Five Reasons a "Just War Theology" Isn't Faithful to the Gospel

Five Reasons a "Just War Theology"

Isn't Faithful to the Gospel

by R.E. Slater

"Isn't it curious the Lord of Love

died at the hands of violence?"

"Even more curious, those hands

were the hands of those who preached God."

"Who then are we to be wary of?

The Message or the Messenger or both?"

- R.E. Slater

Preface

Let us first ask, as Christians, how did Jesus respond directly to violence when challenged?

“Put your sword back into its place. For all who take the sword will perish by the sword.”

- Jesus Christ (Matthew 26:52)

Now let's widen the theological horizon a bit.... Rather than think that acts of peace are naïve idealism, let us instead imagine the telos - the deep direction - of divine history:

“They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.”

- The prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 2:4)

Let us next consider how Isaiah's vision was to become embodied within the life of the early Christian Church after Jesus' death and resurrection:

“Do not repay anyone evil for evil… If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink… Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

- Paul the Apostle (Romans 12:17–21)

And finally, let us ask what kind of God is revealed in such a movement towards peace:

“God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.”

- John the Apostle (1 John 4:16)

Introduction

Lately, the U.S. government has thought to educate the Catholic Church as to its theology. Ironically, this has often been the case throughout history as governments have challenged the church to behave itself and support its unloving actions.

So, in rare commentary on current political events, let me speak out to Vice President Vance's "Just War" theology vs the Pope's, "Love your fellow man" theology.

It began with Trump's recent refusal to listen to Pope Leo's comments to pursue peace. Next, super Trumpian surrogate J.D. Vance - who was attending a "Turning Point" maga-rally - cautioned the Catholic Church in his interview to temper their speech to the United States' attack upon Iran.

Let us next call to memory that America's current pro-nationalist maga-administration has supported Israel's aggressive militaristic actions:

i) against Hamas in Gaza, where 2 million Palestinians were displaced (2023-2024)

ii) against Hezbollah in Lebanon displacing another million souls (March-April 20226A); and,

iii) attacked Iran from March 2026 to the present, displacing 3.2 million Iranians.

These actions by hard right docttinnaire's serve as clear warning that the Maga-American Church's theology of justifying violence with God-speech are theologically in error on several major issues.

But before reviewing these reasons, let us also acknowledge that the terrorist groups here mentioned are not without blame for their inhuman actions and zealous leadership against their own people and the world at large.

And so, I would like to list below why all religions - and religious theology - should take heed to practice love, forgiveness, and mercy; and to learn, teach, and practice withdrawal from harm, hate, oppression, and violence.

Five Reasons Not to Preach a Just War Theology

“Where violence is justified, love is deferred;

yet the kingdom of God comes when love is chosen before necessity.”

A careful critique can be made without caricaturing the tradition. The just war theory—classically articulated by figures like Augustine of Hippo and Thomas Aquinas—was an attempt to restrain violence, not celebrate it. Yet from a biblical and theological standpoint, several tensions remain difficult to reconcile.

First, there is a Christological tension. The ethical center of Christianity is not abstract principle but the life and teaching of Jesus Christ. In the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–7), Jesus does not merely regulate violence; he appears to radically displace it: “love your enemies,” “turn the other cheek,” “blessed are the peacemakers.” Just war theory, even in its most restrained form, reintroduces a framework in which enemy destruction can be morally justified. The critique here is not that war is messy, but that it reverses the direction of Jesus’ ethic - from enemy-love to enemy-legitimation.

Second, there is a kingdom-of-God versus kingdom-of-the-world problem. In texts like John 18:36, Jesus says, “My kingdom is not of this world,” explicitly rejecting violent defense of his mission. Just war theory arose when Christianity moved from persecuted minority to imperial partner, particularly after Edict of Milan and under rulers like Constantine the Great. The critique is that just war theory may reflect the church accommodating itself to state power, rather than remaining a distinctive, countercultural witness. In this sense, the Christian Church risks becoming politically necessary but theologically compromised.

