Blessed are the Peacemakers, it is said. And, now would be a good moment for them all to step forward. Let's run a little experiment, and see if we can get twenty of you to step forward as Peacemakers. Any takers?
First, how many of you are willing to forgive those who assaulted the Capitol. You need to be someone who opposes Trump to qualify. You are not saying you justify the looting, nor anything else that was done that was wrong. But, you are forgiving them. And, you are offering them friendship. And, you are not calling them names, nor saying they are traitors, nor treasonous. You are not condemning them. You understand them. You allow that they believed what they were doing was right. You allow they felt they were doing something to save the country. You might think they were misguided, but at the same time you are not condemning them. Do we have any takers? Any at all? Will any of you step forward to be this Peacemaker?
America has plenty people waving the red flag of Republicanism, and plenty of people waving the blue flag of Democratism. What we need are more of are those who are willing to raise the white flag of Peacemaking. Notice how when we refer to the flag as the Red, White and Blue, white is in the middle, even as a Peacemaker is in the middle, keeping the other two apart. If you took white out of the flag, there would be no stars and there would be no stripes. We would be left with but strife and contention in our land, with a sky of Democrats and a sea of Republicans.
Peacemakers are not quick to condemn, but to forgive. There will be times they must condemn, but they will weigh the moment well before they walk that ground.
Peacemakers do not find fault, they forgive it. Who will be this class of Peacemaker for us?
Peacemakers are fair in their judgement of others. They look not for fault, but for fairness. So, let's look at the faults being cast, and see if we can find Peacemakers willing to drop their fault-finding, drop their aspersions, drop their name-calling, and accusations. Can we find even one who will fill this category? Speak up, if you will, for this is the hardest of all category to fill. I'm guessing there will not be so much as a soul who will be this type of Peacemaker. But, to help you along, that you might be this rare soul, let me point out that false accusations are the heart of contention. So, if we are to be less contentious as a people, we must cease our false accusations. We should consider the Ten Commandments, and how one of them is to not bear false witness. A Christian nation, it would seem, would run from bearing false accusations, would shun as a sin the bearing of false witness.
There are other types of Peacemakers close to the one just mentioned. There is the Peacemaker who does see a fault, but sees past it. They might find fault in a politician, and even verbalize it, but they reach a point of contentedness instead of contention. They allow others to disagree with them about that politician. They live with the facts. The show a measure of tolerance even though they do not approve of the politician.
Peacemakers? Is there someone who disfavors Trump, but is willing to go without impeaching him? Ten days are left, and he will be out of office. Is there an anti-Trumper who will be willing to at least be that much of a Peacemaker?
Here is a type of Peacemaker I doubt will step forth. There have been accusations made of everyone from Hillary Clinton to Robert Mueller. Is there anyone willing to step forth and say, You know, there really isn't any good evidence that Hillary is guilty of some of the things she is accused of?
I suppose, on the flip side, some would ask those of us who feared Trump to likewise apologize. Realize, though, that now is the moment our fears have come to fruition -- at least in our eyes. Still, if there are things about Trump that have not proven to be more than unjust accusations -- in the name of being a Peacemaker -- are we willing to apologize?
We are a nation divided. If we are to quit fighting, we have to quit finding reason to fight. If we no longer see the need to condemn our neighbor, we can love him or her like the Bible suggests.
I will repeat: Peacemakers do not find fault, they forgive it. And, if that is not true, this is: The Peacemaker might see a fault, but forgives it. (That does not mean they say those doing wrong should not be punished. ) The warmaker invents the fault and refuses to forgive it.
False accusations are the heart of contention. So, if we are to be less contentious, we must cease our false accusations.
Well, I was going to rewrite this before posting it. It rambles and isn't organized enough. I'll go ahead and post it as is. Maybe I will rewrite it and post a better version in the future.
One last thing. I uppercased Peacemaker throughout this post. The roll of a Peacemaker is such that the person filling it deserves that uppercase treatment.
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