes away'. You can get a quick idea of who is the aggressor in a situation by asking what would happen if one side put down their weapons. For example, if the arab nations declared they would not attack Israel ever again, the Israelis would not in glee go and slaughter Palestinians. On the other hand, if Israel said it was unilaterally disarming, it would be destroyed in a month.

Right now Israel is increasingly concerned with Iran's nuclear capabilities. Trying to conceal their experiments as an electrical generating program is ridiculous. Those who do not know history are condemned to repeating it. Germany concealed its rearmament, calling its tanks 'heavy tractors'. England and France, tired from WW1, would do anything to avoid facing the prospect of another war. The result was that, when war finally began, Germany was much stronger, and took 6 years to defeat, instead of the month that would have sufficed to halt their aggression in 1935, when they had no tanks of note, no aircraft and no army expansion.

The US keeps soft-soaping the issue of Iran's nuclear capability. It is a life and death issue to the Israelis, who have made clear they can not tolerate it, and will use, to quote, 'any means at our disposal, andwe mean it'. This is a coy cue that they are willing to use tactical nuclear weapons to attack facilities deeply buried in the mountains.

Now it may be a matter of policy that we stay 'clean' of the issue while allowing Israel to take the heat for action. But it looks more like self-delusion by a government that, by its actions to date, appears to believe we should all just get along.

This kind of thinking is the same that allows a person to ignore their bleeding sore until they have metastatic skin cancer, or ignore their hypertension treatment until they have a stroke (I won't say a word about diabetes!), or ignore their spouse's unhappiness until it turns into an affair or a separation.

Twain said it is better to be silent and thought a fool than to open your mouth and confirm the opinion. I don't disagree with that for speech, but it definitely does not apply to dealing with trouble. Best to deal with it right away, and find out if there is real trouble or not, than to wait and find out there was. That's true medically, personally, socially, and internationally.

Ted  

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