Pacifism Preface

The last two months have been extremely demanding of my energy. There are now 5 people who need my efforts on a nearly hourly basis. Eating for 4 (yes, I still firmly believe I am pregnant with twins, plus I am still nursing) leaves me feeling a little like I am hosting Mono or something. My husband has been deteriorating from trying to play competitive basketball in our church's league with the result that he actually dislocated his shoulder Saturday (this makes the 4th time in the last 8-10 years) worse than ever before. He is on so much pain medication that it's about all he can do to stay awake enough to eat without laying back down. Business is going as well a start-up can hope for - but that still means slow, i.e. nearly zero cash flow - and now a husband out for a week.

Yet, we remain beautifully sheltered from the lovely spring showers. Birds happily tease my cats from the trees outside our large insulated windows. Our bellies remain filled with nutrient-dense foods. My children remain outstanding and capable of love that would keep me smiling even if we were living under a bridge together. So, I do not mean for the previous paragraph to come off as a complaint. I was hoping it would serve more as an explanation for my silence on this blog - or an explanation of my contributions that have been a bit less significant than what I might like to be writing about. I prefer writing about ideas/pondering/musings/etc. I have missed having the time to devote to thinking.

That said, I would like to dip my toes back into exploring, for myself, what I think the biblical perspective is on non-violence/pacifism.

I have a met-only-through-blogging friend named Dustin, whose blog I discovered from searching for other people who listed "Over the Rhine" as a favorite artist on their blogspot profile (though he no longer uses blogspot). I have enjoyed reading his pondering on spiritual matters, as I think he is a true seeker - regardless of where some of our theological musings may differ. We have chatted about having a little blog-hopping, or at least tandem, discussion about topics related to pacifism. We will provide links back and forth to the corresponding post. I think his views on this topic are more settled than mine, but I think whatever I conclude, my ideas will be sharpened from the discussion. I hope you, my reader, will allow me this "change from the usual programming".

Here is a rough sketch of what we have in mind to guide our discussion:

1. definition of pacifism versus non-violence (also with a discussion of non-violent resistance versus non-resistance)

2. non-violence and its implications — nationally

3. non-violence and its implications — for the church

4. non-violence and its implications — for the individual

5. physical discipline in the home as it relates to non-violence

I say "rough sketch" because I am sure that somewhere in there we will stumble into a discussion of hermeneutics and divine determinism, or basically a readers-digest-version of our primary assumptions...but I also hope to post Scrivner-silliness along the way so as to keep you entertained and engaged with my person as a whole (or however much that can actually happen without sitting on the floor with me and the boys before dinner), for I am not plagued by this topic, just very interested in sorting it out for myself. I am going to try to write something for this each week.

I will try to title the posts so that if you do not care to read them you can know which ones to skip. I also am excited to see how you might contribute to the discussion, as I would love to be benefited by your thoughts as well. The first paragraph of this post was also an explanation of why I might not be able to respond as quickly as I might like (see my previous post about not liking to leave people waiting), and for the sake of achieving the ends for which I am setting out, I will prioritize responding to Dustin, and then turn my attention to responding to others.

Sara Kay - I know this was a sensitive subject a few months ago. I do not mean for any of this to be directed at you or your church family. I do not think either of us have the time to devote to fully working it out (at least not quickly) amidst tending to our families (especially since I have not even sorted out my own thinking and I know we are similarly passionate and devoted and could easily get too consumed), but perhaps you and I could engage in some blog-hopping dialog once this discussion is over and I actually have had time to figure out what I think! Sound fair?

Further disclaimer - What ever conclusions I state, I am NOT suggesting that people who beg to differ are just wrong, or heathens, or anything like that. My current position is probably best illustrated by this post on my other blog. We stand or fall before God individually. I am just striving to stand for myself.