If our faith is maintained by the sword, it will also parish by the sword. Our possessions and lives are God’s; they were bought by the price of Christ’s blood, not the blood of our enemies. A soldier’s job is not to sacrifice his/her life for our country, but to make the enemies sacrifice their lives for our country. John 15:13 says, "There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends," not, "There is no greater love than to make another person lay down one’s life for your friends." Christ brought the reign of the spiritual, not physical, Kingdom. He showed it by stressing that we should arm ourselves with the armor of God instead of physical weapons (Ephesians 6:10-18), value treasures in heaven (Matthew 6:19-21), become born of the Spirit (John 3:1-21), grow in a family of believers instead of blood lines (Luke 8:21), call no place on earth our homeland (Matthew 8:20) and love our enemies for us to "be perfect, as our heavenly Father is perfect." (Matthew 5:43-48). Who would Jesus kill to protect our family, land or liberty?

Christian Nonviolence in brief

This entry was originally published at Interconnectedness by Mikhail (Misha) Lomize