Third, there is an Old Testament versus New Testament hermeneutic tension. Just war reasoning often leans on Israel’s wars in the Hebrew Bible. Yet many Christian interpreters argue that these belong to a particular covenantal-historical moment steeped in cultural context, and cannot be considered a universal ethical norm. The life of Jesus reframes divine action away from territorial conquest toward self-giving reconciliation. If Christ is the fullest revelation of God’s character, then appealing to earlier violent paradigms may appear regressive rather than fulfilled.

Fourth, there is a practical moral erosion problem. Even if just war criteria (sic, "just cause, right intention, proportionality, last resort") are sound in theory, in practice they are almost always bent by political interests. Nations routinely declare their wars “just.” The result is that just war theory can function less as a restraint and more as a moral cover for violence. From a biblical-prophetic standpoint, this aligns uncomfortably with the critique of rulers who “call evil good” (Isaiah 5:20).

Finally, there is a theological anthropology issue. Christianity at its core emphasizes reconciliation, forgiveness, and the restoration of relationship (2 Corinthians 5:18–19). War, even when justified, fundamentally operates through destruction rather than restoration. A process-oriented or relational theology would argue that this contradicts the deeper trajectory of divine action, which moves toward healing the fabric of relations, not legitimating their rupture.

Taken together, these critiques are not merely that just war theory fails in application, but that it may be misaligned with the trajectory of the gospel itself. It attempts to make violence moral, whereas the New Testament vision seems to move toward making violence obsolete.

Conclusion

As counterpoint, defenders would argue that "violence" is a tragic necessity in a fallen world. However, this self-acknowledged critique must press a far sharper question:

Whether Christianity is called to manage the world as it is,
or to bear witness to what it is becoming -
even as Jesus, the apostles and prophets had done in sacred voice.

Bibliography

Primary Sources (Biblical Texts)

The Holy Bible. New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).
The Holy Bible. New International Version (NIV).

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Classical Just War Tradition

Augustine of Hippo. City of God. Translated by Henry Bettenson. London: Penguin Classics, 2003.

Thomas Aquinas. Summa Theologica. Translated by Fathers of the English Dominican Province. New York: Benziger Bros., 1947. (See II–II, Q. 40: “Of War”)

Hugo Grotius. On the Law of War and Peace. Edited by Stephen C. Neff. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012.

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Modern Just War Theory (Defenses and Developments)

Michael Walzer. Just and Unjust Wars: A Moral Argument with Historical Illustrations. 5th ed. New York: Basic Books, 2015.

Paul Ramsey. The Just War: Force and Political Responsibility. Lanham: University Press of America, 1983.

Jean Bethke Elshtain. Just War Against Terror: The Burden of American Power in a Violent World. New York: Basic Books, 2003.

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Biblical and Theological Critiques of Violence

John Howard Yoder. The Politics of Jesus. 2nd ed. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994.

Stanley Hauerwas. The Peaceable Kingdom: A Primer in Christian Ethics. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1983.

Richard B. Hays. The Moral Vision of the New Testament. San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1996.

Walter Wink. Jesus and Nonviolence: A Third Way. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2003.

Glen H. Stassen and David P. Gushee. Kingdom Ethics: Following Jesus in Contemporary Context. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2003.

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Historical and Contextual Studies

Roland H. Bainton. Christian Attitudes Toward War and Peace: A Historical Survey and Critical Re-evaluation. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1960.

Peter Leithart. Defending Constantine: The Twilight of an Empire and the Dawn of Christendom. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2010.

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Process and Relational Theological Perspectives

Alfred North Whitehead. Process and Reality. Edited by David Ray Griffin and Donald W. Sherburne. New York: Free Press, 1978.

John B. Cobb Jr.. Christ in a Pluralistic Age. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1975.

Marjorie Hewitt Suchocki. The Fall to Violence: Original Sin in Relational Theology. New York: Continuum, 1994.

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Supplementary Ethical and Philosophical Reflections

Reinhold Niebuhr. Moral Man and Immoral Society. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2001.

Jacques Ellul. Violence: Reflections from a Christian Perspective. Eugene: Wipf & Stock, 1991.

Between Tomb and Morning

An olive tree in the morning planted for peace and endurance

Between Tomb and Morning

by R.E. Slater and ChatGPT

Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war anymore.
- Isaiah 2:4

God invites to the home of peace

and guides whom He wills to a straight path.

