You Say you Want a Revolution?

Recently, Dr. Ben Witherinton, one of the best authors in the field of biblical studies and the backgrounds of the Christain New Testament and early Christianity Christianity posted about gun control; I'm not a fan of more gun control, not because it wouldn't be good to keep guns from the hands of homicidal crazies, but because I could make weopens in my garage if I wanted to, guns and ammo included, and because in Great Brittain, where gun controll is off the charts, people still kill eachother all the time, but now people who would use weopens to resist the violence of others , people who would step in to defend others, cannot. I also disagree with his interpretation of the constitutional right to bear arms; it was not, by what I've learned in my studies, to let them hunt, it was so that they could overthorow the government if the government became tyrannical, like the government they overthrew.

Here's the deal, though, I have that opinion as an Ameerican citizen. My reasoning, my ideals are shaped by American thinking, not by scripture. I am still in disagreement with Doctor Witherington, though (which makes me uncomfortable, 'cause he's wicked smart), it seems to me that the Christian opinion should apply to Christians, not to our entire country. Christians should not, as far as I can see, try to form the secular world in the image of Christ by using the power of government; Jesus refused that temptation when Satan showed him the kingdoms of the world and offered him power. Rather, we should change the world the way that Jesus did, by being different and by thinking differently and by acting differently. So, rather than activism, our response is to live lives that are free of violence and domination and manipulation and we should speak in ways appropriate for students of the prince of peace.

What does this say about the American Revolution? Or the Civil War? Would the world be a better place if these conflicts had not taken place? On the surface, it seems like it would not, but maybe, if we had tried submission to unjust rulers, as my ancestors of faith, Barton Stone, David Lipscomb, Benjamin Franklin (no, not that one) and so many others did, but resistance through reasoned speech that discouraged violence but encouraged us to love our enemies and to pray for those who persecute us, maybe then it would have still turned out okay. Maybe if we had been willing to oppose slavery like so many white people did in the civil rights movement: by joining the slaves in their suffering, and being murdered for it without regret . . . maybe if we had put ourselves in a position to die for our brothers and sisters, rather than to kill for them . . . maybe if we had been willing to suffer the evil of a Brittish king, we would have had slavery ended on our shores when it ended in the UK.

Now, I am not a pure pacifist: I can imagine no world in which there is never a need for violence to oppose violence, and I respect people like soldiers, who put their very souls on the line to protect others, but maybe we put that stuff too far up the list. Maybe we get in situations where violence is the only reasonable solution because we have not been the people we should have been up to this point.

What do you think? Where would we be if our first response had been patient suffering and love? We might be in a terrible world, but maybe the world would have changed in better ways.