A time for peace...and a time for WAR!!!

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God" (Matt 5:9) 

I hope you enjoyed the video. True story, by the way. Sometimes I think I should be more like my second-grade self. Wasn't I such a doll? I was cute, too. See, I'll prove to you. Look here--

Check me ouuuuuut. That's me in the middle, in case you weren't sure. That's Josh on my right, the best Dragon Ball Z gamer in our grade, and Nate on my left, who was good friends with Sarek (the one who punched me in the face). Man, I look good. Even without my gorgeous curly locks that now flaunt my dome, I was quite a hunk, dontcha think?

Sorry for getting distracted. (Come on, don't pretend you don't like mini-me.) Anyway, I was a cute, innocent little kid, right, and I had peace emblazoned on my soul. Fighting was a big NO-NO in my house growing up, so I assumed it was bad everywhere. My family read scriptures every morning, and Jesus said "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God" (Matt 5:9). And let's not mention the people of Ammon in the Book of Mormon. I learned about them when I was just a wee lad. They were a group of blood-thirsty, ferocious hoodlums that specializing in murdering, robbing and plundering. After they began to believe in Christ and were forgiven of their sins, they gave up their fighting. For behold, they had rather their lives than even to take the life of their enemy; and they have buried their weapons of war deep in the earth, because of their love towards their brethren" (Alma 26:32). I am always so amazed when I read that story. These people would prefer letting their enemies kill them than taking up arms to defend themselves, and all because of their great love. That must be some real special kind of love to drive them to make that kind of sacrifice. Wouldn't it be great if we were all like the people of Ammon?

While it is an admirable idea, sometimes it makes me feel uncomfortable. I mean, when the enemy comes to attack these guys, they just lie down and take it. That doesn't sound healthy, if you ask me, and I don't want any part of it. Sure, they probably will be rewarded in Heaven for being peacemakers and loving so much, but I'm not sure I could just sit there and not fight when somebody's angry and out to get me. "Uh hello, Kimball, you do realize that this is you talking...or didn't you watch your video at the beginning of this post?" Okay, yeah, I pretty much did the same thing...which I realize probably wasn't my greatest moment either, but I felt like I was doing the right thing at the time. My question is, in order to be good people, in order to find grace in the eyes of the Prince of Peace--do we always have to be peacemakers?

Well, the sixth commandment clearly states: "Thou shalt not kill" (Exodus 20:13). I don't know if there's any getting around that one. Unless of course, we throw a glance at the rest of the scriptures. For example, the Book of Mormon holds a seemingly contradictory statement to the one made in Exodus about not killing: "And the Lord said: ye shall defend your families even unto bloodshed" (Alma 43:47). So what, we're just going to throw out one of the ten commandments because of this one scripture? What about "blessed are the peacemakers" and burying your weapons of war? Where is the brotherly love? Looks like God made a little caveat in His commandments for this special case, and I'm guessing it's not an isolated incident.

Just hold on a minute. Can He really do that? Can God change just His mind? Of course He can, He can do whatever He wants. Sure, there are laws, but circumstances require differing application of said laws. While discussing this very topic on lds.org, Rodney Turner, a professor of ancient scripture at BYU, said that "[m]an does not have the right to adjust the application of God’s laws. But God has every right to do so." Couldn't have said it better myself (hence the quote). Yes, God commanded us not to kill, but He has commanded otherwise on numerous occasions. I'll offer a few scriptural examples for starters, the first two being individual instances, the latter being on a broader scale:

• God commanded Nephi to kill Laban, which he did, despite not wanting to (1 Nephi 4:10)

• God commanded Abraham to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, though an angel stopped him beforehand (Gen 22:2).

• Almost the entire book of Joshua is an account of Joshua and the Israelites massacring men, woman and children; burning cities; leaving none alive; all done because God told them to. See for yourself, in just the few references below.

• "And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword" (Joshua 6:21)

• "...[t]hey let none of them remain or escape" (Joshua 8:22)

• "[A]ll that fell that day, both of men and women, were twelve thousand, even all the men of Ai" (Joshua 8:25). 

• "For Joshua drew not his hand back, wherewith he stretched out the spear, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai" (Joshua 8:26)\

• "[T]hey left them none remaining" (Joshua 11:8)

• The list goes on.

Not only is this true in ancient times, but many people in our day defend themselves even to the point of killing others, and it appears that God does not condemn it, but in fact commands it in many cases. "We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, and in obeying, honoring and sustaining the law" (Article of Faith 1:12). Many men and women are required to go to war, to take arms against a sea of troubles in hopes to end them, and sometimes that means taking others' lives. President Hinckley addressed this issue in his April 2003 conference talk entitled, "War and Peace." He opined, "I believe that God will not hold men and women in uniform responsible as agents of their government in carrying forward that which they are legally obligated to do. It may even be that He will hold us responsible if we try to impede or hedge up the way of those who are involved in a contest with forces of evil and repression."

What I'm trying to say here is that there are times when just sitting there and taking it is NOT a good option. Whether someone tries to physically hurt you, take the life of someone you love, or take advantage of somebody you've never seen before, I hope with all the energy of my heart that you fight back, that you do everything you can to stop them.

I remember reading the book Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson in high school for my sophomore English class. Prior to the beginning of the novel, the main character Melinda is raped at a summer party by upperclassman Andy Evans. Months later, because she finally tells somebody about it, Andy corners her in the school's supply closet and tries to rape her again, but she resists this time. Of the incident, she reports:

I reach in and wrap my fingers around a triangle of glass. I hold it to Andy Evans’s neck. He freezes. I push just hard enough to raise one drop of blood. He raises his arms over his head. My hand quivers. I want to insert the glass all the way through his throat, I want to hear him scream. I look up. I see the stubble on his chin, a fleck of white in the corner of his mouth. His lips are paralyzed. He cannot speak. That’s good enough.

      Me: “I said no.”

I know this is just a story, but I don't want to think about what would have happened if she hadn't resisted, if she had been a "peacemaker." Ecclesiastes chapter three says that there's a right time and a proper season for everything; "A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace" (v.8). Remember the story I told in the video way back at the beginning of that post? That warm, second-grade afternoon, I stood for peace by sitting down, and I got a painful bruise as a reward. Sometimes the stakes are higher. Sometimes, you must fight back.