The Problem with Disarmament

In the early 1900s there were some impressive pacifists, politicians, and discussions on the matters of peace, war, and disarmament. While there were politically involved pacifists working hard for the cause of international peace there were also tyrants running around Europe taking what they please through violence. There was a great desire for peace, absence of war and avoidance of international violence among many European countries and their political authorities. However, there was also great struggle for those leaders on how to best pursue peace (nothing has changed). Some authorities listened to the pacifists but the strategy of the pacifists fell short for a few solid reasons which don't need examining here. That's easy to see in retrospect. Here are some words of powerful leaders at the time.

"It is a great mistake to mix up disarmament and peace. When you have peace you will have disarmament." -Winston Churchill

"...the trouble with diarmament is that the problem of war is tackled upsid down and at the wrong end. . . . Nations don't distrust each other because they are armedl they are armed becase they distrust each other. . . . To want disarmament before a minimum of commom agreement on fundamentals is as absurd as to want people to go undressed in winter." -Salvador de Madariaga, chairman of the League of Nations Disarmament Commission

Both these men make excellent points. There can not be a laying down of one's weapons unless one is first embracing peace. If one does not have peace living inside them then their disarmament is of little use to them for now they not only are unarmed but don't have good reason to be unarmed and have not only disarmed themselves of lethal weapons but also of reason and conviction. It is possible that one may learn of peace as they begin to lay down their weapons but that peace won't be truly achieved merely by laying down one's weapons. More must happen. This type of behavior altering doesn't create longstanding or hopeful peace. It creates a ticking time-bomb. I have left the ways of violence because I have firstly come to the peace of Christ. I did not drop my weapons until I decided I must pick up a cross and had the willingness to do so. The same is true for groups.

The Church is able to be a nonviolent entity because it exists within the peace of Christ. She is able to say "thy will be done" and cling to the cross in which she was birthed. She exists within the beautiful sharing of Christ's death, burial, resurrection, and victory over sin and death and as a result she is able to turn swords into plowshares. She no longer has reason to destroy but only to cultivate. This is, as they say, the business of the church; to cultivate eternal life on earth by clinging to Christ's redeeming blood as His body. Until Jesus returns in glory the pain and suffering will not cease. However, since Christ has come man has reason to not cause pain and suffering but great reason to endure it.

I have always maintained that nonviolence is not a way to discipleship but a take away from discipleship. We drop our weapons and pick up our towels because Christ has shown us the way and told us we can and we believed him. While I believe the Church is able to live this nonviolent witness on earth (through the Holy Spirit) I don't expect nations to do it. Since peace and trust must come before disarmament there must be a transformation of nations, their leaders, and the relationship between nations and national leaders. Until a system or individual is under Christ's reign there is little reason to expect lasting disarmament to exist within that system or individual.

Until all things are made right there will be sin and corruption among mankind. Until there is peace there will be violence and war. Until all nations are brought back to God they will be enemies and unable to embrace one another as true siblings belonging to the same Creator Father. I believe there is one entity on this earth that has the best chance of exampling disarmament and it is the one that is founded in Christ; the Church. The hard question then is how the Church functions in the world which refuses to enter the redemption of Christ. Do she try to get those lacking peace to "play nice" with one another even though she knows it is a shortcoming of her mission, stand back at a distance to create clear contrast while demanding repentance of individuals and nations, or get in the middle of everything seeking to be makers of peace while suffering and refusing to seek power? My bet is that the answer is far more expansive than any one of those options (while also including all of them at various times).

Rapping on Consumerism

Consumerism thrives in the United States. I believe most of us are enslaved to this evil. We very easily become consumed by our consumption. We buy and we're owned far too often. This doesn't have to be true. There is escape and there is redemptive ways to own, possess, consume. This video by Seattle native rapper Macklemore (who my pastor recently introduced me to) takes a beautiful and breathetaking look at consumption in the urban world, particularly in connection to Nike shoes. The evil and damage of consumerism is more real than we're often aware. I love seeing this guy stepping up and talking about it. Enjoy!

