In his literary beauty, A Generous Orthodoxy, Brian McLaren relates the overall stance of Anabaptists in regards to conflict and peacemaking. Anabaptism is very close to my heart, the heritage I have been raised in and have come to embrace.
"While a generous orthodoxy does not assume that everyone will become a strict pacifist, it does assume that every follower of Christ will at least be a pacifist sympathizer and will agree that if pacifism is not required for all followers of Christ just yet, it should be as soon as possible. In other words, people holding to the vision of Jesus Christ - the kingdom of God - never believe that the ways of violence lead to peace. For them, there is no way to peace, but rather peace itself is the way to life in God's kingdom. (This is why an argument that brands pacifism as impractical makes little sense to Anabaptists. Practicality used in this way is a means of preserving the status quo, and Anabaptists believe the kingdom of God is not the status quo. For them, the only practical way to receive the kingdom of God is to live in peace.)"
Mmmm... peace that leads to the kingdom of God, peace that defies what we expect from our culture, peace that rejects the status quo and fixes its gaze on something of another nature... I can go for that.
Mmmm... peace that leads to the kingdom of God, peace that defies what we expect from our culture, peace that rejects the status quo and fixes its gaze on something of another nature... I can go for that.
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