I believe God wants all mankind to live in peace because he is a God of reconciliation. It is human ambition and greed that leads to war, not God's ambivalence.
Many people want to divorce God completely from politics, asserting that religion is part of the problem and cannot be part of the solution.
I believe that is an argument that needs to be investigated beyond the hyperbole of the mass-media. Have the merits of biblical models of reconciliation ever really been tested, let alone examined?
The Bible speaks about how both sides in a dispute first need to recognize their own failures. This is encapsulated in the famous words of Jesus, "Do not look at the speck of wood in your brothers' eye, when there is a plank in your own" (Matt 7:3). Jesus also taught that we should love and even pray for our enemies, no matter how much you dislike them! (Matt 5:44).
In addition, it was Jesus who taught humanity to "turn the other cheek." All these principles and others like it undoubtedly can contribute positively to the problems we are facing. God has a place in the debate over the Middle East, and He wants to be heard. There's is an important question: is anyone listening?
So, the next time you see a news report, ask yourself how God would reconcile this, and maybe, just maybe we'll be on the road to peace.
Richard is studying Political Science at Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He's a sports nut who loves books and magazines, and learned a bit of Welsh while he was in the UK. Copyright 2002 iamnext.com. May not be used without permission.
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