Here are the lyrics:

I was seven years old, when I got my first pair
And I stepped outside
And I was like, Momma, this air bubble right here, it’s gonna make me fly
I hit that court, and when I jumped, I jumped, I swear I got so high
I touched the net, Mom I touched the net... this is the best day of my life
Air Max’s were next,
That air bubble, that mesh
The box, the smell, the stuffin, the tread, in school
I was so cool
I knew that I couldn’t crease ‘em
My friends couldn’t afford ‘em
Four stripes on their Adidas
On the court I wasn’t the best, but my kicks were like the pros
Yo, I stick out my tongue so everyone could see that logo
Nike Air Flight, but bad was so dope
And then my friend Carlos’ brother got murdered for his fours, whoa
See he just wanted a jump shot, but they wanted his Starter coat though
Didn’t wanna get caught, from Genesee Park to Othello
You could clown for those Probings, with the velcro
Those were not tight
I was trying to fly without leaving the ground, cuz I wanted to be like Mike, right
Wanted to be him
I wanted to be that guy, I wanted to touch the rim
I wanted to be cool, and I wanted to fit in
I wanted what he had, America, it begins

Chorus:
I want to fly
Can you take me far away
Give me a star to reach for
Tell me what it takes
And I’ll go so high
I’ll go so high
My feet won’t touch the ground
Stitch my wings
And pull the strings
I bought these dreams
That all fall down

We want what we can’t have, commodity makes us want it
So expensive, damn, I just got to flaunt it
Got to show ‘em, so exclusive, this that new shit
A hundred dollars for a pair of shoes I would never hoop in
Look at me, look at me, I’m a cool kid
I’m an individual, yea, but I’m part of a movement
My movement told me be a consumer and I consumed it
They told me to just do it, I listened to what that swoosh said
Look at what that swoosh did
See it consumed my thoughts
Are you stupid, don’t crease ‘em, just leave ‘em in that box
Strangled by these laces, laces I can barely talk
That’s my air bubble and I’m lost, if it pops
We are what we wear, we wear what we are
But see I look inside the mirror and think Phil Knight tricked us all
Will I stand for change, or stay in my box
These Nikes help me define me, but I’m trying to take mine, off

Chorus

They started out, with what I wear to school
That first day, like these are what make you cool
And this pair, this would be my parachute
So much more than just a pair of shoes
Nah, this is what I am
What I wore, this is the source of my youth
This dream that they sold to you
For a hundred dollars and some change
Consumption is in the veins
And now I see it’s just another pair of shoes

Rush Limbaugh & The Lord's Resistance Army

Rush Limbaugh has caused some controversy again. It touches a subject I care deeply about so I thought I'd jump in the mix and share a bit of what is going on for those who haven't already heard. Here's a transcript from his Friday show courtesy of littlegreenfootballs.com

Obama Invades Uganda, Targets Christians

[…]

So nothing to worry about here, folks, only gonna be for a few months. Now, up until today, most Americans have never heard of the combat Lord’s Resistance Army. And here we are at war with them. Have you ever heard of Lord’s Resistance Army, Dawn? How about you, Brian? Snerdley, have you? You never heard of Lord’s Resistance Army? Well, proves my contention, most Americans have never heard of it, and here we are at war with them. Lord’s Resistance Army are Christians. It means God. I was only kidding. Lord’s Resistance Army are Christians. They are fighting the Muslims in Sudan. And Obama has sent troops, United States troops to remove them from the battlefield, which means kill them. That’s what the lingo means, “to help regional forces remove from the battlefield,” meaning capture or kill.

So that’s a new war, a hundred troops to wipe out Christians in Sudan, Uganda, and — (interruption) no, I’m not kidding. Jacob Tapper just reported it. Now, are we gonna help the Egyptians wipe out the Christians? Wouldn’t you say that we are? I mean the Coptic Christians are being wiped out, but it wasn’t just Obama that supported that. The conservative intelligentsia thought it was an outbreak of democracy. Now they’ve done a 180 on that, but they forgot that they supported it in the first place. Now they’re criticizing it.

