Distinguishing Peacemakers from Pacifists

What is peace? And what does it mean to seek it and pursue it? And what does it mean to make it? By contrast, what does it mean to be contending for the faith? And what is militancy? We too often in our day conflate being peaceable with pacifism - and manliness with malignancy, on a related note. But moderation is a virtue whether we’re talking about a time for war or a time for peace. We are too stuck on being nice. And that makes us vulnerable in a way that is not good, wise, or holy. Ours is a perverse age also, and that includes but is not limited to sex. Two sides of the coin here must be considered as we turn the thing over. For there to be a perversion must mean that there is an authentic version – true, beautiful, and good. To kick against the goad is to reject that there is such a thing as perversity because we deny the standard. Pacifism, I think, is a perversion of appropriate calls for peacemaking.  So also, militarism is a perversion of the fact that there is sometimes a time for war. Yes, we are told to turn the other cheek. But not for nothing did Jesus say to sell our cloak so we could buy a sword if we didn't have one. No, his kingdom is not either of this world or from the world. But his children did not fight his arrest in the garden past when he said 'peace.' Meanwhile, Christ looked at the Pharisees angrily when they refused answering whether it was lawful to heal on the Sabbath. And what was Paul about writing that the governing authority bears the sword both for our good and to strike fear into wrongdoers? Pacifists struggle with these questions, but peacemakers drawing on the whole counsel of God have an easier time reconciling them.