Where Is Your Faith?
by Pierce Crockett

Over the last several weeks, while listening to the radio, I was stunned to hear a Christian minister from a local church advertising for a local shooting range. The theme of this advertisement went something like "with your church and proper firearm training, you can feel more secure." While this may seem absurd, it speaks to a very common attitude in our culture.

We live in a culture where self-sufficiency and success are of great importance. Being able to provide sufficiently for ourselves and our families is something we take pride in. The problem with this as a Christian is that it tends to make us forget who is ultimately responsible for these accomplishments. We begin to believe that our talents and abilities originate fully within ourselves. We fail to acknowledge God as our Father and Giver of all that we have. We begin to lose our Faith.

But what is Faith? Faith is merely the abandonment of ourselves required to allow God's grace to work within us. A faith-filled life is one where we acknowledge that God is the Master of all, and that we have no control over the happenings of life. As we nurture our feelings of self-sufficiency, we begin to believe that our Faith is inadequate in today's world. To be responsible, involved, and prepared human beings, we must turn to worldly means to solve our problems. The call of Jesus to love our enemies is abandoned when the enemy is a criminal. The call of Jesus to love each other as He loved us is okay as long as the other person loves us in the same way. The idea of using a gun to supplement the protection of God fits rightly into this line of thinking. Unfortunately, that idea doesn't fit into Jesus' way of thinking.

To understand our duty as Christians in today's world, we must continually ask ourselves: Who is Jesus? Do we really believe that He is the Messiah? Do we really believe that His teachings are the Way, the Truth, and the Light? If we answer "yes" to these questions, doesn't that obligate us to act according to the example and the words of Jesus? Jesus taught that unconditional love of enemy and of neighbor is the primary value of a Christian. Survival is a non-value. If we are focusing our time and talents on survival, we are not focusing on being a Christian in the most basic way.

In conclusion, we are called to choose. We can put our faith in God, or in ourselves. We can choose to dedicate our lives to Christ, or we can choose to dedicate our lives to the world. Although the path of a Christian may be quite rigorous, we are offered a reward in return for our fidelity: eternal life with God in Heaven. What can this world offer us which is greater than that?

What Is God Saying in the Old Testament?
by Pierce Crockett

Working in social justice activities, especially that of opposing the death penalty, I find that many people abandon the redemptive love of the New Testament for the alleged hard-line "justice" of the Old Testament. It is not difficult to see the ease in which this can be done, especially in light of the wars conducted in God's name and the laws governing punishment contained in the Old Testament. However, this presents a small problem. If the theme of the Old Testament is truly hard-line justice, then how does this reconcile with the nonviolent love of the New Testament? Did not Jesus say that He came not to abolish the law, but to fulfill it? (Matthew 5:17)

If that is so, then maybe hard-line justice is not the theme of the Old Testament. Maybe it is something much more in line with the New Testament. Let's look at some situations in the Old Testament and see if that sort of theme does, in fact, emerge.

In Genesis, we get our first good situation in the story of Cain and Abel. In this story Cain becomes jealous of Abel and kills him in cold blood. When God questions Cain about the whereabouts of Abel, Cain not only lies to God, but also does so with contempt, "I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper?" (Genesis 4:9) Now here is a place for hard-line justice if ever there was a place. Is that what we get? No. God chooses not only to banish Cain for the rest of his life, but also places a mark on him in order to protect him. God shows him mercy. God apparently prefers not to destroy him.

Let's look at another well-known Old Testament story. In the story of Jonah, we find another situation to examine. In this story God asks Jonah to go to the wicked city of Nineveh, and to announce that God intended to destroy the city in forty days. As the story goes, Jonah eventually made his way there (via a large fish) and preached the message God had given him. As a result, the king leads the city to repentance, and God decides to show mercy to Nineveh and not destroy it. Important to note in this story, that God Himself refers to the destruction of Nineveh as "the evil He had threatened to do to them" (Jonah 3:10), and does not at all refer to that destruction as "justice." In addition, Jonah refers to God as a "gracious and merciful God, slow to anger, rich in clemency, loathe to punish" (Jonah 4:2).

