Category: Pragmatism And Consequentialism

Arguments for Christian Pacifism

4/4/2018

For a much expanded version of the case for nonviolence in podcast form, check out the Fourth Way Podcast.

1. Introduction: My journey to pacifism
2. Biblical Teaching: A foundation for pacifism using scripture
3. Biblical Examples: Examples of explicit non-violence in the face of aggression from the Bible and Apostles
4. Early Church Teaching: Quotes from the early church fathers about their beliefs on war, soldiering, vengeance, violence, punishment, etc
5. Real Life Examples: Examples of non-violence, its implementation, and effect
6. Pacifism Applied: Explores what the process and action of pacifism look like
7. Evaluating the Christian Alternative to Pacifism: A look at a Just War theory of morally using violence as a Christian and asking how it isn't even more idealistic than pacifism
8. Pacifism Quotes to Ponder: A reflection on non-violence and violence from those who journeyed through persecution
9. Counter-Rebuttals: Rebutting the greatest criticisms leveled at a pacifistic position
10. Questions for Just-War Adherents : Returning difficult questions to Just War adherents about their ideology
11. Conclusion
12. Resources

*13. Addendums - Additional arguments and ideas I'm putting here until I reformat the site or figure out where I can include them.
*14. My Poetry - Poetry I've written in trying to work through various issues of the Kingdom, including nonviolence.
*15. My Book - While the book isn't specifically about pacifism, it deals with the consequentialist (ends justify the means) morality which my culture taught me that prevented me from living as Christ desires, which includes a nonviolent life. I think this inculcated morality is what must be addressed before many can hear Christ's words. I'm happy to share this document for free as well, just contact me.

The full, original article (not updated with more recent editions) can be downloaded in PDF format below:

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Ministry, the Spirit, and the Church

3/1/2018

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"Ministry, the Spirit, and the Church" addresses our family's call to ministry. I discuss what God has been teaching us about how to pursue and build his church. While there is a bit of anecdote in the first and last sections, most of the post follows Roland Allen's "Spontaneous Expansion of the Church" as he breaks down some of the pitfalls of Western Christianity and our love for pragmatism.

Allen's main thesis is that we in the West have chosen to pursue means of church expansion that lend themselves towards quelling the Spirit. They are means that embrace a love for certainty, objectivity, structure, and control. While these items Allen identifies aren't inherently bad, they are items that can't be at the forefront of our work in the church because both the Gospel and the body of Christ center around relationship with free creatures, not with scientific laws and inanimate objects. God desires us to trust in his foolish means, his power over our weakness, and his Spirit's leading as it wills over our desire for certainty and self-direction. When we break from this trust in God and embrace our own "control," the church stagnates and dies. It becomes an inanimate system rather than a living relationship.

1. Losing Control: A look at how God calls humanity to relinquish control, and a little about how God has done that in my family's life

2. Overbearing Doctrine: I consider how emphasizing Christianity primarily as doctrine can sabotage the church by creating stagnation, deemphasizing relationship, and quelling the "unqualified" vessels whom God may desire to use and or grow.

3. Overbearing Methodology: I consider how our love for systems and certainty drive us away from a trust in God's means, and stymies a Spirit lead movement in the church.

4. Overbearing Morality: I consider how our focus on moral qualification is often shaped more by our culture than by the Bible, and how we often lack the grace towards others to meet them where they're at rather than expect perfection before we accept - the opposite of what God does for us.This overbearing morality severely harms the church.

5. The Spontaneous Expansion of the Church in Romania: I take what I've gleaned from Allen and my own experience and delve into some of the big specific questions we face as we pursue ministry in Romania.

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When Not Helping Hurts

2/22/2018

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Over the past few years, God has placed within us a desire for mercy ministry. With this call, he has provided us with a number of wonderful opportunities to love and grace others. But whereas we originally began answering the call with the idea that we would be bringing mercy and grace to others, we have come to find that transformative power in God’s call has more frequently been directed towards us. God has taught us many things over the past few years. Just when I feel I’m getting to the point where I “get it," God reminds me that he still has quite a bit of work to do on me.

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The Means to the End

8/15/2017

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I believe that thought experiments and hypothetical situations are fantastic ways to soften our hearts and show us glaring holes in our belief systems. This is what Samuel essentially did to David when he confronted him about Bathsheba in what is perhaps one of the most powerful displays of such a method used in the Bible. So, I'd like to begin by presenting you with a hypothetical situation that rocked my world for many years.

Imagine, as in the M.A.S.H. clip below, that you are on a bus full of people trying to escape imminent death from persecutors. Your bus pulls off to the side of the road and into some thicket to avoid an incoming enemy patrol. As the patrol nears, your young child begins to scream. What do you do? Do you allow your child to scream so that the fifty lives on the bus are all lost, or do you smother your child so that only one life is lost? Fifty or one? What's the right answer?

