Turn the other Cheek? But that hurts!

"If your God makes war,
then he's no God I know.
Because Christ
would not send boys to die."
-A.A. Bondy (American Hearts)

While I love this song and I love this album, I have to confess that I don't agree with Bondy's logic. I do agree that God does not make war, but I don't agree with the second part of the statement. I would say that Christ would not send boys to kill. For me to say that Christ would never send boys to die would be for me to deny the line of martyrs who have kept this movement going. It would be for me to deny Christ's act of mercy.

I believe that Christ died. I believe that he had the ability not to, and that he didn't really want to. He asked the father to pass the cup from him. I believe that a strong message in the gospel is the one of submission. Christ's death was the ultimate example of submission. Many people died much more painful deaths than the one Christ did. So if your faith is rooted in the message of The Passion of the Christ, I would encourage you to rethink things a bit. To me, a god- The God, stepping down to a level far below his, and then letting the inhabitants of this level kill him, is much more powerful of a statement than the blood and guts that were spilled in the process. Don't misunderstand me here, I don't mean to say that the cross style of death should be treated as insignificant. I am simply saying that the fact that He died means more to me than the way that He died.

Christ set an example for us.

He trusted that the father had things under control.(?)

He chose not to exercise his power over the people as an act of love for them.(?)

I think it is safe to say that we don't trust and that we do exercise power because if we do trust and don't exercise power, we will certainly die. We are living a life rooted in fear. When people say things like "well you just have to take up your cross." in response to a stressful social issue, I am enraged. I don't think they realize what this means. This is a call to die. This isn't saying that when ever life gets hard, we are to label it as persecution and let it be our cross. Life is hard for everyone- Christians too. The difference is that Christians have a hope in death. My buddy Ben said to me once, "You're not defined by the ways you fall, but by the ways you get back up."

Taking up your cross means to submit your will and life to an other. (This means that their life is now more important than your own. If we live like this, how can we possibly kill?!) I have heard a story about a guy who is no longer an active BLOOD member, but is still technically in the gang. We will call him Steve. He has recently found Christ and is walking closely with some college Christians in this. He recently presented a concern to his new friends. He told them that when a BLOOD member joins a religion or an other gang, his former members will track him down and beat him with bats and chains. He is very scared for his life. One of his friends, we'll call him Fred, has told this ex-gang member that he will walk with him at all times. Fred has committed to being a part of the beating when it happens. He might die a the hands of hate filled men, all for something that he didn't even do. But what an act of love to my boy Steve! This is what Christ does for us.

Christ had every right to fight back. The men who killed him were doing so with hate in their eyes and it was unjust. Imagine what it would be like if we chose to submit as Christ did! The world wouldn't know what to do with us!

To take up your cross is to walk into danger for the sake of an other. (Many will back up being a soldier with this. I won't.)
To take up your cross is not to fear other men so much that you will fly across the ocean and kill them before they can kill you.

Let's stop acting like it is our job to know and enforce things. If you claim to understand God, you don't. The God of the universe will never be understood by a man, and therefore any man who thinks that he understands him is a man understanding a god other than that of the universe. I can't stand the fact that we think that we are so right that we have split up with each other. When I drive around the city and see church after church, doing their own thing in their own bubble, I get this feeling like something is wrong. The gospel of Jesus Christ is one of unity. This means that we can be different and that we can disagree, but we will still get along. This is what makes us different from the world. Our love should make people wonder what we are up to.

We shall be known by our love for each other, not our hate for the world. From the outside looking in, we look like a group of rule followers who can't stand our own kind and who advocate the hate of the other kinds.

Let's love one an other. The Spirit of God, through Jesus Christ, is the only way. It is the only way. Let's start by submitting to one an other. It will be hard. Submitting could mean that even when your idea is better, you go with an other one. I promise you that if you prayerfully submit to one an other, you will find life and fulfillment in the process. My mom gave up a whole life to have kids. My life became more important to her than her own and in the process she had to watch me do some really stupid stuff that she knew was unnecessary. That is true submission. Ask her and I bet she'll tell you that she would do it all over again. When we submit, we love, and when we love, we submit.

If you disagree, make it known to me. I said all of these things because I believe them to be true, but realize that my belief is completely incomplete without yours included. I don't claim for this to be the only way or only idea and I don't want to fight. I am seeking peace among believers and as a result, peace in the world. I am a ligament in a body that has much greater parts. Please bring yourself to the table in a realistic manner. Real love will not be experienced unless we are real people. Let's love each other. I'm praying that we would learn to love each other.

"If a writer is so cautious that he never writes anything that cannot be criticized, he will never write anything worth reading. If you want to help other people you have got to make up your mind to write things that some men will condemn,"
-Thomas Merton.

Thank you for reading. I love you.