Pacifism is the idea “Christians” should be non-violent, or passive, based upon the alleged model of Jesus Christ. This idea has been a common approach for many religious groups in history but since Gandhi, non-violence [pacifism] has also become the ideal of many secular factions that have employed it in their quest of petition to the civil authorities.

Pacifism is actually, though quite unintentionally, the antithesis part of a dialectic process because it is a response to something that is already inherently extant: human violence [the thesis]. Pacifism is not a pure act in-and-of-itself. It is in essence a reaction, just like retaliation, though it’s become a lifestyle for many. It ensconces violence and the State as the reality of human existence while it fails to make evident the Kingdom of God. Pacifism has no meaning except in relationship to violence; therefore it is not a reflection of Christ. Pacifism would cease to be identified if there were no wars. Though Christ was peaceable, it should be noted that He acted in co-existence with that which was being done around Him or to Him. We can even see “violence” on His part when He cleansed the Temple, which obliterates the absolutist mindset passive. Pacifism is a synthetic extreme, not the balanced ideal it is portrayed to be.

Personally speaking the reason I am not a pacifist is that while I wouldn’t cross the street to pick up a gun and shoot it for America or another other country or political system, I would use a weapon as a last resort to defend my family or someone who is vulnerable. I would not intentionally kill anybody but I would certainly attempt to disable an aggressor threatening people around me. Living in a society of might-makes-right evolutionary animalism; we will always run up against those more mighty than we. My approach is to avoid what can be avoided, defend what should be defended, and give myself over when my time has come. The definitive for me is not an absolutist ideal but a relationship with God, Who directs me in what to do; I am not left to cold hard principles or high ideals in making decisions.