Relevant for today?
My friend and I are studying the Mennonite Church at the moment and we got to talking about pacifism and how it's defined (or not defined) in the Bible. There appears to be somewhat of a difference in the number of battles fought for God/at God's bidding in the OT, but not so much in the NT. So I was doing a little reading in II Kings trying to gain some insight into the background and I stumbled upon this somewhat humorous passage:
From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some youths came out of the town and jeered at him. "Go on up, you baldhead!" they said. "Go on up, you baldhead!" He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the LORD. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the youths. And he went on to Mount Carmel and from there returned to Samaria.So yeah....what do you do with that?
posted @ 8:56 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
I'm not sure what you do with the Elisha passage, but the question of God's battles in the OT vs the NT is interesting. Recently I had a conversation with my sister about whether the Revolutionary war was won because God was on our side. My sister believes that is the only reason we won, and that God intended to establish this country as a "Christian nation."
I don't quite agree with my sister, but the topic is interesting to consider.
I think the Church of England may beg to differ on your sister's idea. It certainly is an interesting notion, especially if you ask the question "Why us?" The idea that God had the United States in His mind way back when is mind-boggling.
I've also just started to think about the events in Revelation and how that works itself out among pacifists.
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