My friend Tyler Stewart sent me this story a while back, but I hadn't seen it until now. And it's too good not to post:
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Julio Diaz, a 31-year-old Bronx social worker, just wanted to do what he did every night on the way home from work: grab a quick bite to eat at his favorite diner. Only one thing stood in his way from doing just that—a mugger. When Diaz stepped off the train and onto the subway platform, a teenager ran up to him, pulled out a knife, and demanded Diaz hand over his wallet. Realizing it wasn't worth a fight, Diaz fished the wallet out of his pocket and gave it to the boy. Much to the mugger's surprise, Diaz decided to go the extra mile. As the teen ran away, Diaz called out, "If you're going to be robbing people for the rest of the night, you might as well take my coat to keep you warm."

The boy stopped in his tracks, shocked. Diaz explained that it was quite clear the teen needed money, so he told him to keep the wallet, take the coat, and if he wanted, grab a bite to eat with Diaz. The boy was too shocked to say no.

As the two ate dinner at Diaz's favorite diner, the teen marveled over how many dishwashers and waitresses offered Diaz a wave or a friendly word. He figured Diaz owned the place. When the boy shared his observation, Diaz smiled and said, "Haven't you been taught you should be nice to everybody?"

"Yeah," the teen replied, "but I didn't think people actually behaved that way."

The two continued to talk about life and other matters. When the bill finally came, Diaz told the boy that he needed his wallet to pay. The boy handed it back over without thinking twice. Diaz paid for the meal and offered the teen $20. He also asked that his would-be mugger surrender the knife—which he did.

When Diaz told his mother about the encounter, she said, "You're the type of kid that if someone asked you for the time, you would give them your watch."

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Third (see below), I have long thought that the accusation of “naive” simply doesn’t make sense when used by a non-pacifist of a pacifist. I get this all the time: “You're being naive. You want a world that doesn’t exist. In the real world, violence is necessary to deal with evil.” So often I want to say, “No, you want a world that doesn’t exist. In the real world, violence simply doesn’t deal effectively with evil - at least not as well as you imply.”

People often bring up Hitler as the prime example of when it was necessary to engage in violence. That may or may not be true, but it is a fact that even though Hitler is now dead, evil continues to wreak havoc on our world. Killing Hitler did not stop the birth and accession to power of men like Saddam Hussein or Osama bin Laden. (I only pick these two because in my culture they are the two most recent and baddest bad guys.) The fact is that we live in a world where evil is and will continue to be, and nothing we can do will change this fact.

Of course one can make the argument that evil must nevertheless be restrained or minimized, and that violence is necessary for this task. First, while the first part is true, it is no way proven, or even likely in my opinion, that continuing the cycle of violence is the most effective way to minimize the world’s violence. Second, even if it were, that says nothing about the responsibility of Jesus-followers to participate in this violent restraint. If it is true that our central task is not effectiveness in making the world a bit safer place, but rather faithfulness to the gospel and lordship of Jesus the Messiah, then the whole point is moot. (Again, I’m oversimplifying, but it really does seem this clear to me, at least some of the time.)

As for the main point I’m trying to make, I was glad to see Carter similarly picking apart this idea that pacifists are somehow more naive than non-pacifists when it comes to living in a violent evil world. We must all first acknowledge what can and cannot be expected to result from our attempts to mitigate evil, whether through the use or the rejection of violence. No program or system or commitment is going to rid the world of evil and/or war. And, second, we must allow this realism to bring to light how we are and should evaluate our actions in this regard. Which question is more important: What actions will most effectively minimize evil and suffering in this world? What actions will most faithfully witness to the gospel and lordship of Jesus Christ? Perhaps they are the same question; then again, perhaps not. (And now, by the way, we come full circle, for it makes no sense to opt for the second question apart from the reality and promise of resurrection.)

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This is the last of four guided meditations on the atonement, all of which are part of a “devotional” we hand out each week at our church. (The other meditations can be found below.) Parts of this were designed for the people to write in their own reflections, which of course can’t happen on a blog. Nevertheless, here it is.

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I don’t know if you’ve noticed this yet, but the Bible talks about the significance of Jesus’ death and resurrection in many different ways. The official word for this whole discussion is atonement and the various ways of looking at it are often called models or theories of atonement. Throughout history the church has echoed the Bible’s diversity by reflecting on many theories or models, and that’s what we’ve been doing this week.

We’ve seen how Jesus’ death overcomes the problems of our guilt and shame. We’ve explored Jesus’ death as a victory over cosmic powers that brings us freedom to live as God intended. Yesterday we dove into the problem of our fear of death, celebrating Jesus’ victory even over this final enemy which frees us from death’s deathly grip. And today we’re going to discuss one more, one that has been present throughout the church’s story in one form or another.

We’re going to look at Jesus’ death as an example for us to follow.

