Make peace, not war
Hello.
It was a sobering moment when, on Wednesday of this week, the major of Hiroshima in Japan suggested that it was about time we learn from the nuclear attack on that city, where around 80,000 people were killed instantly on August 6th, 1945. Only a few days later, on the 9th, another bomb was dropped on the port of Nagasaki with similar lethal consequences. Within a month the world was celebrating the end of the war in the Pacific. It’s been 80 years since and what lessons have we taken on board?
Some have speculated that the biblical prophet Zechariah envisioned such events when he wrote that “their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths…They will seize each other by the hand and attack one another” (14:12-13 NIVUK). Of course, we don’t know such things for certain.
What we do know for certain is that, in this dangerous world, everything seems be getting worse. If only our disunited nations paid and had paid attention to the UN’s famous slogan about transforming the weapons of war into peaceful tools. It’s taken from Isaiah 2:4, “They will beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war any more”. I love that last phrase, “nor will they train for war any more” – there seems little hope of that in today’s transactional politics!
Christians’ certain hope is that Jesus will return to restore us to peace. Sometimes we use this idea weakly and it becomes an excuse for not trying to change society now. Jesus, however, promoted peace-making wherever he went, and today we need his message more than ever before.
Let’s make peace, not war.
Best regards,
James
About the Writer:
James Henderson is a Minister in Grace Communion International.