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The Politics of Jesus

2/17/2017

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I explore and summarize John Howard Yoder's "The Politics of Jesus," which has become a very influential book in my life. The book takes a look at what Christ came to do and how what he did should influence our daily lives.

1. The Cup of Suffering: Jesus's actions were very meaningful, as he sought to establish his Kingdom in part by flipping our power systems upside down.
2. Drinking from Our Cup: While Jesus performed some actions that were specific to fulfilling his messianic role, Christ's moral life and actions are largely prescriptive for believers today. We are called to share the same cup.
3. The Cross and the Kingdom: The cross is not something that might happen for believers, it is the sure result of following Christ and living a Kingdom oriented life.
4. The Kingdom and kingdoms: Since we serve in God's kingdom which is not of this world, yet remain living in the kingdoms of humanity, we must face the reality of conflicting interests and gauge how to handle these.
5. Questions and Conclusion:

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A Call to Christian Ineffectiveness

2/9/2017

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I have always had a strong moral compass, though I can't say it has always pointed North for the right reasons. I must admit that many of the times I have chosen to do good, I simply did so in order to avoid disappointing others and the consequences of punishment that would follow. Intermingled with my moral tendency to favor approval was another ethic that surrounded me - the Puritan Work Ethic. Growing up in farmland Pennsylvania, I was surrounded by industrious, hard working people who worked often, worked hard, and worked well. This work ethic was directly tied to my moral ethic, for God instituted work before the fall (it was not a curse), and whatever we did was to be done to the glory of God. Now I'm not saying that I necessarily adopted such a work ethic in practice, but its ideology has definitely been a big part of my life.

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God the Utilitarian?

11/7/2016

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I am a utilitirian at heart. I want to fix everything and I want to do everything efficiently. I have found that while utilitarianism can provide some much needed perspective at times, I have also found that I feel a profound tension between the embracing of this view and the throwing off of it.

On the one hand, it seems that being utilitarian is very detrimental in many ways. First, and most obviously, it can be harmful to relationships. Many men share my utilitarian leanings and fail to listen to their wives. Rather than allow their wives to be heard, husbands try to fix problems and end up creating more tension. At the same time, the old saying "the ends justify the means" - an apt summary of utilitarianism followed through - seems obviously wrong in a universe where objective morals exist. Nobody wants to live in a world where all that is deemed right is determined by what works. In such a society, forced euthanasia, infanticide of children with particular disorders, sterilization of certain groups, etc - would not only be enacted, but they would be the reasonable thing to do.

But at the same time, utilitarianism seems like an absolutely Christian notion to me. In fact, it seems like one of the most Christian conclusions one could ever draw, for when God created, he called his creation very good. It was as he intended. And when God redeems, it is and will be very good again. God is a God of order and made the world to work. So it seems as though when one finds something working, they have found something good. It is the footprint of our God of order.

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Political Savior Complex

10/24/2016

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I feel like an adult now. For anyone who knows me well, that's a pretty big deal. The video game playing, sarcastic, baby faced, never take anything serious guy finally feels like an adult. I've been paying taxes for over a decade, I've owned a home for almost half a decade, and I have two kids. But none of those things gave me this feeling that I had grown up - that I was in the same league as the other adults at work or at church. I think I have come to realize that what has made me feel like an adult isn't that I have grown up. I still love video games and hate paying taxes. Rather, I think the world has grown up to me.

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Christians as Refugees

1/12/2016

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I wrote a few weeks back about the Syrian refugee issue. Dwelling more on the topic got me to thinking about some of the deeper questions that arise - particularly the issue of how morality and "oughts" are derived. Whereas in the last post I focused mostly on what our response should be, in this post, I want to explore why I think consistent Christians should strongly consider

throwing off the stereotyping of refugees (and other groups) and allow the refugees into the U.S. (with strong and reasonable precautions and adequate vetting) - or at the least have a positive attitude towards them and help them abroad. I also want to explore why I think systems without a strong moral grounding - particularly on an atheistic system - can't consistently argue for the same acceptance and love. This is by no means intended to say that atheists aren't altruistic or can't be altruistic. Rather, I am fascinated with the atheistic worldview and what should logically follow from holding that worldview consistently. Since atheism provides such a strong juxtaposition to Christianity at its core, it helps to highlight Christian thought and importance. I want to explore the grounding of acceptance and stereotyping from both worldviews.

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Forward>>

Arguments for Christian Pacifism

Ministry, the Spirit, and the Church

When Not Helping Hurts

The Means to the End

The Politics of Jesus

A Call to Christian Ineffectiveness

God the Utilitarian?

Political Savior Complex

Christians as Refugees

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