The authors of Scripture develop this one theme in many different ways too, and I should admit from the start that my hope is not to exhaust all the possible ways in which Jesus’ self-sacrificial death serves as a pattern for us to follow. My hope is rather to point to some of the ways Scripture develops this theme, suggest how we might faithfully continue following Jesus’ example, and encourage you to reflect on these things in your own life situation.

Let’s begin with this week’s memory verse. Though not specifically about Jesus’ death, it helps us understand his death’s full meaning. The verse makes a very bold statement, namely that all of God’s commands can be summed up in a single statement: “Love one another.”

Now, we all are very familiar with and fond of this teaching. Our entire culture enjoys talking about loving one another, but I fear that we often say this without knowing what it means. We must at least acknowledge that the word “love” is not self-defining. We ourselves use it in hundreds of ways, to describe everything from ice cream to our families, and I would hope that we mean something different by it in these different cases.

Love begs for a definition, and according to the Bible it finds that definition most poignantly in Jesus’ death on the cross:

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for one another. (1 John 3.16)

Pretty powerful, isn’t it?

In other words, if we want to know how to live to please God, if we wonder what God’s will is for our lives, we need look no further than Jesus laying down his life for others.

Apparently, love means sacrificing yourself for someone else, placing their needs above your own, dying so they might live (1 Thess 5.10).

Right now I want to guide you through some of the ways other biblical authors develop this idea. Take a look at each example and reflect on how you can manifest this kind of love in your own life.

Sacrificially loving those who are in need.

Read and reflect on 1 John 3.16-18 and Luke 10.25-37

How can you put this teaching into practice?

Sacrificially loving those we lead and live with.

Read and reflect on Mark 10.35-45 and Philippians 2.3-8

How can you put this teaching into practice?

Sacrificially loving those who betray our trust.

Read and reflect on John 13.1-5 and Ephesians 4.32-5.2

How can you put this teaching into practice?

Sacrificially loving our enemies and those who attack us.

Read and reflect on Luke 6.27-36; 1 Peter 2.18-25; 3.8-18

How can you put this teaching into practice?

I firmly believe that Jesus’ example calls us to care for the poor and needy, lead and serve with humility and selflessness, forgive when wronged, and respond to insult and injury without retaliation or violence. Someone once called this way of life cruciformity. I love that word because our calling is neither more nor less than to walk as Jesus did (1 John 2.5), and Jesus’ way of life got him crucified. I have no idea what will happen to us if we actually take these teachings seriously, but I do know three things: (1) God will be very pleased with us, (2) the world will take notice of such radical love, and (3) we need not fear whatever might happen in this life because God will one day raise us from the dead.

Through his death on a Roman cross and his resurrection three days later, Jesus has saved us from ourselves – our selfishness and greed, our bitterness and anger, our hatred and violence – by showing us a new way to live and enabling us to live it.

“Father, we want to truly love. We want to reflect your love to the world. We want to love others so much that we, like you, will be willing to suffer so they might see the truth, to die so they might live. Help us to be faithful, even if that means being foolish in the eyes of the world. You were a fool in the eyes of the world – in our eyes. But we now see that in your eyes, what looks like foolishness is true wisdom, what looks like weakness is true strength, what looks like defeat is true love. Help us walk in your way of wisdom, strength, love, and truth. Help us walk as Jesus did. We ask this in his name. Amen.”

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Since I'm traveling for the holidays, I don't have much opportunity to post (or comment), but I found this list on Greg Boyd's blog, and it seemed right to the Holy Spirit and to me (wink, wink) to post it here. I called it "burden of proof" because, given this list, the burden of proof lies on those who would claim that it is ever right (or acceptable) for Christians to engage in lethal violence. I'm not saying there are not many more questions to wrestle with - there certainly are - but that as Bible-trusting followers of Jesus we should start by assuming that violence is out of the question for us, always digging into the issues of specific situations from this starting point. Anyhow, enjoy.

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Here's a list of everything the New Testament says about how Kingdom people (as opposed to governments and nations) are to view and treat their enemies. We're to...

* love our enemies (Lk 6:27, 35; Mt 5:44) (and remember, love is defined in the New Testament by pointing us to the example of Jesus dying for his enemies, [I Jn 3:16])
* follow Jesus' example by being willing to suffer unjustly at the hands of enemies, even when we have the power to crush them (1 Pet 2:18-23, 3:15-16; Eph 5:1-2, cf. Rom. 5:10)
* do good to our enemies (LK 6:27, 34-35)
* bless our enemies instead of curse them (LK 6:28; Rom. 12:14)
* pray for our enemies (Mt 5:44; Lk 6:28)
* forgive our enemies and ask God to forgive them(Lk 6:37; 11:4; 23:34)
* give to our enemies without expecting anything in return (Mt 5:44; Lk 6: 30, 34)
* feed our enemies when they need food (Rom. 12:20)
* give drink to our enemies when they need water (Rom. 12:20
* never resist evil with force (Mt 5:38-39)
* treat enemies as we wish they'd treat us (Lk 6:31)
* never return evil with evil but always return evil with good (Rom. 12:17, 19; I Thess 5:15; 1 Pet 3:9)
* never exact vengeance against our enemies, trusting God to do this instead (Rom. 12:17-19)
* turn the other cheek when struck (Mt 5:39; Lk 6:29)
* pray for the healing of our enemies rather than seek to injure them (Mt 26:51-53)
* humbly serve our enemies (Jn 13:1-5)
* respond gently when interrogated under persecution by enemies (1 Pet 3:15)
* consider our sin to be worse than those of our enemies (Mt 7:1-3; I Tim. 1:15-16).

