Site
Contents
 |
General Information about the Area Office
North Indiana Conference Office
South Indiana Conference Office
Prayer Guides
(Courtesy of the NIC Prayer Team)
Area United Methodist
Foundation
For resources to assist your congregation in welcoming guests,
click here
Seashore District Volunteer Center VIM project -- Completed
Hoosier United Methodist News Archives
| Hoosier United Methodist News |
January 2002 |
Letter spotlight:
Not annihilation but transformation of evil
By Steven Brey and Lynda Ward
I certainly agree that doing nothing in the face of evil is, itself, an evil, but how can any punishment which does not at least aim to be remedial be compatible with the one who when he was reviled, reviled not; when he suffered, threatened not; but instead prayed for his enemies?
It is certainly a good goal to try and annihilate terror from the face of the earth. Terrorist acts which deliberately target civilians are abhorrent. But is showering bombs upon the terrorists compatible with the teachings Jesus when he said, "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you?" (Luke 6:27)
Here is my concern: as Christians we have gotten into the habit of equating anything just and good with Christianity, and certainly Christ's kingdom will be one of justice and goodness, but if the long delay of the kingdom is any indication, it would seem that Christ is also equally interested in how we get there. In other words the methods we use in achieving our desired goals are as important, it would seem, as the goals themselves.
So there is no argument that terrorism, evil must be confronted and challenged. The difficult question that remains is how should we as Christians confront and challenge it? Certainly justice and goodness are virtues to be lauded, but are not we as Christians also called to value a higher righteousness? The justice we seek as Christians is a higher justice that seeks to confront people with the truth of their own injustice. The goodness we seek as Christians includes not just our good, but even the good of our enemies.
It seems to me that Christ came into the world to give a particular witness to another way: a way that seeks not the annihilation of evil, but the transformation of evil into good. It may in the general sense of the words be just and good to wage war upon the terrorists of the world, but the seeking of such justice does not promote their good, it simply kills them. Jesus' way is, I'll admit, utterly radical. Why should we have any compassion or show any mercy toward killers? Why should we seek to enter into relationship with them? And yet who can argue that Jesus did this toward those who tortured and killed him.
Jesus was attempting with his life and with his death to give witness to a deeper reality. He was, I believe, trying to reveal that the virtue that lay at the core of God's very being: love.
That sounds all nice, but here's the catch: in a world filled with evil, the only way to love is to suffer, even willingly to embrace suffering. Jesus was willing to die in the belief that sacrificial love is the most powerful force in the universe, for he believed it to be grounded in the very nature of God. And he called his followers to take up their crosses, likewise, and follow him. It was, the early church believed, a call to martyrdom.
Now I realize that a call to martyrdom is, of course, utterly unrealistic for a country like the United States, but then the United States does not claim to be Christian. But what of the Church? What of us as Christians? How are we confronting and challenging the evil of our times? And is our response Christian?
The Rev. Steven Brey is pastor at South Bend Epworth UMC
Lynda Ward is pastoral Assistant at Epworth and Communications Coordinator for Michiana District.
Last updated on January 14, 2004