- Qur’an 10:25

Peace I leave with you;

my peace I give to you.

- John 14:27

Across the broken earth

its stones weigh upon the ground.

Cities burn -
where prophets once walked

whether in Iran,
or Lebanon,
in Israel,
or America.

Fear speaks louder than hope,

and grief has learned

too many names.

This is not a distant sorrow

far removed from memory -

It is the same stony soils
where Abraham learned to listen,
where Moses trembled before the fire,
where Mary said yes,
where Jesus was crucified,
where the call to prayer still rises -
over broken streets and griefs.

The same dust
that tasted blood
tastes it again

too often

too many times.

And still Easter comes
And cries remains.

Allahu Akbar - "God is greater"

than the violence we make.

Shema Yisrael - "The Lord is One"

even when we hate and divide.

Χριστός ἀνέστη! - "Christ is risen!"

for in hope, or what's left,

life refuses the final word of death.

Together, these are not

competing truths -

but ancient truths echoing

a deeper call

that God is not owned

by any one nation;

not contained
nor confined

by hardened beliefs

that God is not triumph,

but interruption -

not certainty,

but question.

The question?

What does it mean
to have God present

without violence -

without wound -

without tears?

The Holy One -

known by many names -

still meets us

in our wounds

the Risen One bears our scars -
the Merciful One knows our frailty -

the Eternal One calls us to remember.

Even as the voice of his Spirit

moves through

synagogue, mosque, and church:

Return.

Remember.

Become new.

Learn to love again.

These ancient words

have been spoken
into every divided land

across the earth:

“Peace be with you.”

“Shalom.”

“Salaam.”

Hear their summons.

Repent their misuse.

Lay down the stones.
Step from the lifeless tombs

  we have made for one another.

Let resurrection
be stronger than revenge.

Let rahma mercy -

interrupt memory.

Let tzedek justice -

be guided by compassion.

Let agape love -

outlast remembrance.

For if God is One -
then no people are meant for division.

If God is Merciful -
then no life is beyond care.

If Christ is risen -
then no grave is the end.

 - But neither is peace automatic.

It must be chosen

again

and again

and again

and again.

So this Easter morning,
in a world of hatred and fear

do not deny the darkness.

But let us each walk into it
carrying a different light.

A light known in many tongues,
yet born of the same heavy longing -

that death will not have the final word.

Let us together repeat -

even here,
even now:

God is greater.

God is One.

Christ is risen.

Let the world

begin again.

R.E. Slater and ChatGPT

April 5, 2026

@copyright R.E. Slater Publications

all rights reserved

Evening to morning. Let there be rest. Let their be peace.

A Prayer for Torn Worlds

A Tri-Faith Easter Meditation for a World in Conflict

by R.E. Slater and ChatGPT

        God is Love. - I John 4.8

O God of many names -

  God of Abraham,
  God of mercy and memory,
  God revealed in compassion and قرب (nearness),

  God known in Christ as love enduring -

We gather in a world still trembling.

Where fear divides,
where anger hardens,
where violence speaks too quickly
and peace too slowly.

You who are One -
  teach us to see one another
  beyond the names we fear.

You who are Merciful -
  soften what has become unyielding in us.

You who are Living -
  breathe again into what feels lost, buried, or beyond repair.

In lands torn by history and hurt -
whether Iran, Lebanon, Israel, or America -
  let remembrance become wisdom,
  not weapon.

  Let justice be guided by compassion.
  Let truth be spoken without hatred.
  Let grief find its voice without becoming vengeance.

And where hearts have grown weary,
plant again the quiet courage of peace.

As Christ passed through death into life,
as Your word calls all people toward peace -
so move among us now:

not above our divisions,
but within them.

Not instead of us,
but through us.

Until swords are laid down,
until neighbors are no longer strangers,
until peace is no longer spoken as hope alone -
but lived.

Amen.

R.E. Slater and ChatGPT

April 5, 2026

@copyright R.E. Slater Publications

all rights reserved

With Malice Towards None... A World in Search of Peace

An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.

- Mahatma Ghandi

One doesn't have to operate with great malice to do great harm.

The absence of empathy and understanding are sufficient.

