The Matter of War

As we look over world history, it's hard to ignore the reality that wars drive the sequence of events.  This year 2014 marks significant events in wars of history:

It's been 100 years since the outbreak of World War I in the summer of 1914.

December 24 marks 200 years since the signing of the Treaty of Ghent, which concluded the War of 1812 between the United States and Britain.

There are two things I, in a sense, resign myself to, which I feel I should be outraged by, and one of them is the idea of war.  How awful that human beings come to a point where, to settle a conflict, they take up weapons and inflict harm, and even death, in the worst way upon each other.  We condemn such violence in our own sphere, such as when someone shoots someone else fatally in our communities, yet the tendency exists to more or less approve it when it happens on a large scale in war.

Of course, usually the breaking point that leads to the outbreak of war comes as a result of various factors building upon one another, as many and varied factors lead triggered World War I.  For example, I once remember a high school reading assignment about a conference in Berlin in the late 19th Century in which the European powers divided up Africa into colonies, and a friend, seeing my reading, remarked that the conference drew the battle lines for World War I--decades ahead of time, when these powers probably weren't thinking of fighting each other.

It was from this complex, tangled mess of factors that a regional conflict commenced that soon engulfed much of Europe, and beyond.  Its outcome, which placed much of the punishment on Germany, eventually triggered the rise of the Nazis and then World War II, which then triggered the Cold War.  In the midst of the Cold War's closing years, the seeds for the War on Terrorism were planted, which were also influenced by the aftermath of World War I.

Indeed, armed conflicts have steered the course of world history.

But if we go to the heart of the matter, we realize that these warring desires are ultimately embedded within our own hearts, because we as a human race, are fallen, and so our hearts incline to do evil to one another.  From there arise the complicated matters of when to use force as a just means to stop evil.

Truly this is something that can only be resolved when Jesus Christ comes to reign in fullness over the Earth at the End of Time, something which we anticipate during the Advent Season as much as we await the yearly celebration of Christ's Nativity.

In that light, perhaps we can take a cue from something that happened on the Nativity Day occasion 100 years ago.  In the midst of fighting in the trenches during the early months of World War I, both sides declared the Christmas Truce.  They ceased their fire and lay down their weapons and exchanged gestures of good will for a few hours.

Let us look beyond our warring world to the God of Peace.  Let us welcome Him into our hearts so that He may reign, and so be bearers of His peace, as we await the day when the fullness of His reign comes to our world, and all violence shall cease.

Come Lord Jesus.

Peace be with you all as we come upon the annual commemoration of the birth of the One who is the Prince of Peace.