I’ve been asked how long I am going to continue this series and why I’m doing it. It’s obvious that the amount of discussion that fueled the initial posts has died down considerably.
But that is not why I am doing this.
Suffice it to say, I may continue a while longer.
As to why, I’m not completely sure. Part of it is the desire to have an avenue to discuss in a civil manner with people who hold different views. I think we have continued to do just that.
Also, I want to share my study on these lines. Who knows, this may be a book proposal or a dissertation some day.
However, I have not shared everything I would like. In my mind it breaks down somewhat like this:
I. What is non-violence?
II. The Scriptural basis for non-violence
a. The Words of Jesus
b. The Temple Incident
c. The Life of Jesus
d. Reconciling war in the Hebrew Scriptures
e. Nonviolence in the Epistles (I realize I have not covered this, but have skipped this for now)
f. Nonviolence and the Apocalypse
III. Nonviolence and the Christian Life
a. Self-abnegation
b. Anger
c. Fear
d. The Fruits of the Spirit (I haven’t covered this either, but they all presuppose nonviolence)
IV. Problems with Nonviolence
a. Protecting Your Family
b. The War on Terror
c. Peacekeeping Forces and Military Involvement
d. Nonviolent Victories in World War II
V. Conclusions
a. Nonviolence Victories in History
b. The Lion and the Lamb: Militarists and Pacifists Living, Loving, Worshipping and serving together.
c. Where Do We Go From Here?
Next, I am going to move into Part 4. How do we be nonviolent when there are these perceived problems with nonviolence.
The objections that honest and sincere people have with nonviolence cannot be discredited or dismissed. Let’s look at those.
Before we move into that does anyone have any thoughts? Any additions to this outline you would like to see?
What would you like to see develop in this discussion?