We sit and do nothing while someone (including ourselves) is being beaten, raped, harmed in some way
This idea rears its ugly head constantly. Every discussion I have without someone with regards to being nonviolent, loving my enemies, and so forth, without question or exception, I hear this one question followed by a hypothetical situation: “What do you do then? What if someone broke into your house and is going to rape your wife?”
I’m certain there are like-minded colleagues of mine out there who are absolutely exhausted by having to handle this question over and over and over . . . and over again. But, guys and gals: chin up. Face the question. Respond in love. It’s another opportunity to share the way of Christ.
But I liken this questioning, this long lived myth, to baking. My wife has become quite the gluten/wheat free, dairy free (that is, no cow dairy) and egg free baker. When I start to rave about her, say, banana bread, and how it’s free of all of those ingredients, you know what the first question I hear is…and this is in every case…? “Oh. What’s in it then?” As if wheat, cow’s milk and chicken eggs are the only ingredients on Earth. Then I have to enlighten yet another lost soul.
In essence there is no difference when it comes to nonviolence. Violence, my friends, is not the only option. And I’m not talking about running away either. Why is it that some act of violence, an act of killing, is the first thought that comes to mind? Some have told me that if there was an intruder entering their home, that intruder would be killed. I asked them if they could tell the future, if they knew what that person was truly going to do? Their answer (and this came from more than one person) was they would not have time to figure out what that person was doing. It’s shoot first, ask questions later. (Those were Christians giving me that answer by the way.)
As I’ve mentioned before, much of how you will respond in any given situation depends on how you’ve trained yourself. If you’ve set your mind on a violent response, violence it will be. But if you heed the words of Christ and take a little extra time to think about, I don’t know, maybe two or three possible nonviolent responses, you’d realize that violence isn’t the only option out there.
So, in looking at this myth—we silly, apathetic, lazy pacifists do nothing while others are being injured in some way—just because we do not choose violence does not mean we do nothing. You may not like what we might do in a situation because it’s not vengeful, violent, ultra flashy and dramatic, but the ways of Christ were contra mundum, against the world. The world should look at us and wonder. The world should see us and think, “Wow. They sought peace. Why?” And then we get to give witness to the good news again and again.
