Making Peace

Corey J. Mahler on Wed 24 Jul 2024

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Hosts

Corey J. Mahler

coreyjmahler.com

@CoreyJMahler

    Woe

    aka Eschatologuy

    @treblewoe

      “For unto us a Child is born and unto us a Son is given; dominion shall rest upon His shoulders, and His name shall be called Angel of Great Counsel, for I will bring peace upon the rulers and well-being to Him. Great is His dominion — and there is no end to His peace — upon the Throne of David and over His Kingdom, to establish it and uphold it with justice and righteousness, from now unto eternity. The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will accomplish this.”

      The Lord is a God of peace, and those who follow Him are to be peacemakers, but to be a peacemaker does not mean to be a doormat or to refuse to utilize violence when and where morally warranted. In this life, peace will always be imperfect, for we live in a fallen world wherein suffering is both inevitable and inescapable, but the eschatological peace found in Scripture, in God’s promises is an absolute peace. As Christians, we have the perfect peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, upon which we can rely — whatever may come in this life.

      Peace applies to all of the estates and spheres of life, but it does not apply univocally or identically. The peace that is appropriate to the home and that which contributes to that peace is not the same as the peace that applies to politics, and the latter may be sacrificed more readily in pursuit of higher goals. These are matters of wisdom, and the Christian must know how to comport himself in the home, in society, in the State, and in the Church — peace applies to them all, but not equally and not identically.

      Where there are higher duties (e.g., in the State, in the Church), then a false peace may be sacrificed in pursuit of those higher duties. In the State, security trumps peace; in the Church, Martin Luther may have put it best: “Peace, if possible; truth, at all costs.”

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      Show Notes

      See Also

      Further Reading

      Parental Warnings

      None.

      Transcript

      The transcript for this episode can be found here

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      On Violence

      Corey J. Mahler on Wed 17 Jul 2024

      Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:21:08 — 274.4MB) | Embed

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      Hosts

      Corey J. Mahler

      coreyjmahler.com

      @CoreyJMahler

        Woe

        aka Eschatologuy

        @treblewoe

          ‘The life of man upon the earth is warfare, and he is born to trouble, as surely as the sparks fly upward.’ — Job 5,7

          We live in a fallen world. We can speak of a perfect world — and that is assuredly our goal and our destination, as Christians —, but the realities of this world cannot be ignored — Christians are not exempt from living in the world. From the very beginning of our species — when wicked Cain rose up and slew righteous Abel —, violence has never left our shadow. Although it was most certainly not part of God’s original or intended design for Creation, violence is just as certainly part of its fallen state.

          It is not that violence is itself a good; rather, it is that violence is sometimes required to protect the good. When a man enacts violence upon a home intruder to defend himself, his wife, his children, and his goods, he is using violence toward a righteous and morally praiseworthy end. Throughout the pages of Scripture, God Himself uses violence against His enemies — from the genocide of Canaan to the Final Judgement, God employs violence consistently and constantly. Although violence will be absent from the new Creation, it will never be absent from this fallen one.

          As Christians, we must not condemn violence qua violence for to do so would be to condemn God, which is apostasy; rather, we must know how to apply wisdom to these matters so that we align our actions and our beliefs with what God has commanded — and He both proscribes and prescribes violence, depending on the circumstances.

          It is also necessary for the Christian, in order that he might act in wisdom, to understand the law — to understand the differences between and among things like advocacy, incitement, and fighting words. These are not trivial, unimportant, or tangential matters, for the life of man upon the Earth is one of conflict; even times of peace are seldom entirely free from violence, and they are often ephemera. A man must always do his duty, and at times that duty may demand violence — the police officer who protects his city, the soldier who defends his nation, the housefather who defends his home.

          We are not and cannot be more moral than God, and of Himself He says:

          “The Lord is a man of war; the Lord is His name.”

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          Show Notes

          See Also

          Further Reading

          Parental Warnings

          The word “ass” is used once at ~01:39. The term “pissed off” is used once around the same time.

          Transcript

          The transcript for this episode can be found here

          Other transcripts can be found here

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