Should Christians Fight With Non-Christians?
Tuesday, January 6, 2009 | | |Many of us ask ourselves at some point whether or not our moral defense is justified. Fighting in defense of the Christian faith is important, but is fighting really the way the war for the human heart should be waged? These questions perplexed me last April, and given my doubts, I stopped my message within this blog.
Now that I have given myself some time to re-evaluate and pray about my values. God has revealed a very important revelation. This year God placed me in a Church that fights sin in a way I never had fought it before. My desire was to appeal to common sense and logic, yet they fought with love, patience and understanding.
Jesus has provided me with time to sit back and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of my argumentation. I now realize that my discussions should not be non-believer focused, but believer focused. I cannot, for the life of me, place the burden upon myself to reveal the light to those who are in darkness. This is because there are actually two forms of logical argumentation. Worldly wisdom and Godly widsom.
Worldly widsom encompasses all thought, logic and reason set apart from God. Those who are wise in the world can live peaceful, happy lives, but must be enslaved to a part of themselves that is in the world. This may be money, sex, drugs, religion or any other form of addiction. Every man defends their God, those of the world choose a different God than Jesus Christ.
Godly wisdom ecompasses all thought, logic and reason given through a relationship with Jesus Christ. The holy spirit lives within each follower of Christ, and although we are often horrible at interpreting what the spirit tells us due to our sinful nature - that relationship allows us to learn with God's wisdom and following so that we can find true happiness. The spirit reveals to us our strengths and weaknesses given to us by God, and allows us to fulfill our purpose through him. This results in peace, patience, kindness and gentleness... what are known as the fruits of the spirit.
So this begs the question, should Christians fight with Non-Christians? The short answer is no, we are to love eachother as we love ourselves - if we fight with others, then we only fight with ourselves. It is difficult to love others that despise you, but this is the calling of following Christ.
What each Christian must understand is that we are called to love those that are least like us, and it is only through our example of this love that we can reach those who hate us. In order to be loved, we must first be hated. It is often that Christ's teachings are taught in a paradox.
Christ was first hated and destroyed so that he could prove his love for us, we must also do the same thing. Christ didn't hate those with whom he spoke. The words he spoke were of love, and he lived his life to prove his love for them. Yes, he argued with those who were blind, but he did so under the authority of God himself. Notice, also, that he did not argue with them for the sake of changing their minds, he knew that they would not understand. Rather, he used those who hated him as an example to those who loved him to better illustrate his message of love.
Do we fight with non-Christians? No. We let them destroy our beliefs and destroy our Church and bring down our faith. We let them follow the path they have chosen, and we love them through the whole process. We help them when they suffer from their decisions. God's work is beyond our own, when we attempt to bring non-believers into our logical framework and defeat them, we limit what God is capable of doing in their lives.
Christianity will shine brightest when the world is in darkness. Let us be a light to the world, and shine the love of Jesus Christ on those who hate us. It is what we are called to do.
Craig Chamberlin
"Do not rebuke a mocker or he will hate you; rebuke a wise man and he will love you. Instruct a wise man and he will be wiser still; teach a righteous man and he will add to his learning." - Proverbs 9:8 - 9