Violence is never the answer: Except when it is…

Posted by Anthony on June 24, 2010

Here is a post that is a long time coming.  First some caveats:  my target audience here is the Bible-believing Christian, namely the kind that takes the Scriptures as authoritative.  That said, I believe that Christianity manifests the true account of the moral code, and as such I think that what follows might apply to non-Christians, too.

Ok, now, this will sound like a weird place to start, but stick with me a moment.  I consider myself a conservative (although more precisely, a libertarian-constitutionalist-voluntaryist) but I wasn’t always one.  I grew up on default… that is, more or less as a liberal, especially on political and economic issues.  What changed?  Well, when I came to the place where I decided that Truth mattered, I realized that my belief system should, to the best of my ability, resemble reality.

This notion that I should adjust my mind to the world as it really was was really critical in shaping how I’ve come now.  You see, there are lots of things that I wished were the case.  Unfortunately, they aren’t.  For example, I might wish that the members of the government can be trusted to look after the interests of the citizens, but it just isn’t the case.  (Formative for me on this point was Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky).  History and today’s newspaper reveal otherwise.

I have learned that in life, actions have consequences.  I can try to shut my eyes to them and hope that by magic this time the action will have a different consequence (the one that I wished would happen) or I can accept reality.  Accepting reality made me into a conservative.

Now, I say all of this in prelude because in this post I’m going to tackle something that I think even conservatives don’t get right a lot of times.  I have heard liberals and pacifists and progressives all say something very similar to… “Violence is never the answer.”   But I have heard conservatives say it, too.  A quick google search reveals people across the spectrum making this statement.

But every sane person knows that, in fact, there are times when violence is the answer.  Even most insane people know that sometimes violence is the answer.

So what we have here is a sentiment that is casually flung around that nearly all of us know isn’t true.  In short, in saying such a thing, we are out of touch with reality.  And one of the things I’ve learned about holding sentiments that don’t actually mesh with the real world is that inevitably bad things result.  For example, if you think that you can step in front of a bus going 70 mph without getting hurt, a bad thing will result.  Some times, the ‘bad things’ aren’t immediate or clear, but never fear, God cannot be mocked:  we reap what we sow. Read the rest of the entry… »

A Jesus for the Atheists: A Panzy?

Posted by Anthony on November 1, 2007

One of the things that really irks me is when a person can’t be pleased no matter what you give them.  I am reminded of the scene in Monty Python’s movie “The Life of Bryan” where a leper is healed and complains about it because it took away his livelihood of begging.  Bryan replies “There’s just no pleasing some people!” and the Leper says, “That’s just what Jesus said!”

If you can’t please someone no matter what you give them, for my own part I tend to stop trying to please them at all.  At the very least, when confronted with such behavior, I tend to view it as marked irrationality.  I do not feel threatened by people’s arguments if they can’t say what will satisfy them.  For example, I know an atheist who requested a sign from God.  He received it.  We spoke together on the phone about it.  He was freaked out.  After a few months he decided it wasn’t enough and that it was all probably a trick of the mind.  Surely we can see how if God had done more or does more my friend can still chalk it up to a trick of the mind?  Why should God give him what he wants when it won’t make him happy anyway?

Such themes have come to my mind again as I read the Phillip Pullman trilogy for an eventual review.  I am through book 2 beginning book 3 and I am curious as all get out to see if ‘Jesus’ enters the scene, but already I have seen him describe- with approval- behavior that in other places I have heard atheists despise.   There is no way I can go deep into it right now.  As a brief example, consider Pullman’s approval of bravery, courage, and even the use of lethal force under certain conditions. Read the rest of the entry… »

Review: Shaun of the Dead

Posted by Anthony on November 19, 2006

So, yea, ok. Me, a Christian, reviewing the movie “Shaun of the Dead.” I admit its a little odd. Even my personality objects- I don’t like ‘horror’ movies. Or blood and guts movies, either, though I’ll make an exception for military movies like Band of Brothers and Saving Private Ryan. But yea. I saw this movie while overseas in England, visiting a friend I knew from the Internet. I knew even then that eventually I’d be writing this. Having now seen it a second time, here is the ‘review.’

One wonders how you could make a more hilarious version of Dawn of the Dead, since it was already funny (though it didn’t mean to be) but they did it. What struck me about this movie, though, is how certain themes percolated up that were so…. well, Christian. What I mean by that is that I believe the best explanation for them is Christianity. Certainly, I do not think atheism, secular humanism, or reductionism can explain them. To explain that, I should talk about some of those themes.

Read the rest of the entry… »