- Charles M. Blow, journalist

Twenty years of American foreign policy incompetence has led to an expected ending of disaster in Afghanistan which only U.S. State officials and the military chose not to see in their contingency planning, all the while the American public and a world of outsiders saw all too clearly. America should never have been on foreign soil, and in leaving, left only more death and suffering as violent ideologies took over as living legacies to America's unwanted presence. As a "Christian" nation we are takers, not builders. Our mirror is pitiful and must be broken in order to see again. May we finally learn the ways of peace and love, the ways of grace and forgiveness, towards a world as hardened as we are towards the other.

R.E. Slater

August 20, 2021

Addendum

Yesterday and the day before yesterday I participated in a forum speaking out against White Christian Nationalism having sensed little difference between it and Islamic Jihadism. Both speak death. Both force upon people unwanted laws and restrictions. Both take away personal freedoms and rights (which I find ironic with the anti-vax crowd and facts deniers). Both harm the other, belittle the other, despise the other, and do not see the other. And both speak a religion ugly and deadly to the soul.

I'll say again, the human heart is deeply corrupt. It speaks death before it speaks life. The God of all religions and nations says to us to learn to hold in our heart the attitude of "Malice Towards None." This is our task as humans struggling to become fully human as God intended (or as our spirit-souls long for deep within our minds and bodies, hearts and spirits). We share together a deep, deep  sense of existential struggle of contrition before others, repentance from evil, humility and respect towards all.

We feel it deeply in our bones the necessity to learn to speak peace, goodwill, honor, and love to one another. This the truest core of the Christian faith. Not its legalism, perversions, and enforced religious structures. When Christians speak war, vengeance and harm we do not speak the life-giving word(s) of God. Just our own selfish, prideful, words. Words which make us blind, deaf, and dumb to one another. Those we no longer can see, hear, or speak to....

Mahatma Ghandi once said, "An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind." Let us then cast off the weight of hatred and malice towards one another and make this next millennium of human civilization about peace and goodwill. Let all nations learn the language of love by beating their metaphorical "swords into ploughshares" by seeking faith and trust with one another. Honor and respect.

The ways of the world can be the ways of beauty and joy if we allow it to be - which is the essence of John Lennon's songs. Chose then this day a new God, a radical God, One who has invested Himself in a radically new religion reviving the souls of the other. And a new social politick which heals, makes beautiful all around it, and nurtures every human benumbed by sin and evil.

And finally, to move forward we must repent of our wicked ways, learn to forgive one another, be merciful to the ones we no longer see, and learn to reach out to the ones we have dismissed and despised.

Importantly, America's newest foreign policy and diplomacy must deploy a radically new motto: "To care for the other and this good earth." Let us learn then the language of grace and forgiveness as Jesus had taught us centuries ago. Which we have witnessed again-and-again in the lives of remarkable human beings filled with God's light and love given to us to guide us in renewing ways of caretake, wellbeing, and nurture for one another.

Peace,

R.E. Slater
August 20, 2021

John Lennon & Yoko Ono: WAR IS OVER! (If You Want It)

HAPPY XMAS (WAR IS OVER). 

(Ultimate Mix, 2020) John & Yoko Plastic Ono Band

+ Harlem Community Choir

John Lennon & Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Mashup at MLK Day in Greenville, NC

Martin Luther King Jr. Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech

Martin Luther King Jr. – Acceptance Speech

 https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1964/king/26142-martin-luther-king-jr-acceptance-speech-1964/

on the occasion of the award of the Nobel Peace Prize

in Oslo, Norway, December 10, 1964

Your Majesty, Your Royal Highness, Mr. President, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen:

I accept the Nobel Prize for Peace at a moment when 22 million Negroes of the United States of America are engaged in a creative battle to end the long night of racial injustice. I accept this award on behalf of a civil rights movement which is moving with determination and a majestic scorn for risk and danger to establish a reign of freedom and a rule of justice. I am mindful that only yesterday in Birmingham, Alabama, our children, crying out for brotherhood, were answered with fire hoses, snarling dogs and even death. I am mindful that only yesterday in Philadelphia, Mississippi, young people seeking to secure the right to vote were brutalized and murdered. And only yesterday more than 40 houses of worship in the State of Mississippi alone were bombed or burned because they offered a sanctuary to those who would not accept segregation. I am mindful that debilitating and grinding poverty afflicts my people and chains them to the lowest rung of the economic ladder.

