Comments on: Five Things Your Pacifist Friends are Tired of Answering

By: Jordan Green

Jordan Green — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 05:34:08 +0000

Thanks for the link, folks…we were awful proud of that article.

is that a sin?

Jordan Green
Burnside Writer’s Collective

By: Lora

Lora — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 10:31:00 +0000

Tim, that books sounds interesting. I’ll have to check it out. Skylark, you’re right, it is a point that can be made more broadly than just with pacifists. But it’s amazing how many people haven’t thought of it.

By: Practical nonviolence prevents bank robberies » Young Anabaptist Radicals

Practical nonviolence prevents bank robberies » Young Anabaptist Radicals — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 18:48:53 +0000

[…] On Friday, soon after reading Nate’s post on Questions about Pacifism I heard a story on NPR called Killing Bank Robberies with Kindness. Give the story a listen. Its a very practical application of nonviolent principles in the face of expected violence. […]

By: TimN

TimN — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 18:15:03 +0000

Lora, it turns out that someone has written a whole book on the “What about Hitler?” question. It’s called What about Hitler?: Wrestling with Jesus’s Call to Nonviolence in an Evil World.

I haven’t read it, but friends have and recommend it.

By: joe

joe — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 03:11:37 +0000

if they are bringing the questions to the table, they are the ones that need to answer those questions first. it is important for them to answer those questions, otherwise it is just a setup. oh wait… it usually is. the burden of proof is on them. that is of course, unless you are the one sparking the conversation.

allow them to answer and dont be afraid to ask questions. not to badger or pin anyone to the wall, but to see at what depth and conviction they are with their beliefs.

this will hopefully open up dialogue, unless they are confrontational. if that’s the case, then no amount of proof will convince anyone

By: Skylark

Skylark — Sat, 14 Apr 2007 20:46:01 +0000

“I always respond first that part of the problem of being a pacifist is that you’re always being asked to solve problems which you yourself never would’ve created.”

Isn’t that like anything, though? People bring up all their scenarios to the socialists, the orphanage workers, the vegetarians, the homeschoolers and the orangic-only cooks. We’re all being asked to solve things which, by our beliefs against them, we are saying we would never have done. The orphanage workers would never have abandoned their children. The vegetarians would not have built factory farms or slaughterhouses. How are pacifist being treated any differently? Did I misunderstand what you were trying to say?

By: Lora

Lora — Sat, 14 Apr 2007 13:27:34 +0000

Folknotions, I’ll just say whenever this question has been posed to me, I always respond first that part of the problem of being a pacifist is that you’re always being asked to solve problems which you yourself never would’ve created. I’m trying to knock out a ten-pager this weekend on Jewish-Christian relations, and I’ll post more when I finish. It connects to your question.

By: jdaniel

jdaniel — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 22:06:13 +0000

Walter Wink relates the following account (page 233 of Engaging the Powers, Fortress Press 1994):

William Jennings Bryan once visited Tolstoy and pressed him with the perennial problem of what to do if a criminal is about to kill a child. Tolstoy responded that, having lived seventy-five years, he had never, except in discussions, “encountered that fantastic brigand, who, before my eyes desired to kill or violate a child, but that perpetually I did and do see not one but millions of brigands using violence toward children and women and men and old people and all the labourers in the name of the recognized right of violence over one’s fellows. When I said this my kind interlocutor, with his naturally quick perception, not giving me time to finish, laughed, and recognized that my argument was satisfactory.”

By: folknotions

folknotions — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 21:38:42 +0000

Lora,

your proposal is the one I still struggle with, and which I hope someone can provide some kind of answer, because I’m lost with it!

By: joe

joe — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 20:46:31 +0000

what drives me a little crazy is what is so WRONG about peace? i have friends who are physically sickened at the idea of peace. that floors me.how would you rather live? it’s ok to disagree, but to watch people get angry over just the thought? these are believers as well. maybe they make some assumptions. i dont know. maybe they think it is a naive way to live.

By: Lora

Lora — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 20:29:47 +0000

Proposed #6: What about Hitler?

By: folknotions

folknotions — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 17:28:27 +0000

Since I am not in front of my Yoder books right now, though will be later and will give a much better answer, I’ll instead say that these are questions that get very well-answered by John Howard Yoder.

Here are the three books that do a good job with these concerns:

1)Discipleship as Political Responsibility - John Howard Yoder
2)What Would you Do? - John Howard Yoder
3) The Politics of Jesus - John Howard Yoder