catapult magazine

The link on *cino’s homepage today asks if we should really desire peace. The author bases her piece on a certain definition of peace that seems quite contrary to that of Scripture. How ought we to define peace, keeping in mind that Christ is supposed to be the “Prince of Peace”?

If you take these words of Jesus out of context, his message is kind of shocking. If you take them in context, it’s just as startling:

“Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn ‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.” Matt. 10:34-36

That was Jesus on a bad day, don’t you think? I mean, it doesn’t take the intervention of the Son of God to to turn a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. Do you think the totality of Christ’s message promotes discord?

I would have to say YES. There must have been some good reason(s) for the Jews and the Romans to feel the world would be a safer and better place with Jesus dead.

Jesus was a terrorist!

I believe we read many things in the Bible the wrong way. It’s easy to read something and say that the Bible means that things should be this way when it is merely saying this is the way things will be.

I don’t think Jesus was promoting tension between people, but he’s saying that things will be this way. His goal was obviously not peace, and he seemed unconcerned that things would not be peaceful when considering the importance of his message.

I think we like to see Jesus with the mentality of a jr. high girl, he likes things that are “nice” that mkae people good people happy and dislikes things that are “mean.” This is far from this truth. I’m getting way of the subject though. I may start another post about that.

Some it helps to know what peace is. One of the biblical words for peace is Shalom. Which is not an absense of anger or problems. But is deffined by right relationship between the person and; God, Enviroment, the Community, and Other people. To get to the point of having right relationship can be very uncomfortable, such as the Civil Rights Movment. If this is helpful, wounderful. If not, sorry.