“War is necessary if we want to live fully human lives.”
I blogged just yesterday on this provocative sentence from a high-ranking Army officer. I pondered the implications of living by such a creed, and now I would like to respond.
As a Christian, I am committed to believing that Jesus was mysteriously and wonderfully human and God. The person of Jesus Christ was just that, a person.
Through this lens we must look at his life and experience in order to understand what it means to live a fully human life. And here we meet the disconcerting and uncomfortable reality, that the person of Jesus Christ allowed violence to be done unto him. Although he could have averted the event of the crucifixion, the fully human act was to spread his arms of love on the hard wood of the cross.
This turns the world on its head. To live a fully human life is to assert the impotence of violence in light of the resurrection.
the rev. jimmy abbott 