Lord’s Resistance Army objectives. I have them here. “To remove dictatorship and stop the oppression of our people.” Now, again Lord’s Resistance Army is who Obama sent troops to help nations wipe out. The objectives of the Lord’s Resistance Army, what they’re trying to accomplish with their military action in these countries is the following: “To remove dictatorship and stop the oppression of our people; to fight for the immediate restoration of the competitive multiparty democracy in Uganda; to see an end to gross violation of human rights and dignity of Ugandans; to ensure the restoration of peace and security in Uganda, to ensure unity, sovereignty, and economic prosperity beneficial to all Ugandans, and to bring to an end the repressive policy of deliberate marginalization of groups of people who may not agree with the LRA ideology.” Those are the objectives of the group that we are fighting, or who are being fought and we are joining in the effort to remove them from the battlefield.

[…]

RUSH: — no question. How do you feel about the news? I want to go back, your extensive military background, how do you react to the news that Obama has dispatched a hundred soldiers to fight radical Christians in Africa?

CALLER: That’s amazing. I can’t believe he’s doing that.

RUSH: You can’t?

[…]

RUSH: On sending the soldiers to fight the Christians in Africa, here is how Obama ends his letter to John Boehner justifying sending troops to Uganda: “I have directed this deployment, which is in the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States, pursuant to my constitutional authority to conduct US foreign relations and as commander-in-chief and chief executive.” Would somebody explain to me what you think our “national security interests” are in Uganda. Now, keep in mind, folks, this is the same Barack Obama who said that we had no national security interests in attacking Iraq. After they were shooting at our planes and trying to kill our president and Allah knows what else, Obama said, “We got no national security interests in Iraq! They don’t threaten us! What are we doing?” We’ve got 500 to a thousand soldiers in the Lord’s Resistance Army and Uganda trying to wipe them out, and we’re sending a hundred soldiers to help them.

Vital national interests are at stake, according to Obama.

[…]

Is that right? The Lord’s Resistance Army is being accused of really bad stuff? Child kidnapping, torture, murder, that kind of stuff? Well, we just found out about this today. We’re gonna do, of course, our due diligence research on it. But nevertheless we got a hundred troops being sent over there to fight these guys — and they claim to be Christians.

If you're unaware of the truth of the LRA I suggest you google them or look up Invisible Children (www.invisibilecchildren.com) who have been spreading the word about the LRA for the last 8 (or more) years and fighting for justice in Uganda against The Lord's Resistance Army. The basics are this: It's a group which stands against several African governments and is led by a man named Joseph Kony who practices hyperspiritual religious activities. His army has been making war for decades, abducting children, making little girls sex slaves and little boys murderers and soldiers. They displace families, kill mothers and fathers, and destroy homes. Their activities go far beyond rebellious political involvement. These aren't the green or tea party. They aren't the church. This is terrorism in it's most clear form.

Here is a video about them

Rush Limbaugh doesn't see that though. He's too focused on making Obama the bad guy and making the issue about "Christians" being attacked that he seems to be ignoring reality. He is ignoring who the L.R.A. is, what Obama is trying to do, and what is important. If he wants to talk about Christian persecution across the globe there are opportunities (I've got a magazine subscription he can invest in) but this is not an issue about Christians being attacked. He's creating a deceitful framework for the issue and that's more than misguided, it's wicked. Now, I don't agree completely with how the U.S. is handling the issue, I have strategies in mind, but I'm glad we're finally helping in some fashion. I can appreciate that a great amount. Limbaugh makes it clear that he either doesn't understand who the LRA is, what Christians are, or both. I have mouthfulls worth of things to say about Rush Limbaugh and this issue but most of those words won't help. So instead I'll write this blog and pray that his eyes are opened, heart changed, and actions clean. I pray we see repentance and that people not be led into believing his views which distort reality and lead people away from embracing justice and truth.

May we Christians speak against the lies, share the truth, and do what we can to help. We want to see justice in this world and we want to see transformation. We don't just want Kony and his rebels stopped but we want them changed. We want blessings for all, even the enemies. If we want that to be a reality then we've got to do our part. For some it means going to Africa and trying to capture the man before someone kills him. For others this means creating awareness right where we are and for some it means giving money. Maybe for a few it means trying to get Rush Limbaugh to face reality. Whatever our part, may we have the strength and willingness to play it. May God help us and help our friends in Africa.