Goodbye to being Lukewarm on War or Peace

Anyone who has an ear for the news knows a small war has erupted on the eastern edge of Europe. In response our State Department blusters about territorial integrity, condemning our traditional enemy Russia while ignoring the provocative role played by the other side. The result is another example of the moral jumble we‘ve made of foreign policy. Once we've labeled you a good guy you‘re home free, and vice versa. It's the reverse of what Jesus taught about good fruit not coming from bad trees. If our government has declared your tree good, your fruit is sweet by definition, no matter how it tastes on the tongue.

Don’t misunderstand, I’m not defending Russia, just stating the obvious: Standing up for peace looks a bit foolish when you’ve ignored territorial integrity to conduct a war in which hundreds of thousands have died. I suspect that just like in Iraq, war in Georgia could have been avoided if leaders were committed to other strategies. But as long I can recall, propon
As a follower of Christ, I have the habit of looking to our scriptures for insight on political situations. As I read of the new mayhem in Europe the verse which came to mind is Jesus saying his preference is that we be hot for God’s ways, but if we’re not hot, being cold deserves more respect than lukewarm. Since that scripture comes from John’s Revelation, I’ve never put much stock in it as an authentic saying of Jesus. But just the same, I love the sentiment it expresses.

I have no doubt that God’s way is the way of peace. I don’t believe any other conclusion can come from a thorough reading of scripture. You can argue otherwise if you’d like, but in my informed opinion that places you firmly on the other team (and we know who captains that team!). In the Revelation passage, John’s visionary Jesus says he respects people more if they admit who they are, than if they pretend to with you when they’re really against you. It’s a little like letting Joe Lieberman caucus with the Democrats.

After the last presidential election many progressive Christians found it difficult to converse with brothers and sisters who supported President Bush’s war policy. I still find it difficult. When the fudged explanations begin, when unprovoked, preemptive strikes are interpreted as defending oneself against an actual attack, I know the conversation is over. I simply can’t accept our right to decide who might be a threat and then hand out death as a legitimate way of dealing with them. All of us, Americans as well as every other people, carry too many biases to do that with any reliability. The result is that behavior we condemn in our enemies is excused in our friends -- a hypocrisy that breeds cynicism and more destruction. The simple solution is to act from courage, not fear, in a foreign policy that chooses peace over war.

So now when I discuss war and peace with my brothers and sisters in Christ, I avoid letting them cloud the air with details that usually prove false anyway. I simply ask the question John the Revelator had Jesus ask: Are you hot or cold? Are you with me or against me? Are you on the side of peace or the side of war? Isn’t it time we stop excusing those who makes excuses for war? Isn’t it time to get hot for Jesus and choose peace?