For the record:

• If a scantily clad super-model plops herself down on my desk, I’m probably going to lust.
• If I accidently cut my leg off with a power tool, I’m probably going to mutter some choice words.
• If someone impersonates me and begins to earn money speaking at NRA rallies, I’m probably going to get angry.
• If someone tells me an off-color joke that is the funniest thing ever told featuring midgets, tambourines and hot air balloons, I’m probably going to laugh.

I’m human. I sin. I know that to do any of those things would be wrong. But I’d probably do it anyway. If we sit here long enough you could probably propose an absurd enough scenario where I would succumb to temptation.

The fact that I would fall under the right circumstances does not negate the fact that these are still sins.
So, if:

• Osama bin Laden was able to mask his identity, smuggle across the US border, elude all of our federal agents and crime-fighters and find himself holed up in our house when we come home to find him unexpectedly wielding a knife at my wife and children I would probably fight to the death.

It amazes me how some people will immediately dismiss the idea of non-violence when we see first-hand that it is the way of Christ. For some, in the church, non-violence is a heresy. (And that’s not hyperbole).

Yet those of us who subscribe to a non-violent view, who believe unswervingly that that is the way of Christ in this world, who denounce all war as unjust have just as much a say in the kingdom.

You may believe that there are times when violence is justified but I encourage you not to turn a deaf ear to our voices.

Invariably when talk turns to non-violence, people trot out that same old tired extreme scenario, as if the extreme situation would somehow invalidate the entire belief.

It as if the burglar in our house somehow trumps the words of Christ to love our enemies, to pray for those who persecute us, to turn the other cheek. The New Testament and the words of Christ are OVERWHELMINGLY slanted toward living a peacable life.

Extreme and/or absurd analogies will not alter that.

To answer the scenario, I would probably kick, scream, bite, wedgie, choke, pummel and good ole fashion jack-slap if pushed in this regard.

But I hope to grow past that. You see, that is my gut fleshly reaction. As I grow in the way of Christ I pray that my reactions to situations will grow to reflect more and more the person of Jesus.

That it will become natural for me to love first.

That it will become natural for me to always consider the peaceful, Christ-like option.

That it will become natural for me to turn the other cheek and embrace and advocate peace.

That is the way of Christ. He responded non-violently, not passively.

To love so completely, so sacrificially is not wimpy or weak-kneed.

It is bold, daring and invites rejection.
The way so many in the church marginalize this view is proof enough of that.

But the way of Christ is counter-cultural, life-changing. Soul-tranforming.

It is the only way to rid this world of violence.

The war to end terror will never end terror. Only the love of Christ can.

Foolish, you say? That’s Jesus, for you.

Now, excuse me. I have a super-model to get off my desk.