Peace Through Victory?

"' Peace through victory' depended on which side of the sword you were on" (Rob Bell and Don Golden in Jesus Wants to Save Christians). "Peace through victory" is not a new concept in war. Many of the "great" leaders of the world used this concept and many of the "great" leaders of today also use this concept. If you are on the side that is conquering all the land then the idea seems pretty great but what if you are on the other side? What if it is your homeland that is being destroyed? What if it was your land that was being burned? What if it genocide was occurring in your village to your people? What if one night while you were sleeping another country thousands of miles away dropped bombs on you? How would you feel? Would be supportive of "peace through victory" or would you think that it was one of the dumbest ideas you had ever heard of? I'm going to with it being the dumbest idea that you have ever heard of because it is. Killing people gets no one anywhere. Killing people only leads to the killing of more people. The events of 9/11 turned many Americans into supporters of "peace through victory." The theory was "they [the terrorists] didn't care about our innocent citizens so why should we [the American people] care about their innocent citizens" and many people even went further and made anyone from the Middle East a terrorist. Sadly many people still harbor these beliefs. I have many issues with this theory a few of which I am going to share with you. First not everyone from the Middle East is a terrorist. Secondly killing people regardless of what they have done only causes more death and destruction. Thirdly what the United States did to the Middle East after 9/11 made us no better than the terrorists that attacked us. We grieved for the loss of complete strangers and for our own loved ones well so did the people in the Middle East whose friends and family have been killed because of stereotypes and fear. The fourth reason (also taken from Jesus Wants to Save Christians) is "...Jesus was a Middle Eastern man who lived in an occupied country and was killed by the super power of his day." "Peace through victory" does not work, it never has and it never will. God came to the earth to show us how to live in peace with one another and yet everyday more and more people are killed around the globe because of "peace through victory." Instead of "peace through victory" lets try "peace through peace" it works much better and Gandhi proved that it works.

Go in PEACE. Live PEACE. Be Peace.