Again and again we find examples of God showing preference for restoration over destruction, for mercy over hard-line justice. When Moses kills an Egyptian and tries to cover it up (Exodus 2:12), does God destroy Moses or treat him with hard-line justice? No. God shows mercy and restores Moses as the leader of Israel to the Promised Land. When King David commits adultery with Bathsheba and also has her husband Uriah killed (2 Samuel 11:4,15-17), does God destroy David's kingship with hard-line justice? No. Again, God is merciful to David and allows him to continue his reign as king.

As one reads story after story in the Old Testament, it becomes more and more evident that although God is occasionally destructive, it is always the final recourse. He always prefers to be restorative, not destructive. He will always choose mercy over a merciless justice. This being so, it is now much easier to see how the Old Testament reconciles with the New Testament. The redemptive love of Jesus in the New Testament is preceded by the restorative mercy of God in the Old Testament. Through God's mercy Jesus was born. By Jesus' death on the cross, His love restores us from the destruction of evil and sin. Through Jesus' resurrection, we are all offered the fulfillment of the Old and New Testaments: redemption and eternal salvation. All we must do is listen to what God is saying.

Shall We Love Our Enemies?
by Pierce Crockett

Who is your enemy?

Probably the best definition I have heard for an enemy is "one who threatens the survival of some self-interest." A person's self-interest could be one's family, job, or political beliefs. It could be anything from ideas to possessions to people. The self-interest is something near and dear to us. Therefore, an enemy is one who bears the power of evil and death to threaten the survival of something that is important to us.

"Enemies" confront all of us every day. For a Christian, it is important to know the right way to handle these enemies. I will illustrate this by contrasting how a rational society handles the enemy as opposed to a Christian society. This contrast was obtained from a presentation that was given by Father Charles McCarthy here at Holy Spirit back in 1990.

A rational society is one which functions based on reason or rationality. This society has values and rules which may include the following: do not steal, do not lie, do not kill, etc. However, this society has one primary operational value. That value is SURVIVAL. All other values/rules are secondary. What does this mean? It simply means that when SURVIVAL is threatened, the secondary values do not apply. In other words, if SURVIVAL is threatened, you may kill, lie, or steal to preserve it. What would ordinarily be considered wrong becomes virtue if SURVIVAL is threatened. Why is this so? Since this society is based on reason and rationality alone, when it is confronted with the powers of evil and death, it can do NOTHING. Therefore, the enemy must simply be eliminated in some form or fashion. Now let's look at the Christian society.

A Christian society is one which functions based on LOVE. In the Gospel of John, Jesus commanded us to "love one another as I have loved you" (John 15:12). Therefore, CHRISTLIKE LOVE is the primary operational value for the Christian. When an enemy confronts a Christian, the response according to Jesus must be LOVE. There is no exception. So how does survival fit into the scope of a Christian society? Survival is NOT a value in a Christian society. In fact, it is a NON-value. Why is that so? For a Christian, the answer is rather simple.

As a Christian, we believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God. We believe that He was crucified, died, and was buried. But most importantly, we believe that after three days He was resurrected from the dead. By His nonviolent love of both neighbor AND enemy, he did something unique: He conquered both evil and death. In other words, for those who follow His Way, survival is guaranteed. No "enemy" can threaten the survival of a Christian with evil or death because Jesus gave us a way to overcome both: LOVE.

Therefore, there is no reason for the Christian to eliminate the enemy. There is no reason for a Christian to use the upside-down morality of killing, lying, or stealing to protect his or her self-interest. The self-interest of the Christian is eternal life with God, which was guaranteed by His Son, Jesus, through His death and resurrection. The only price for that guarantee is unconditional love of neighbor and enemy.

Shall we, as Christians, love our enemies? YES!!

For part 3 of Crocket writings in 3 parts, click here.
To return to Part 1, introduction of Crockett and his email, click here.