tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37106751.post3541124979240115582..comments2023-06-28T11:56:24.073-04:00Comments on The Lamb's War: Bless the PoliceMicah Baleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06849915973708989620noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37106751.post-37681548968828023242011-11-06T21:20:41.480-05:002011-11-06T21:20:41.480-05:00Gordon Lafer said in this week's issue of The ...Gordon Lafer said in this week's issue of The Nation that 54% of Americans support OWS. He doesn't say where he got that number, but I've heard elsewhere of polls showing majority support.Nathan Harringtonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08907712742847100043noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37106751.post-80545355222689486382011-10-30T10:37:49.973-04:002011-10-30T10:37:49.973-04:00@Marshall: I would agree that the actions of the p...@Marshall: I would agree that the actions of the police in Oakland do not demonstrate the fruits of Christ's Kingdom. I am wary, though, of judging them to be beyond the reach of God's love. I do not believe that is our role.<br /><br />Rather, we are called to continue to reach out to our enemies with genuine love and real hope of their eventual reconciliation with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. <br /><br />This does not mean that we overlook evil. But we must be willing to suffer injustice as a sign to the world, so that some might be saved - including, we pray, the front-line perpetrators of evil.Micah Baleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06849915973708989620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37106751.post-57547027459533152742011-10-29T14:40:02.532-04:002011-10-29T14:40:02.532-04:00Having spent some time at Occupy Oakland, I am ver...Having spent some time at Occupy Oakland, I am very aware that not all there are committed to nonviolence. This has been on my mind a lot. Nonviolence requires having something strong to fall back on when we are challenged, and it also requires a lot of practice. It comes naturally to me after a lifetime as a Quaker, with activist parents who talked about Gandhi at the dinner table. I have grown to be very slow to anger, and to look for ways to reach the humanity of others, striving to respond with love and creativity when I am confronted. But I have also lived a privileged life, never trapped in a threatening situation that I didn't have a way out of.<br /><br />If I ask someone who has not grown up with nonviolence, who may have been faced with ongoing harassment or worse, to lay down their arms and follow my path, how am I honoring what they know to fall back on? I don't know yet how to hear and understand the willingness to fight back physically. I've never lived with either that level of testosterone or that level of oppression.<br /><br />The civil rights movement would not have been what it was without the intensive nonviolence trainings that many participants attended at the Highlander Center. I want to know what they did right, and how they brought people around to nonviolence.<br /><br />My calm, middle-aged, white, female, often singing voice may be able to convey some love and some de-escalation to the police. Perhaps that is part of the gift I can bring to the movement.<br /><br />With all the conversations and the growing sense of vitality of the Occupy movement, I hope we all keep our hearts open to speak with and listen to our neighbors and fellow protesters. Yesterday one of my conversations at Occupy wandered to how we are reaching out for heaven on earth. I hope to have conversations that get to the heart of how carry ourselves in the world, and how well each of our sources of strength serve us and each other.Lisa Hhttp://rootedandgrounded.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37106751.post-45554557860438993532011-10-29T06:49:06.640-04:002011-10-29T06:49:06.640-04:00I will gladly pray for the police; I care about th...I will gladly pray for the police; I care about their fate, and feel that my salvation and theirs may well be intertwined.<br /><br />But the Beatitudes list the sorts of people that God blesses. And the behavior of the Oakland police doesn’t look like the kind that would make them eligible for that list. (Would you disagree?)Marshall Massey (Iowa YM [C])http://journal.earthwitness.org/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37106751.post-74183800560588224692011-10-28T18:26:45.881-04:002011-10-28T18:26:45.881-04:00Micah,
Thanks for these powerful words of the &qu...Micah,<br /><br />Thanks for these powerful words of the "Lamb's War," the war that wins through love not anger or violence.<br /><br />Many in the occupy movement as well as the "establishment" need so desperately to hear your call to sacrificial love as demonstrated by Jesus toward the Romans.<br /><br />Also, a side note: I don't know all of the police officers in Oakland and where their heart was at. But I do know that one of the officers there sees the other side of this conflict. The officer sees "protesters" acting out in violence, throwing rocks, etc., violating civil behavior.<br /><br />In the Light,<br /><br />Daniel WilcoxDaniel Wilcoxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05178375087492786696noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37106751.post-77278363212289352402011-10-28T17:14:46.587-04:002011-10-28T17:14:46.587-04:00Your observation that "Real love goes far bey...Your observation that "Real love goes far beyond strategic nonviolence", speaks deeply to me friend. It shows a much needed understanding that love, while the strongest tool to build with, can also be the most difficult to correctly wield. Keep up the good works Micah!The Digital Quakerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10945534473781392503noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37106751.post-43554020346133303452011-10-28T11:48:31.546-04:002011-10-28T11:48:31.546-04:00This may be the best statement I have read today, ...This may be the best statement I have read today, "Love requires us to lay down our own selfish interests and act for the sake of others." <br /><br />Great post.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com