A Major Victory for the Peace Movement Down Under

Nathan

My husband was wounded in Viet Nam where he received 3 Bronze Stars - 2 with V's for valor. My son received the joint Services medal with a V. My daughter-in-law received her V for treating Afghani wounded under fire.

We may be slow learners - but our family has learned first hand the price of war - and we, as do many other military families, stand for peace.

You are entitled to your beliefs, (misguided though I believe them to be) but please don't do it the name of military families.

Yay for victory. Thanks for your commitment to peace. When we all learn we do not repay evil for evil, we will move that much closer to the Lord's intentions for His kingdom on earth.

Mr. McKenna,

How many Australians are standing shoulder-to-shoulder to their Christian brothers in Iraq and Afghanistan to repay the terrorists for what they did to Americans and your British brothers?

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Nathan, presumably the Christian brothers in Iraq to whom you refer are the thousands who have been fleeing the country for fear of persecution as a result of the changes created by the US invasion.

And presumably the Christian brothers in Afghanistan are the brave disciples who now, under the US-established Karzai regime, find themselves dragged before the courts for converting from Islam.

Fighting our brothers and sisters in Iraq and Afghanistan doesn't pay back our Saudi extremist brothers. If anything, it creates more extremists, by giving them even more reason to be angry at US imperialism. In any case, Jesus wasn't into payback, he was into grace.

Here's hoping that the people of Iraq, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and everywhere see Adi, Peter and Sam's actions as a gesture of solidarity and a sign that we don't all agree with our misguided brothers George and Barack who think bombing them is the answer to anything!

And let this be inspiration for us to keep praying, hoping and living in the Kingdom of forgiveness, peace and love... it IS defeating the world of payback, violence and xenophobia!

We have some of those people who Jarrod is defending right here in the good old USA. Some time ago, some of them managed to get through the gate, and they were down there on board a submarine, pounding on it with hammers, and one of them even poured blood on the hull. As a taxpayer, I object to the cost of removing those dents and painting over the bloodstains.

And that's not all. There was a submarine that they wanted to name USS Corpus Christi. But the peace lobby made so much noise that they had to name it USS City of Corpus Christi because they said that Corpus Christi means "body of Christ". Now how would you like to have a son on that ship and you have to address your letters USS City of Corpus Chrisiti? It would probably run over to the next line.

As a taxpayer don't you also object to almost a trillion dollars being spent on the military by your government every year? You could give everyone in the world clean water, basic healthcare and education ten times over for that price. Literally.

Hi Nathan, there is a growing Australasian chapter of Christian Peacemaker Teams, supporting the CPT group in Iraq. They (and we) are committed to repaying evil (from all sides) with good, as the Apostle Paul commands.

Nathan

My husband was wounded in Viet Nam where he received 3 Bronze Stars - 2 with V's for valor. My son received the joint Services medal with a V. My daughter-in-law received her V for treating Afghani wounded under fire.

We may be slow learners - but our family has learned first hand the price of war - and we, as do many other military families, stand for peace.

You are entitled to your beliefs, (misguided though I believe them to be) but please don't do it the name of military families.

Good news Jarrod. I heard it first on Democracy Now. Don't know if it hit MSM in US. Anyone?

Ir response to NB and his objections as a taxpayer.
I am one of many taxpayers who object to the money spent lining the pockets of the military weapons makers, which then goes into the corrupt pockets of people hired to serve the interest of the people who elected them but who find it more lucrative to engage in political prostitution with the war mongers.

Perhaps a little more money should be spent to nab these war profiteer thieves and recover the stolen billions which remain unaccounted for, instead of spying on pacifists who at their most extreme put a dent in some weapon whose only use in my lifetime has been to kill people whose politics we don't like. Vietnam didn't threaten us, Iraq didn't threaten us, Iran didn't threaten us, El Salvador didn't threaten us, Grenada didn't threaten us, Panama didn't threaten us, Haiti didn't threaten us, Afghanistan didn't threaten us, Gaza didn't threaten us, Lebanon didn't threaten us, Nicaragua didn't threaten us. We have killed hundreds of thousands of people since WW2 with no effect but more war, more corruption and an economy built on bullying. What nation is the biggest threat to peace since the end of WW2?

If self government, equal opportunity, the rule of law, and free enterprise are so great , and I think they are or certainly should be; then why can't democratic nations lead and persuade by example and by peaceful means as has most of Europe and Canada.

One catch in terms of "war Jesus" versus "peace Jesus" is that IMO they both miss the mark.

If by "war Jesus" we're talking about a grow the military and attack everyone for any or no reason mentality, then yes it's very wrong and is far from the true Jesus. But that does not mean that it's wrong for governing authorities to legitimately use force in the defense of innocents! (Otherwise there can never be even a legitimate police force, since the PD can and does use force against lawbreakers all the time.)

OTOH, there is something very wrong with a person if the person ends up liking, or even relishing, the use of force. There is something very wrong with a person who loves conflict. It does not please God to see the doom of the wicked, nor should it please us. Reconciliation should always be sought.

The governing authorities will necessarily use violence as it is the very basis for their power, but that doesn't mean we should support it, or them. The violence of the governing authorities killed Jesus, and it's also killed a million civilians in Iraq so far.

Violence, even when used in defense of innocents (which is the minority of violence), compounds and ends up causing even more damage to innocents.

For the world, this is a sad but necessary fact. For Christians, Jesus defeated death/violence in his resurrection - and by defeating the basis of their power, he defeated the governing authorities (see 1 corinthians 15, particularly verses 24-26).

Of course this is only partly inaugurated, Jesus' resurrection was the firstfruits (i'm parrotting that Corinthians chapter again), but nonviolent actions by the powerless against the violence of the powerful governing authorities - like the actions of Adi, Sam and Peter - are witness to the continual outpouring of the resurrection world.

As a taxpayer don't you also object to almost a trillion dollars being spent on the military by your government every year? You could give everyone in the world clean water, basic healthcare and education ten times over for that price. Literally.

Nathan, presumably the Christian brothers in Iraq to whom you refer are the thousands who have been fleeing the country for fear of persecution as a result of the changes created by the US invasion.

And presumably the Christian brothers in Afghanistan are the brave disciples who now, under the US-established Karzai regime, find themselves dragged before the courts for converting from Islam.

We have some of those people who Jarrod is defending right here in the good old USA. Some time ago, some of them managed to get through the gate, and they were down there on board a submarine, pounding on it with hammers, and one of them even poured blood on the hull. As a taxpayer, I object to the cost of removing those dents and painting over the bloodstains.

And that's not all. There was a submarine that they wanted to name USS Corpus Christi. But the peace lobby made so much noise that they had to name it USS City of Corpus Christi because they said that Corpus Christi means "body of Christ". Now how would you like to have a son on that ship and you have to address your letters USS City of Corpus Chrisiti? It would probably run over to the next line.