Hey aiki - if you're still here. Enjoying your article. Here's something we can chew on:
Quote:
Is it really enough for Christianity to eschew violence? Campaigning to stop violence and appealing to reason and morality may reach the majority of society, who abhor violence in their own right; but for the lovers of violence - the hateful, the extremists, those intoxicated on drugs or alcohol and thereby without their full rational faculties, the message will fall on deaf ears and darkened hearts.
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We might want to be careful in judging. In fact, if you look at Jesus, he hung out with drunks, and whores, and sick people. Those kinds of people can often be much closer to God than you might think - with
your rational facilities. On the other hand, he would barely give the Pharisees - the leaders of the "majority of society" - the time of day. They were so full of themselves and their laws, and Jesus knew it was a waste to try and tear down the mountains of crapola these guys had built. He later condenses all the hundreds of laws down into two: 1. Love God with all your might. 2. Love your neighbor as yourself. In fact, if you look at the Book of Thomas from the Nag Hammadi, Jesus even goes further, saying, "Love your neighbor because
they are you. Talk about collapsing dualism!
If you want to see where true budo, aiki, and the fearless Christian warrior meet; Next time you see a homeless person sitting on the curb, ask them if they'd like something to eat. Then go buy some coffee and a sandwich for both of you - and sit down together with them.