SOTM-Peacemaking

<p>For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ <a href="https://www.douglasjacoby.com/som-08-peacemaking/" target="_blank"><strong>website.</strong></a></p><p><strong>"Blessed are the peacemakers,</strong><br /><strong>   for they shall be called the children of God" (Matthew 5:9). </strong></p><p>"If most of us are honest with ourselves, we know that there are many ways in which our hearts are not at peace. We are wounded, insecure, resentful and lonely, and this restlessness within us causes us to anxiously defend our actions and opinions, to control others and to seek after their love and praise at all costs." — Jessica A. Wrobleski, "Blessed Are the Peacemakers: Living as Children of God" (<i>Leaven, </i>vol. 16, no. 54, 2008, p.161).</p><p><strong>Peacemaking</strong></p><ul><li>To make peace is to pacify…<ul><li>Latin: Beati <strong>pacifici</strong>: quoniam filii dei vocabuntur.</li><li>Greek: Makarioi hoi <strong>eirēnopoiói</strong>, hoti autoi huioi theou klēthēsontai.</li></ul></li><li>It’s something active, not passive.</li><li>Yes, the early church was pacifist—unanimously so, in its first three centuries.<ul><li>They knew that fear, anger, and greed in the human heart are the causes of war.</li><li>Yet biblical pacifism is not <i>passivism</i>—nonchalant, aloof, uninvolved.</li></ul></li><li>Pacifism means caring about peace in the world. Justin Martyr told the Roman emperor, “More than all other men, we are your helpers and allies in promoting peace.” — Justin Martyr, <i>First Apology</i> 12 (ANF 1.166).</li></ul><p><strong>Examples of peacemaking</strong></p><ul><li>The wise old woman of Abel (<strong>2 Sam 20:16-22</strong>). She averts destruction and carnage.</li><li>The apostles (<strong>Acts 6</strong>). They come up with a plan, but entrust its execution to those most invested. The result is demographic harmony.</li><li>James the brother of Jesus, at the Jerusalem Council (<strong>Acts 15</strong>). Each side presents its view point, they listen, and they compromise.</li></ul><p><