What
is your view on the call to Christians to defend, with force, certain
human rights or freedoms? (Serendipity Bible 10th Anniversary
Edition, page 1239).
Idealism:
Impracticality by virtue of thinking of things in their ideal
form rather than as they really are (WordWeb Pro).
When
I was a young man in prison for opposing the Vietnam War, a prison
official in a cordial way once told me that I was an idealist.
Despite our comity, his comment burned me to the core. I perceived
it as an inaccurate description of my true stance and was in a sense
dismissive of me as a person and what I stood for.
The
reader will no doubt tire of me referring to the “Little Joke”*,
but I must do so as it is very much aligned with my perception of
reality. In this schematic are the words “A structure like this
will please the dogs in muddy rainy weather.” Muddy rainy weather
is a very precise description of the world as we find it. From my
experience, this world of necessity is replete with paradox and
irony. The Prince of Peace himself said: “Do you think I came
to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. From now on
there will be five in one family divided against each other, three
against two and two against three. They will be divided, father
against son and son against father, mother against daughter and
daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and
daughter-in-law against mother-in-law” (Luke 12:51-53).
From
idealism’s point of view, life is absolutely precious on principle
without any provision for irony or paradox. Yet clearly the realm of
muddy rainy is filled with square holes. Say my job is a policeman in
Saint Petersburg. I entered the profession as an idealist dedicated
to upholding peace and security and protecting life and property in
my home town. I embody in a limited way the sword of the state and
the police power of the state. We can without any effort whatever
readily think of a plethora of circumstances in which paradoxically I
would have to use deadly force to uphold the principle that life is
precious. On a national/international level the military finds
itself in comparable circumstances. Clearly idealism represents a
form of intellectual bankruptcy to the extent that it is
uncompromising absolute and dismissive of life’s heavy ironies.
Now
that said, I will always honor my Uncle Calhoun for his unqualified
opposition to war. I simply feel the world would be a much drearier
and hopeless place if not graced by men of his conviction. I frankly
cannot resolve the conflict of Christ’s crucifixion vis-à-vis the
necessity of proactive deadly force. Yet I know without doubt that
the Trinity stands for holiness not in some abstract gauzy world of
unreality, but in our world of muddy rainy weather. I cannot explain
why Hitler’s ilk would spread hatred and death upon the innocent.
We all know only too well the human heart and its capacity for
depravity. It is my view that the police power of the state has a
holy mission and that this can entail deadly force. God grant discernment.
* (For
“Little Joke” see:
http://www.wayneblogs.com/2013/03/the-abiding-little-joke-revisited.html)
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