For the palace will be forsaken, the populous city deserted; the hill and the watchtower will become dens for ever, a joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks; until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is deemed a forest. Then justice will dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness abide in the fruitful field. And the effect of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust for ever.
Who among us cherishes war?
Who among us desires conflict, or violence, or bloodshed?
I certainly do not desire any of these. I desire to live in peace, harmed by no one, and doing harm to no one.
I doubt I am alone in this. All things being equal, I believe very few people would choose war over peace.
Yet we have war seemingly everywhere in the world. We certainly have conflict everywhere. More and more, it seems that conflict is spilling over into violence and bloodshed.
Why? If the natural choice is for peace, why does the choice for war even happen?
Perhaps the natural choice is not peace, but war. Perhaps the choice for war happens because that is, for whatever reason, closer to human nature than peace.
Yet the choice for war is not a good choice. I've endured a number of fights, and all manner of conflict. I have never not been hurt during a fight.
Fighting hurts. Violence does damage. Conflict costs. Anyone who has ever been in any sort of fight is surely keenly aware of this.
Yet people still fight. Nations still wage wars.
Conflict costs, and yet conflict endures.
Why?
The easy response is that we dare not tolerate evil, that we can brook no compromise with evil.
That is of course true, but it presumes that we can be certain what is evil and what is good, that we can separate virtue from vice.
That strikes me as a dangerous presumption.
For example, while we are absolutely defending virtue when we oppose sexual promiscuity and perversity, are we still defending virtue if we hurl epithets and insults at the promiscuous and the perverse?
Not if we take Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount to heart. He was quite clear that going around being angry at people was wrong. Shouting insults at each other is unequivocally not what any of us should be doing.
Yet Jesus went on to say, in Matthew 10:34, that He was not bringing peace but a sword. He very explicitly said He would set brother against brother, father against son, daughter against mother. He not only anticipated that His teachings would cause conflict, He leaned into the idea.
Why, then, does Isaiah promise the people of Israel that righteousness would bring peace and tranquility? How can the “effect of righteousness” be peace if Jesus Himself openly promised there would be no peace?
What does it take for people to live together in peace? At a minimum, there has to be harmony, which is to say there has to be agreement.
Can righteous people agree with unrighteous people? Obviously not. Good cannot agree with evil, or it is no longer good. We cannot bear true witness to anything if we do not call out unrighteous behavior as unrighteous, if we do not say “this is wrong” when confronted by that which is wrong.
Jesus Himself appears to understand that as well, for He also charged His disciples, when sending them into the world to preach His Gospel, to simply move on from those who choose not to receive His teachings, and to shake the dust from their feet when they did so. Where people would not agree with His disciples, He told them to withdraw and go elsewhere.
Good should not mix with evil. If we wish to be at all good, we must withdraw from those we believe to be “not good”.
That makes sense. We cannot live in peace if we live with those with whom we disagree.
At the same time, if we are going to live in peace we must find ways to agree with people. Jesus alludes to this, warning His followers not to make goodness a provocation, not to cast our pearls before swine, so as not to give them cause to attack.
We are not virtuous if we carry our virtue like a chip upon our shoulder, daring others to knock it off.
Perhaps that is the essence of righteousness, that we actively seek out peace and not conflict. Perhaps the beginning of righteousness is when we seriously ask of each other “on what can we agree?”
Instead of calling out all the points on which we disagree with one another, we are better served by looking for those points on which we agree.
We certainly are better served in this regard by turning our thoughts first and foremost to God, and to how we may be faithful to God’s Law. We can and should look to find ways to agree with one another, but that can only happen within the larger context of agreeing with and accepting God’s Law as our proper moral foundation.
It is equally certain that, if everyone within a particular community has turned towards God, actively seeking Him out and seeking fidelity to His Law, there is by definition at least that much agreement. If we all turn our thoughts towards God we all have a foundation on which to build agreement, even when there are innumerable other things on which we disagree.
If we are righteous, we are called to seek peace. If we are righteous, we are called to build up peace in our lives and in the lives of those around us.
If we are righteous together, we are assured of finding at least a foundation on which to build up peace.
Everywhere we look today, we can see conflict, violence, and bloodshed. Nowhere can we cast our eye and see only peace, or calm, or tranquility.
Everywhere we look today, we can see the consequences of not prioritizing peace, of not seeking the agreements necessary to build up peace.
Everywhere we look today, we can see the consequences of choosing war over peace.
We can change this. We can change our choices. We can choose peace rather than war, and we can do this beginning right now.
We can choose to look for things on which we can agree with one another.
We can choose to look for understanding of God’s Law and God’s Will, that we might build our agreements with one another on a foundation of righteousness.
My prayer therefore is that I will always find greater understanding of God’s Law and God’s Will, that I might expand the foundations upon which I can build agreement with others. My prayer is that I will always seek righteousness, that I may build lasting peace with others. My prayer is that I will always make choices which lead to peace and not to war.
My prayer therefore is that you also will always find greater understanding of God’s Law and God’s Will, that you might expand the foundations upon which you can build agreement with others. My prayer is that you also will always seek righteousness, that you may build lasting peace with others. My prayer is that you also will always make choices which lead to peace and not to war.
Everywhere we look today, we can see the consequences of choosing war over peace.
We can change this. We can choose peace rather than war.
We can do this by choosing above all else righteousness.
One of the aspects of this Substack that I like best is how you address the big, eternal questions that theologians and philosophers have pondered for centuries. These are the questions that matter. Do we love our neighbor as ourselves, or do we stick with, “all it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing”? Fundamentally, it’s “hate the sin, love the sinner”, but practical applications are more complicated, aren’t they? You do a great job of finding balance, finding key points, exposing dichotomies, and so on, Peter. Your writings are always a priority for me to read, and a blessing for me to absorb.
I know that if our country was invaded, you’d be the first to volunteer to protect the U.S. I also believe you wouldn’t harm anyone if you can avoid it. I’d like to think that most people are this way. I think within each person is a principled compass that knows there cannot be mercy without first having justice, and there is a time for tolerance and a time for springing into action to defend what absolutely must be defended. This is the moral compass that God has embedded within us, part of our soul that guides us. Remember Jiminy Cricket’s “always let your conscience be your guide”? That advice is timeless and something that everyone on the planet can understand.
Bless you always, Peter, for sharing your growing wisdom and for seeking truth. God is using this for good!