Peace, Love and Understanding

I've always been a huge Elvis Costello fan. One of my favorite songs of his is "What's So Funny 'Bout Peace, Love and Understanding?" Well, to answer the question, nothing is funny about these things. These are deadly serious issues. As a matter of fact, whether Costello knows it our not, these are biblical mandates. We Christians are called to practice peace, love God and our neighbor, and to use discernment and understanding.

But I'm afraid many of my brethren have misinterpreted these concepts, in particular the concept of peace. Most of the Christians I talk to nowadays seem to think that peace is simply the absence of conflict. If that is the case the Bible must be mistaken in telling us that we can experience peace in this life because we are never going to be without conflict. Whether it be personal conflict or international conflict (known otherwise as War) we are always in the midst of some type of chaos. Such is the nature of life in a fallen world. The so-called Peace Churches believe that by being pacifistic they can change the world. My question is, how is that working out for them? To answer in the words of the great redneck philosopher, Larry the Cable Guy...Not too good!

The biblical concept of peace is rooted in the Hebrew word shalom. Shalom denotes well-being and, believe it or not, justice. It is a word rich in meaning. To experience shalom is to experience an inner well-being rooted in doing the right thing, or to put it in biblical terms, living a righteous life. It is wholistic and internal, not temporal or external, as the English word tends to denote.

The same people who belong to the Peace Churches also seem to misunderstand the concept of Justice. They think that making everything communal (quite literally communist) is the answer to all of our social problems. These people tend to be advocates for criminals, scoundrels, and politicians. They are usually anti-authoritarian unless the current regime happens to be socialist or communist in thinking. They believe that the biblical mandate to visit the prisoners and to care for the widowed and orphaned is a call to socialism straight from the pages of the Bible. They use this to justify government hand-outs to those who refuse to care for themselves or their families. They use this to beg for clemency for thieves and murderers. The problem is that they ignore Scripture that says that those who refuse to work should go hungry. They also ignore the comparison in the Bible of the man who refuses to provide for his family as being worse than a thief or murderer.

If the mandate to visit prisoners and to care for the widowed and orphaned is taken in context, it will be seen that the prisoners spoken of were political and religious prisoners being held on the grounds of their conscience, not thieves and murderers. The book of Acts makes clear that the widows spoken of were Christians whom the Church had an obligation to care for if they had no family. And no one will dispute the fact that the Church should care for those who are poor or orphaned through no fault of their own.

But why is it that these same Peace Churches never want to help the widows of slain police officers or the victims of crime? Why is it that they will defend a genocidal potentate but protest against a president or prime minister who tries to stop the genocide by the use of force? Selective usage of the Scriptures to justify political motives is wrong, whether you lean to the left or right.

Peace and Justice go hand in hand. But understand the concepts properly before you try to impose your version of either on someone else. Peace, love, and understanding are important. But knowing what they mean is ultimately more important if we wish to experience any of them for ourselves and others.

So I say to you, Shalom! Be whole and well in Jesus Christ. Serve Him in Peace and Justice.

Fr. Rick