|
Rivers of blood
This little boat of consciencious pacifism and nonviolence has sailed this far only because it floats in a river of blood of the patriots. The practice and even attainment of the mindset of pacifism is a luxury bestowed upon its practitioners by men who knew that freedom of conscience and religion were worth dying for.
Christian pacifism has its roots in the Anabaptist tradition, which early on had some serious P.R. issues to contend with. Some of the early Anabaptists went loony, conquered the town of Munster, and promoted polygamy and other such horseplay at the behest of "heavenly visions." This only lasted for a couple years, but their surviving contemporaries in the new movement of adult baptism, or re-baptism, needed to stress that they were completely devoid of dominion theology, and completely unlike those "Munsters," lest they be stamped out like the group at Munster was. The cages in which the bodies of the tortured and executed ringleaders were allowed to rot still hang from the steeple of the church in Munster, Germany. The origins of Christian pacifism are reactionary in nature. Some may call it cowardice, and some may say it was the pragmatism of survival. I would fight in the American Revolution or in the Confederate Army, if I were in those times.
Some things simply don't need explaining, or chapter and verse, to be acceptable practice. Brother Strange has very clearly and patiently shown this, and why.
__________________
Engineering solutions for theological problems.
Despite today's rising cost of living, it remains popular.
"It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried." - Sir Winston Churchill
"The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter." - Sir Winston Churchill
"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security." - Benjamin Franklin
|