Warmongers

It seems that 20th and 21st Century mankind has a false assumption that we are capable of avoiding war.

I was watching a show on the National Geographic channel and it was about the discovery of a massive civilization that existed in South America from 2600 BC. The foundation of that society was War. The foundation of another society nearby that was from 1000 BC was War. The foundation of the Roman Empire was War.

In American history alone, there have been only rare instances when we were not at war. We had the American Revolution, the War of 1812, the Civil War, the Spanish/American War, World War 1, World War 2, Korean War, Vietnam War, Gulf War and the Iraq War.

It appears since the beginning of recorded time we have been a people of War.

Today we seem to think we're societally above our need for War, superior to the requirement of armed conflict, but are we really? Could War be as inevitable and/or necessary as food and sex?

Then I think about Jesus. If we are inherently warmongers, his example is even more radical, more taxing on us. "Those who live by the sword, die by the sword." He calls us to love our enemies... the enemies we have historically silenced through war.

It just goes to show me that Jesus' example is so much greater than our own, so much more lofty. He expects us to put all things second to God, including food (fasting), sex (adultery) and war (love your enemies).

Jesus says we are not of this world and, to prove it, we should abandon all things that are of this world, including our own apparent genetic predisposition, to achieve divine purity. That's a tough goal to reach, but, considering the reward (salvation), it's worth it.