Josiah Meyer

There is a great scene in ?the Mask of Zorro? where Zorro (now old and wise) is trying to teach an apprentice the fine art of ?Zorro?ing,? before going out to fight evil. On one particularly tough day, the young kid snaps and yells ?enough of this, I want to go fight the enemy NOW!!!? The old Zorro quietly says, ?okay ? choose your weapon.? Eagerly, the kid runs to his scabbard, whips out his sword and runs to challenge Zorro. In response, Zorro pulls out a spoon.

Zorro knew that the sword would be no match for the complex battle they needed to face: the youth needed to learn tact, shrewdness, patience and ? yes, manners ? to bring about a final, complete victory.

This is a good mental picture of the difference in my mind between ?witness? and ?crusade.? No matter what our cause is, our natural tendency is to run for a sword ? to ask, ?How can I quickly and decisively leverage the largest amount of power to overwhelm the enemy?? Sometimes, however, the more subtle means of ?winning? are the most effective.

Consider the testimony of the early church. Even though they lived in a time of great social injustice, they were so compelled with the message of Jesus that they were willing to literally give everything up for the poor and needy among them (Acts 4:35) and in their communities (Acts 9:36-39). In the face of persecution, they prayed not for relief but greater boldness to spread their faith more effectively (Acts 4:29). They suffered disenfranchisement, imprisonment, torture, exile, and death willingly for the gospel (Acts 8:1). Despite and because of all of these things, the early church fulfilled Jesus command to be ?light of the world? (Mat. 5:14). The response of the non-believers was awe & respect (Acts 2:43, 47), fear (Acts 5:5), and (on the part of some) intense curiosity leading to faith (Acts 16:29-30).

This was the ?spoon? which Jesus was advocating. It was going out in the midst of wolves not with a prerogative to destroy them forcibly, but to win them over by wise/innocent testimony (Mat. 10:16), even at great personal cost (Mat. 16:24).

When you look at the testimony of the church over its history, however, it is clear that we have often defaulted to the ?sword? ? literally and figuratively.

The crusades are, of course, the example which stands out in everybody?s minds. But also, think of the Inquisition, and the witch-burnings. Think of the wars between the religions and denominations and ? here is where it really starts to hurt ? think of the wars in our own present context.

How many Christian books are being written on ?The war for Marriage/the Family/America/The Faith/Christianity/prayer-in-schools/creationism, etc., etc?? They are all over the place. Apparently, the church is besieged all around by ?enemies.? In the face of such opposition, our mandate is to ?FIGHT!!?

What is our current sword? Well, unfortunately some people actually use guns ? the modern sword ? to kill abortion doctors. Others do not kill, but murder in their hearts and with their words (Mat. 5:21-22) as they preach ?holy? hatred for ?the enemy.? For the rest of us, political might, picketing, bilboarding, book-writing, etc. becomes our method of attack. We have made it clear: ?(North) America is OUR turf (that is, God gave it to us Christians) and we will defend it against those secular, liberal, gay, cold, tree-hugging, Darwinian, feminist, evil, communist, abortionist, (etc., etc., etc.) peoples at all costs!!!?

Now tell me ? what is the perception which such a stance presents to the world?

Anger, territorialism, exclusivism?or love?

The testimony of ?crusade? (if it could even be called a testimony) is nothing which the world has not seen elsewhere. It seems pretty unlikely to attract people to follow Christ: instead, it is easy to see why people such as Richard Dockins (The God Delusion) think of religion in general and Christianity in particular as a curse rather than a blessing on the earth.

I recognize that many people have really good hearts in this. Lots of unfortunate things have happened in the West in the last fifty years, with the decline in morality. It is easy and intuitive to reach for ?swords,? and to call for ?crusades? against those who are leading our nations down the wrong path.

We need to ask, however: is this Jesus? way, or the way of the flesh? Are we choosing the ?sword? or the ?spoon? ? or, to leave the metaphor behind ? are we going to have a witness for Jesus, or a crusade?