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| Peacing means to actively live Peace |
"But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,"
(Matthew 5:44, NRSVUE, Biblegate)
No manifest destiny.
This is about changing yourself. You do not make enemies by telling them 'you're wrong'. You make friends and a larger family by treating them as you would have them treat you.
No conversion for others .
When you live God's Radical Mercy there is no need for conversion . You simply accept people as they are, love them, do justice with them, and walk humbly with them and your God.
Remember, Jesus was a prophet trying to call Israel back to a true life in God. He built upon the work of the other prophets that had come before him. And like the earlier prophets his message was ignored. Ignored because his message of internal transformation and a new family went against the accepted norms and traditions of his time, and I dare say our time.
The story told in the synoptic gospels about how Jesus went into the desert for fasting and meditation shows the needed effort that it takes to fully live 'God's Radical Mercy'. (It is only a story because Jesus went into the desert alone.)
The incredible effort and work that Jesus put into his inner conversion is undoubtedly one of the reasons that so few people have followed his example. And for the record I'm not one of the few.
I can see how I live better when I follow even minimally, the example of Jesus but I've never had the courage to take it to the level that he did.
The true jihad.
Centuries ago Christendom decided that it was time to cleanse Jerusalem and the Holy Land that the infidels were living in and despoiling. The common name for these massive bloody attempts to take Jerusalem back for the honor of God is The Crusades.
It wasn't only the Christians that felt the only way to bring God's mercy and love to people was to kill them.
The people of Israel did the same thing as they fought for the Holy Land that was their gift from God. A gift that came with the caveat that first you've got to kill and get rid of the people that are already there. Then and only then may you can live there. But only until you mess up so bad that the earth vomits you out and I have to put somebody else there.
And let us not forget Islam. They had their holy wars too. There is just something in the Abrahamic tradition that apparently makes killing your enemy a reasonable solution.
I would suggest however, as would many scholars of Islam, Christianity and Judaism that these bloody holy wars are obscene. I also agree with many scholars that declare the true Jihad is not about converting others; it is about converting yourself.
The take away.
In the Christian sacred texts there is a constant and powerful tension between the Jesus who calls all those who are weary and burdened to him, and the Jesus found in the Book of Revelation where he's wielding a bloody sword and sending people to hell.
You of course are free to believe pretty much whatever you want as long as it doesn't include killing people, or being mean and nasty.
But I believe that within the Abrahamic tradition there is a an incredibly powerful belief that proclaims the true jihad, the true walking with God, is only accomplished when you have converted yourself. Not others, but yourself.
If you ever get to that point in your life when you can love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, instead of taking them to court, or praying for them to be cast them into hell, you're well on your way to the conversion that Jesus and many other prophets deem the needed conversion.
The conversion that allows you to love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.
Brian
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Feel free to disagree. However, if my ancestors, both physical and spiritual, would be offended, your comment will go directly into the bin.