art gish quotes
Let me just say that Art Gish is my hero. He is the guy who came and spoke at Lipscomb about CPT.
These quotes come from Art's Hebron Journal.
"Guns are stupid--they're useless. You can't build anything with them, you can't farm with them, you can't nurture children with them, you can't care for the sick with them. What can you do with a gun? They certainly do not bring anyone security, or peace, or freedom. The soldiers have lots of guns, but they are neither free nor secure." (31)
"A basic way of confronting evil and injustice is to make ourselves vulnerable to that evil. This goes to the heart of a Christian understanding of nonviolence, the way of the cross. The New Testament presents us with an understanding that God's ultimate way of overcoming evil is the cross: nonviolent, redemptive, suffering love. It is not through worldly power, but rather through love, weakness, and vulnerability that we overcome evil.
Whether with an angry, alienated individual, or an unjust system, the only way to reconciliation and peace that I know of is for people to open themselves to the pain of the person or system, and through active suffering love to be agents of God's healing power." (17)
"I came here [to Hebron] knowing that it could mean my death. I have tried to accept that I may be killed here. That acceptance of death gives me a lot of freedom. If I am free to die, then I am free to live. I am free to take risks, free to be open and vulnerable, free to go anywhere. But I am still afraid." (29)
"How naive it is to believe that we can act unjustly and it will have no consequences for the future. What we sow we will reap. There is karma. All of our actions have eternal significance. The judgment of God is sure. We sow the seeds of our own destruction. Say it how you will. There is something true and real about the almost universal understanding that we ultimately cannot escape the consequences of our actions. How important is it that our first concern be to live justly, love tenderly, and walk humbly with our God (Micah 6:8)" (58)
I love this man.
These quotes come from Art's Hebron Journal.
"Guns are stupid--they're useless. You can't build anything with them, you can't farm with them, you can't nurture children with them, you can't care for the sick with them. What can you do with a gun? They certainly do not bring anyone security, or peace, or freedom. The soldiers have lots of guns, but they are neither free nor secure." (31)
"A basic way of confronting evil and injustice is to make ourselves vulnerable to that evil. This goes to the heart of a Christian understanding of nonviolence, the way of the cross. The New Testament presents us with an understanding that God's ultimate way of overcoming evil is the cross: nonviolent, redemptive, suffering love. It is not through worldly power, but rather through love, weakness, and vulnerability that we overcome evil.
Whether with an angry, alienated individual, or an unjust system, the only way to reconciliation and peace that I know of is for people to open themselves to the pain of the person or system, and through active suffering love to be agents of God's healing power." (17)
"I came here [to Hebron] knowing that it could mean my death. I have tried to accept that I may be killed here. That acceptance of death gives me a lot of freedom. If I am free to die, then I am free to live. I am free to take risks, free to be open and vulnerable, free to go anywhere. But I am still afraid." (29)
"How naive it is to believe that we can act unjustly and it will have no consequences for the future. What we sow we will reap. There is karma. All of our actions have eternal significance. The judgment of God is sure. We sow the seeds of our own destruction. Say it how you will. There is something true and real about the almost universal understanding that we ultimately cannot escape the consequences of our actions. How important is it that our first concern be to live justly, love tenderly, and walk humbly with our God (Micah 6:8)" (58)
I love this man.
posted by Ashley at 10:06 PM
4 Comments:
Say that you did use violence to defend the kids. You killed the guy who came in your backyard. What repercussions would that act have on you and the kids who would have been there, watching? Wouldn't you be haunted by those memories? Wouldn't the kids be traumatized? Every action has consequences. Would you be prepared to deal with the consequences of your violence? That would be murder, David. That's serious business.
I would suggest that rather than kill the "mean man," you should use a peaceful approach. I'm going to give the steps and rationale in detail in the post that I make right after this comment.
Indeed! Let's ask Don Miller! He knows everything!
You're just assuming that the pacifist approach will fail. What if it succeeds? I think you should always try to refrain from violence.
I believe God hates ALL violence! It's sin! Yes, there is grace and forgiveness, but that does not give a person free reign. Violence and sin of any kind is contrary to the teachings of Jesus.
Paficism is anything but "non-action"--that would be PASSIVEism.
Whew--these questions are easier to answer (the ones about police that is).
Are you just diametrically opposed to writing the word "pacifism"?
God wouldn't condemn you eternally if that's what you're asking--when He looks at you, he sees Jesus because Jesus' blood has covered your sins, but He certainly wouldn't be happy about it! You would grieve the heart of God by resorting to violence. Do you think that Jesus would react in a violent way when faced with this situation? (I'm trying to avoid saying the oh so clichè "WWJD" here because I believe that our culture has just annihilated its meaning). Anyway, now it's 4 hours later than when I started this (had to go babysit). After the kids went to bed, I read some more of Art's book, and sat down and wrote a LONG response. I think it deserves its own post rather than just a comment on here, so I will continue answering your questions on here and then elaborate on my next post.
About police: In the UK, police don't carry guns. Care to guess which country has a higher crime rate? Which country do you think has a higher rate of police gun death (or death in general)? Hmm...There is a biblical call for policing to keep order (Dr. Camp talked about this in UB once...I want to say it was somwehere in Romans, but I'm not sure). So now I can't really remember the argument he used about police and everything...dangit. But as far as prisons are concerned, how much good do they really do? Yes, they keep criminals off the streets, but once they are released, what do the majority of them do? Go right back to committing crimes. There is no rehabilitation--I'm sure your dad knows all about that!!
Anyway, the post I'm about to go write will deal more with these issues.
About my future children, I hope and pray that I don't change my opinion on this. I hope that I can keep my faith strong enough to trust Him even with the lives of my children, as I believe He has called us to do. I don't want this to sound like I'm saying you don't trust God enough because you would fight to protect them--that is not my intention. I am just saying what I believe.
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