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Yesterday, I posted a few thoughts on why Europeans tend to lean toward pacifism to solve problems whereas Americans tend to see war as a good solution.

Today, I want to take that conversation in the direction of current evangelical practice. Many of our evangelical brothers and sisters overseas believe that American media and culture promote a mindset of violence. Whenever I have brought up these concerns with my fellow American friends, I have gotten blank stares and then a quick denial that violence in any way represents us.

But consider the media choices we have at our disposal: movies, video games, the R-rated violence of a TV shows aired in prime time. Taking my son to see Wall-E a few months ago, I was appalled at the number of small children going to see Hulk with their parents, and I heard that crowds of children had front row seats to the disturbing violence of The Dark Knight.

Most evangelicals apparently do not see this trend as problematic. How many times do we hear leading evangelicals speaking out against the depictions of violence on TV or in the movies? We are very much aware of the sexual perversity on the big screen and the now-commonplace acceptance of homosexuality. But surely a constant stream of media violence is also deadly to our souls.

The latest way for youth groups to attract young men is by setting up video game consoles with violent games like Halo 3. Ask evangelical youth pastors if they would ever consider using pornography as a way of attracting young people to church. “Of course not!” would be the answer. But why is it we never give a second thought to the video games that bid us into a world of graphic violence?

“It’s not real. It’s just fantasy,” we say, shrugging aside the violence. But could we not use that line of reasoning for pornography as well?

Of course it’s fantasy. That’s not the point. The truth is… even fantasy shapes who we are and what we believe. We would never allow pornographic fantasy into our youth groups, but the gory bloodiness of video games sneaks in under the mask of “harmlessness.”

I believe that we should heed the warnings of many of our European brothers and sisters in Christ on this matter. We are a violent people. We consume violent entertainment. And the transformation of the gospel must reach even into this tender area and change our hearts.

I recently listened to the testimony of a Moldovan pastor who had a history of gang life. As he recounted his testimony, I was struck by how many times he mentioned non-retaliation as one of the integral parts of the transformation that took place in his life.

Before he became a Christian, this man was impressed by two young believers who had invited him to church. He had beat both of them up and sent them on their way. But he soon discovered that neither one had turned him into the police. The young men continued to greet him and invite him to church even after he had acted violently against them. The Holy Spirit used these believers’ act of forgiveness and non-retaliation in order to chip away at this man’s hard heart toward Jesus Christ.

Closely linked to this pastor’s conversion story was his determination to not take revenge upon those who hurt him. Even after his former gang members attacked him for attending church, threw homemade bombs into the church meetings, and shattered the windows with rocks, the pastor refused to take action against them. The decision to refrain from vengeance, the decision to see non-violence as the Christian, gospel-centered response to a world of hatred was an integral part of his repentance and faith.

I am not interested in arguing for a pacifistic position on war. I do not believe that such a position can be supported by Scripture. Pacifism is wrong because it forgets “what time it is.” It assumes we must live in the world as if the final consummation of new heavens and new earth has already occurred and evil has already been finally defeated. We are living in the “time between the times” – between Christ’s initial victory over Satan and death on Easter Morning and his final implementation of that victory upon his Return. The “already/not yet” nature of the kingdom means that the end of all war is still “not yet.”

But as heralds of the coming kingdom of peace, we as Christians should be naturally resistant to the inherent violence of our culture. We must practice non-retaliation in our personal lives, seek to be at peace in the church, and decry the thirst for violence that so often marks our entertainment choices.

Pacifists we are not. Peacemakers we are.

written by Trevin Wax  © 2008 Kingdom People blog

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