Strategies for soldiers of shalom
I got this in my SojoMail today. Note: Dr. Vernon Grounds was Dean and President at Denver Seminary in the 1950s until late 1970s.
Strategies for soldiers of shalom by Vernon Grounds
- Pray daily!
- Keep informed regarding the development of international and national affairs: Be concerned about the world, not just the church.
- Unambiguously denounce and renounce war.
- Study and ponder biblical ethics.
- Critically examine traditional and prevalent viewpoints and doctrines with respect to military policy - e.g., the just war theory, pre-emptive strike, the pacifist and non-resistant options.
- Recognize that Christians, while grateful citizens of a particular country, belong to a kingdom that is global. Refuse to be an uncritical nationalist or an idolatrous American.
- Support the historic right to dissent.
- Take seriously the New Testament demand for Christian nonconformity.
- Recognize that obedience to our Lord Jesus is the master-criterion of discipleship, not political effectiveness nor pragmatic success.
- Use whatever political and propaganda resources are available to oppose those forces, ideologies, and institutions that foster an anti-peace mindset and a pro-war mentality.
- Stress the interconnectedness of justice and peace. Battle injustice insofar as that is possible.
- Collaborate with all peace-lovers in peacemaking regardless of theological and ideological differences but within the limits imposed by conscience.
- Seek to be an agent of shalom in all personal relationships.
From "Transformed by Love: The Vernon Grounds Story," by Bruce L. Shelley. Discovery House Publishers.