Radical non-violence December 17, 2007
Posted by Zack in Missouri , trackbackCheck out this stunning letter from Thom Stark, a student at Ozark Christian College in Joplin, MO, to the pastor of New Life Church in Colorado Springs (where the church shootings happened last week). Read the whole letter. Here’s just an excerpt:
When I learned of the shootings I was heart-wrenched. I immediately began to pray. I began to pray that your church would be empowered to witness to the self-sacrificial, suffering love of the God revealed in Jesus of Nazareth. Some minutes later, I learned of a second great tragedy, a greater tragedy, and one that I did not expect. I learned that the gunman was shot and killed by a paid employee of your congregation of believers. Hearing this, I was devastated. The life of an unbeliever was traded for the lives of believers. A man was consigned to eternal separation from God in order to save from heaven those who are assured of salvation. The opportunity for the unique witness of a Bible-believing, Christ-following people in a world gone mad with violence was surrendered for the safety and security of predominantly wealthy Christians. God was not glorified. In fact, it was the contrary. The way of the world was held up and affirmed. A Spirit-empowered people charged by God to follow Jesus’ example in overcoming evil with good instead chose to fight fire with fire. The gospel of Jesus Christ–the gospel of nonviolent, suffering agape–was displaced by the gospel of the United States of America–the gospel of safety secured by force.
Today the Body of Christ was wounded, not by an unbelieving gunman but by its own left hand. Today we struck back at our enemy, and hit ourselves. It was not merely New Life Church in Colorado Springs that was in the spotlight today, but the Church universal, and the Church universal has been disfigured. We share in your suffering, your torment, and your mourning. Indeed, we share also in your guilt.
Jesus taught radical non-violent resistance to oppression. If a Roman solider forced you to carry his pack a mile (apparently the maximum allowed in the Roman Centurion field manual), then carry it two miles. If someone sued you for your shirt (back in the day when most people only had one), then shame him by giving him everything. If your employer (or owner!) slaps you across the face, then give him your other cheek.
You don’t hear much about non-violence in the teachings of Revolutionary Christians. I think it’s probably because the message would be too divisive in most churches. Re-introducing Jesus as the god of the poor and oppressed is already a lot for existing congregations to handle. Teaching non-violence—for example, that we should have had a peaceful response to 9/11—could be too much to bear. When Rob Bell preached a series on non-violence, for example, he prefaced it with a long and careful intro to explain how closely he had been affected by 9/11 himself (e.g. Todd “Let’s roll” Beamer was his friend and dorm-neighbor at college!). He was essentially pleading with the people who would have trouble with the message, “Stay with us…find it in your heart to hear the difficult words that are coming.”
The participants in this movement have as their goal not to be voices in the wilderness, but to change an American church of tens of millions of people. And that’s a good thing. Under the surface, however, they are embracing Jesus as the god of non-violence just as strongly as they are embracing him as the god of the poor and oppressed.
You can hear it reading between the lines in occasional sermons. And you can see it in Thom Stark’s letter and the comment thread that follows.
This movement was in some ways just getting started when 9/11 happened. Mars Hill, for example, was only three years old. (And sermon archives are not available from then—drats!) If another major terrorist attack happened today, what would be the response of these preachers, their churches, writers, students like Thom and all the others who make up this movement?
Comments»
Great letter. I experienced a similar ill in my stomach upon hearing this news of the church security guard killing the gunman.
A local Abilene news story responded with local pastor’s responses to their own church’s security. It’s pretty dark:
http://reporternews.com/news/2007/dec/11/local-churches-reminded-of-security-concerns/
The coroner ruled Mr. Murray’s death was a suicide. I can appreciate the minister you quote was unaware at the time.
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2007/12/11/church-shooting.html
What does that have to do with what you are trying to say?
We have a long way to go.
New Life Church kicked out one of the people that was wounded.
We have a long way to go.
OCC is where I graduated too! To be honest with you, that college is very service oriented, they dont do spring break, its a week of Evangelism (Week of E) where everyone is expected to go out and do service projects/missions trips. Dont let the name fool you, everyone literally goes around the world to help others through medical facilities, other churches, building projects, you name it someone has probably done it!
Although Im not personally familiar with Thom, I know of him through the grapevine. I do have to add that his views on the gospel/service/etc are unfortunately not shared with everyone at OCC. There are some there that are probably more “progressive” like this but I do have to say OCC is not the pinnacle of churning out Christians with views that are mashable with the progressive left. Great school, dont get me wrong. Absolutely great staff, and professors. I just would want clarity from someone with first hand knowledge.
I encourage anyone who is intrigued by this letter to check out the comments under it on the linked site, there are some great questions and Thom is responding with some very thought-provoking answers.
Bene D said, “New Life Church kicked out one of the people that was wounded.” Does anybody know what that’s in reference to?
Eric, what’s your last name? Do I know you?
Jesus also tells the disciples that they should take their swords with them … it’s conflicted and hard to fully understand.
What was the guard supposed to do? See everyone killed? I’m not promoting that as the answer, but just to show that there’s no good answer. (I kind of wondered why a church needed an armed guard in the first place — was it a self-fulfilling prophesy?)
I think we can discuss what should be done in the future, but I hope no one is giving this security guard grief … think about all the things we all do wrong every day. I just don’t know ANYONE knows how they would respond when put in that horrific situation.
I think Jesus would have sacrificed himself for that troubled person, but he would also have great sympathy for a security guard with an impossible choice.
Thom I emailed you.
I know of a couple of churches personally that hire professional body guards to keep their minister safe because of death threats. So to me at least, guards arent something new. And Im trying to wrestle with the idea of…….what about my kids? If some guy came in and started shooting or what have you into a church or worse in the children’s area, which is more important, eliminating the threat quickly and protecting my kids or making sure that we can subdue him?
Of course for me as a parent I strongly lean on the side of eliminate the threat-protect kids, but honestly Im struggling with how to do that with a grace filled posture.
And all of this is of course hind sight which is mostly clear. Maybe churches should look into planning what would happen if someone came in like this. Do they lock down? Who is in charge, key people that know restraint techniques, etc. Will people carry firearms only in certain areas of the church?
I remember when we didnt have to worry about sexual predators volunteering in our sunday schools, shootings within the sanctuary, and liability cases etc. The worst thing that could happen was if the sermon ran long and another church got to the buffet line earlier……
First, let me say I agree with Thom’s letter. I had similar reactions and the idea of a church having armed security guards seemed bizarre.
In Brady Boyd’s defense, though, his background is in TV and radio broadcasting and sales management, he has no formal theology education. So it’s possible his understanding of Jesus’ teachings on nonviolence is not as nuanced as Thom’s.