[amc] IRAQ: Letter to President Bush about assault on Fallujah (fwd)
- From: Micheal McEvoy <chewy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: Austin Mennonite Church <amc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 13 Nov 2004 18:15:53 -0600 (CST)
I think tht this letter follows what Bob was saying about labels.
I also think that this letter is a good example of Christian non-resitance
and love in the face of hatred and violence. A good example of Anabaptist
theology in practice.
Shalom,
Micheal
--
Micheal McEvoy St. Brigid's Gate Farm
chewy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Mahomet, Texas
"Christ erases the handwriting of the devil so that it is no longer the law
that reigns, but grace and freedom in Jesus Christ, according to the nature
of the true love of God and neighbour. This love in God is the real freedom."
-- Pilgram Marpeck
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sat, 13 Nov 2004 15:55:23 CST
From: "CPTnet editor, Webster, NY"
<CPTnet.editor.guest.445947@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: menno.org.cpt.news@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: IRAQ: Letter to President Bush about assault on Fallujah
CPTnet
November 13, 2004
IRAQ: Letter to President Bush about assault on Fallujah
[Note: The following letter by CPT Steering Committee member John Stoner was
written in response to the Iraq team's November 6, 2004 Urgent Action, "Halt
Attack on Fallujah." Stoner is also the director of Every Church a Peace
Church.]
President Bush
The White House
Dear President Bush:
I urge you not to launch a major deadly assault on Fallujah.
Innocent people, hundreds of them, will die. Jesus does not approve of
killing people. Therefore killing innocent people surely does not please
Jesus.
Would you destroy Fallujah to save it?
And have you thought about the consequences of "winning" a battle against
Fallujah? It would inflame more anger against America.
President Bush, the problem of terrorism is not that "those people" are so
different from us. It is that they are so like us. When they are struck,
they strike back. Can you see that? If you can't, why can't you?
So who will stop the spiraling cycle of violence in the world?
Jesus said that "All who take the sword will perish by the sword" (Matthew
26). That is as true of nations as it is of individuals. This is not
complicated. It is plain.
Let me say this as plainly and as gently as I can: Your taking up the sword
against terrorism makes you indistinguishable from a suicide bomber.
Why? Because Jesus said that taking up the sword is suicidal. And I do not
have to tell you, do I, that the American people are tethered to your waist
as you take up the sword. The consequences will come back on all of us.
And so I implore you to make your mark on history by being a peacemaker,
because it was Jesus, no one less, who said, "Blessed are the peacemakers"
(Matthew 5).
The church is called to be the body of Christ. The body of Christ does not
kill people, it gives its life for the life of the world. You are part of
the church, the body of Christ.
Sincerely,
John K. Stoner
guest.40096@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
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