Therefore, I must ask why this prize is awarded to a movement which is beleaguered and committed to unrelenting struggle; to a movement which has not won the very peace and brotherhood which is the essence of the Nobel Prize.

Sooner or later all the people of the world will have

to discover a way to live together in peace …

After contemplation, I conclude that this award which I receive on behalf of that movement is a profound recognition that nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral question of our time – the need for man to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to violence and oppression. Civilization and violence are antithetical concepts. Negroes of the United States, following the people of India, have demonstrated that nonviolence is not sterile passivity, but a powerful moral force which makes for social transformation. Sooner or later all the people of the world will have to discover a way to live together in peace, and thereby transform this pending cosmic elegy into a creative psalm of brotherhood. If this is to be achieved, man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.

The tortuous road which has led from Montgomery, Alabama to Oslo bears witness to this truth. This is a road over which millions of Negroes are travelling to find a new sense of dignity. This same road has opened for all Americans a new era of progress and hope. It has led to a new Civil Rights Bill, and it will, I am convinced, be widened and lengthened into a super highway of justice as Negro and white men in increasing numbers create alliances to overcome their common problems.

I accept this award today with an abiding faith in America and an audacious faith in the future of mankind. I refuse to accept despair as the final response to the ambiguities of history. I refuse to accept the idea that the “isness” of man’s present nature makes him morally incapable of reaching up for the eternal “oughtness” that forever confronts him. I refuse to accept the idea that man is mere flotsom and jetsom in the river of life, unable to influence the unfolding events which surround him. I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality.

I refuse to accept the cynical notion that nation after nation must spiral down a militaristic stairway into the hell of thermonuclear destruction. I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right temporarily defeated is stronger than evil triumphant. I believe that even amid today’s mortar bursts and whining bullets, there is still hope for a brighter tomorrow. I believe that wounded justice, lying prostrate on the blood-flowing streets of our nations, can be lifted from this dust of shame to reign supreme among the children of men. I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits. I believe that what self-centered men have torn down men other-centered can build up. I still believe that one day mankind will bow before the altars of God and be crowned triumphant over war and bloodshed, and nonviolent redemptive good will proclaim the rule of the land. “And the lion and the lamb shall lie down together and every man shall sit under his own vine and fig tree and none shall be afraid.” I still believe that We Shall overcome!

This faith can give us courage to face the uncertainties of the future. It will give our tired feet new strength as we continue our forward stride toward the city of freedom. When our days become dreary with low-hovering clouds and our nights become darker than a thousand midnights, we will know that we are living in the creative turmoil of a genuine civilization struggling to be born.

Today I come to Oslo as a trustee, inspired and with renewed dedication to humanity. I accept this prize on behalf of all men who love peace and brotherhood. I say I come as a trustee, for in the depths of my heart I am aware that this prize is much more than an honor to me personally.

Every time I take a flight, I am always mindful of the many people who make a successful journey possible – the known pilots and the unknown ground crew.

So you honor the dedicated pilots of our struggle who have sat at the controls as the freedom movement soared into orbit. You honor, once again, Chief Lutuli of South Africa, whose struggles with and for his people, are still met with the most brutal expression of man’s inhumanity to man. You honor the ground crew without whose labor and sacrifices the jet flights to freedom could never have left the earth. Most of these people will never make the headline and their names will not appear in Who’s Who. Yet when years have rolled past and when the blazing light of truth is focused on this marvellous age in which we live – men and women will know and children will be taught that we have a finer land, a better people, a more noble civilization – because these humble children of God were willing to suffer for righteousness’ sake.

… peace is more precious than diamonds or silver or gold.

I think Alfred Nobel would know what I mean when I say that I accept this award in the spirit of a curator of some precious heirloom which he holds in trust for its true owners – all those to whom beauty is truth and truth beauty – and in whose eyes the beauty of genuine brotherhood and peace is more precious than diamonds or silver or gold.