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These questions are from one of my very best friends out here in California, and we often talk about some of the issues dealt with here. By the way, the two issues are being dealt with separately here (we're not talking about police being violent to homosexuals). He just received his badge as a sheriff in Ventura County, so the question about violence and law enforcement is particularly important for him. (I deleted the middle section and changed some of the wording of the questions because they were too personal for a blog.)

Here was his email:

Hello good friend,

So I've had a few things I was wondering and wanted to bounce it off of you.

1) So I was talking with a guy in my academy class and we started talking about homosexuality. The question of choice was brought up and i know its a common question but again just want to bounce it off you. Does a gay person decide on this lifestyle or is it a born trait. I have somewhat always believed it was born into but then again some gay guys start speaking more feminine after "coming out." On the same topic, how does the church respond to homosexuals who are part of Real Life - confrontation, discipline, etc?

3) They last one is kinda random but it stems off the christian in law enforcement and shooting someone question we have talked about. If God truely does not want people to kill each other and to love each other to stop hate, etc. Would showing a loving attitude to someone like Hitler stop their evil. Or on a lower level of law enforcement, what should a christian cop do if someone is on a shooting spree.

I know its a lot and like I said its a lot of stuff we talked about already. So enjoy your trip (I'm really jealous) and we will do lunch when you get back.

Love ya bro,
J

Hey bro,

I’ve been waiting to come up with perfect answers, but I never will so instead I’ll just offer some thoughts and we’ll go from there.

On Homosexuality... This is a huge and complicated question, and unfortunately there is no certain answer. Scientific and psychological experiments have been held that supposedly “prove” both arguments, so neither can be totally trusted. In the end, I would point a few things: (1) I’m sure it is different for different people; some people probably choose it, at least in a sort of sub-conscious way, but others definitely seem to be homosexual against their will. (Those who "act more gay" after coming out are probably not choosing to change, but rather choosing not to hide who they feel like they've always been.) (2) There is ultimately no way to know which is true for specific people. I don’t even know if they can know themselves, since over time the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves become true in our own minds. (For example, take [a couple we both know]. After they separated, they sort of retold the story of their relationship as if they were never happy and always wanted out. This wasn’t necessarily true, but they convinced themselves it was, as you pointed out to me one time while they were in the middle of it.) (3) I’m not sure how much this debate matters for what we do as Christians. ( Read more )

My good friend Ty recently posted a question on his blog about Christian pacifism (the idea that violence is never appropriate for followers of Jesus) and the Old Testament.

He wrote: "One problem I have is that God Himself does not appear to be a pacifist, in fact, in several places in the Old Tesatment commanding outright genocide. A typical example of this is in 1 Samuel 15, which reads, in part: "This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt. Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy everything that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys." How can we reconcile Jesus's statements in Matthew, with the many others in the Old Testament?"

This is a very common and important question, one of many such questions I intend to address in the somewhat near future, but I thought it worthwhile to offer up my initial thoughts on the topic and see what discussion they might generate. ( Read more )

Hello friends. I just finished my third of four weeks of preaching in our series Things I Wish Jesus Never Said. It has been quite a ride, and I am pretty exhausted. We have four services, which is a lot of talking for me, but I think the more tiresome aspect has been the subjects we've tackled. Today's passage was Jesus telling a rich guy to sell everything he had and give to the poor. Yeah, tell that to people living in one of the nicest, cleanest, safest cities in one of the most marketable, money-driven states in the richest country in the history of the world! I saw many heads angrily shaking and even got a semi-stern talking-to from a gentleman after our Saturday night services. But for every head-shaker, there have been multiple heartfelt thank-yous and people who said it was exactly what they needed to hear. I even had some people tell me I showed lots of courage, which I found very meaningful. (Beth said something to me that I will absolutely never forget - I think it might be the most important thing anyone has ever said to me, but she said it to me so you don't get to hear it.) I told the truth as best I knew how, so I am as satisfied as one can be with something as odd as preaching. Anyhow, I said I'd post the messages, so here are the first two. I'd love to hear your thoughts, be they positive, negative, neutral, or whatever else thoughts might be.

Click here to hear my sermon on "Turn the Other Cheek" (Matthew 5.38-42)

Click here to hear my sermon on "Do Not Judge" (Matthew 7.1-5)

Click here to download these or any other messages preached at Real Life.

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