From A Testament to Freedom: The Essential Writings of Deitrich Bonhoeffer (Editor’s Introduction, p. 11)
“Given the Gospel’s insistence on universal brotherhood and sisterhood in Jesus Christ, Bonhoeffer began to see for the first time the absurdity of Christians killing people for the sake of national pride or territorial ambitions.”
Kind of seems obvious , “given the Gospels” and “Given” the very words and life of Jesus, doesn’t it? And yet, Christians by the millions find some way around this. It usually boils down to “kill or be killed”, which is why “pre-emption” seems attractive to those who would maintain some theological integrity alongside their cultural mores. I secretly maintain a distinction when I refer to “Christian”. There is the “cultural” Christian (a member of that society’s popular Church) and there are Christians that need know qualifier, since they actually follow Christ. I can find all kinds of room for including a whole lot of theological play, except where it comes to the willingness to toss out at least a tendency to non-violence, and taking seriously “love your enemies” and “love God with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself”.
Yes, and also, many Christians start from the premise that “evil must be stopped” and then come up with Christian reasons as to why this is (despite the fact that God has already in fact won), as opposed to beginning first with what it means to be Christian.
God never told us that we are to be the evil-stoppers and “Team America: World Police” of the world. We are called to be peacemakers and to be Christian every step of the way. I just read something last night about the situational atheism that all too often dominates Christian circles where Christians engage in very un-Christian activities and means (war) for Christian ends (peace). Clearly, we must begin by asking ourselves what it means to be a follower of Christ.