---

*From Les Prix Nobel en 1964, Editor Göran Liljestrand, [Nobel Foundation], Stockholm, 1965. Copyright © The Nobel Foundation 1964

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"An Indictment against American Foreign Policy"

"We came in as a wrecking ball

then realized others had come in before us

taking what they wanted

leaving their own death and destruction

as we would too."

- R.E. Slater

August 20, 2021

Amazon Link

From Selma to Moscow: How Human Rights Activists

Transformed U.S. Foreign Policy

Illustrated, April 24, 2018

by Sarah B. Snyder (Author)

The 1960s marked a transformation of human rights activism in the United States. At a time of increased concern for the rights of their fellow citizens―civil and political rights, as well as the social and economic rights that Great Society programs sought to secure―many Americans saw inconsistencies between domestic and foreign policy and advocated for a new approach. The activism that arose from the upheavals of the 1960s fundamentally altered U.S. foreign policy―yet previous accounts have often overlooked its crucial role.

In From Selma to Moscow, Sarah B. Snyder traces the influence of human rights activists and advances a new interpretation of U.S. foreign policy in the “long 1960s.” She shows how transnational connections and social movements spurred American activism that achieved legislation that curbed military and economic assistance to repressive governments, created institutions to monitor human rights around the world, and enshrined human rights in U.S. foreign policy making for years to come. Snyder analyzes how Americans responded to repression in the Soviet Union, racial discrimination in Southern Rhodesia, authoritarianism in South Korea, and coups in Greece and Chile. By highlighting the importance of nonstate and lower-level actors, Snyder shows how this activism established the networks and tactics critical to the institutionalization of human rights. A major work of international and transnational history, From Selma to Moscow reshapes our understanding of the role of human rights activism in transforming U.S. foreign policy in the 1960s and 1970s and highlights timely lessons for those seeking to promote a policy agenda resisted by the White House.

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PHOTOS OF THE TALIBAN IN KABUL, AFGHANISTAN,

AND FLEEING AFGHANIS

Mid-August, 2021

The way of peace is hard

but its joys last forever.

- R.E. Slater

August 10, 2021

Matthew 5:9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

Romans 14:19 So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.

James 3:18 And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

John 14:27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

Ephesians 6:23 Peace be to the brothers, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Philippians 4:7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

John 16:33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulations. But take heart; I have overcome the world.

Luke 1:79 To give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.

Mark 9:50 Salt is good, but if the salt looses its saltiness, how will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.

James 3:18 And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

Théodore Géricault, The Raft of the Medusa (1818-1819)

Pablo Picasso, Massacre in Korea (1951)

Banksy, The Flower Thrower (2003)

Jaune Smith, I See Red: Migration (1995)

Activists in Exile

Samuel Bak, Open Book

R.E. Slater - Meditations

MEDITATIONS

by R.E. Slater

Around lie hearts wrecked by words,

Flunged houses of anxious flesh,

Torn asunder by worthless men,

Ruthless their arts of war.

Around lie worlds of noxious fears,

Each neighbor contentious the other,

Benighted by day, sleepless the night,

Led by mockers of wicked heart.

Crying anger, shouting injustice,

Very imposters purveying the same,

Slanders first, divisive always,

Bereft the ways of peace.

Tongues filling with darkest hells,

Angry mouths fiercer than lions,

Feet running tormented paths,

Hands daily given to insurrections.

Bleating lost sheep rallying their masters,

To voices spewing ridicule and scorn,

O'er paths of ruin, pastures most bitter,

Joyless testimonies to each evil day.

All who follow, will follow ruin,

All who strive, so strife will meet,

Abandoning wisdom, fools embraced,

Lands once plenty, now plenteous ruined.

R.E. Slater

May 12, 2020

Rev. May 14 & 21, 2020

@copyright R.E. Slater Publications

all rights reserved

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Remarks

I was meditating on contentiousness this morning... here's what I learned from reading bible verses on the subject:

"If you ever have listened to a contentious person their mouths follow their hearts rapidly speaking slander and destruction.

"They do not dwell on any one divisive soliloquy but move quickly from topic to topic sowing discontent.

"They argue without listening, stirring up new troubles every day.

"Their hearts are befouled, their lips speak war.

"They are unwise; whose paths lead to destruction; and all who follow will meet their ends."

Thus this morning's poem as a tribute lying heavy upon my heart knowing but harm comes from the hearts of the wicked.

R.E. Slater

May 12, 2020

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Verses on the Contentious Spirit

Here's what the Bible says to those who follow in the ways of strife

Psalm 120:7 - I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war.

Psalm 140:2 - ...Who devise evil things in their hearts; They continually stir up wars.

Proverbs 13:10 - Through insolence comes nothing but strife, but wisdom is with those who receive counsel.

Proverbs 15:18 - A hot-tempered man stirs up strife, but the slow to anger calms a dispute.

Proverbs 17:19 - He who loves transgression loves strife; He who raises his door seeks destruction.

Proverbs 18:6 - A fool’s lips bring strife, and his mouth calls for blows.

Proverbs 21:18 - The wicked is a ransom for the righteous, and the treacherous [stands] in the place of the upright.

Proverbs 21:19 - It is better to live in a desert land than with a contentious and vexing [man or] woman.

Proverbs 21:20 - There is precious treasure and oil in the dwelling of the wise, but a foolish man swallows it up.

Proverbs 25:24 - It is better to live in a corner of the roof than in a house shared with a contentious [man or] woman.

Proverbs 26:21 - Like charcoal to hot embers and wood to fire, so is a contentious man to kindle strife.

Habakkuk 1:3 - Why do You make me see iniquity, and cause me to look on wickedness? Yes, destruction and violence are before me; Strife exists and contention arises.

Galatians 5:15 - But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.

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8 Qualities of Shepherd-Leaders

https://www.johnbmacdonald.com/blog/8-qualities-of-shepherd-leaders

by Dr. John B. MacDonald

February 12, 2016

Can we improve on servant-leadership? I propose shepherd-leadership.

One author points out that, in the Bible,

“the shepherd image is one of the few that is applied exclusively to leaders.”

No fewer than eight times in the Old Testament, God is portrayed as the shepherd of his people. In the Gospels, Jesus Christ is described as the good shepherd. There are no better teachers or models of leadership. 

What can we learn from a shepherd about becoming better leaders?

Here are at least eight qualities of true leaders we can learn from the good shepherd in John 10. Take a moment to become familiar with John 10:1-18:

John 10:1-18 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Parable of the Good Shepherd

10 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber. 2 But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep. 3 To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.” 6 This figure of speech Jesus spoke to them, but they did not understand what those things were which He had been saying to them.

7 So Jesus said to them again, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. 9 I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and [a]have it abundantly.

11 “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. 12 He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, 15 even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd. 17 For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. 18 No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.”

Footnotes:John 10:10 Or have abundance

1. Boundaries. As I’ve written before, every relationship is defined and preserved by boundaries (See: “Leaders, Fools and Impostors”). Stepping over those boundaries damages or destroys the relationship.

A true leader will establish and maintain boundaries. For the shepherd there is a sheep pen within which only his sheep may gather (10:1-2).

For leaders in every area of life, there are appropriate ethical and moral boundaries that leaders need to establish and maintain for the benefit of those they lead.

2. Example. The shepherd “goes on ahead of [the sheep], and his sheep follow him” (10:3-4). 

Any true leader will lead by example. It is not a case of “do as I say, not as I do.” They are to be worthy models to follow. 

3. Trustworthy. Sheep follow the good shepherd “because they know his voice” (10:4). This was learned over time from the consistent and caring treatment of the shepherd toward the sheep.

A leader needs to cultivate a deep sense of trust from those he or she leads. This is a quality where one’s voice speaks volumes about the character and care of a leader. 

4. Provision. A shepherd provides good pasture (10:9). A sheep says of the shepherd (Psalm 23):

“I shall not be in want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures,

He leads me beside quiet waters,

He restores my soul.”

True leaders provide for the needs of those they lead. For instance, they do not grind down their employees in unhealthy environments at less than livable wages. They do not fire them without caring about what happens to them. When it comes to a leadership choice, a person is more important than a profit.

A leader acts in a way that gives “life” to those he or she leads (10:10).

5. Sacrificial. Five times Jesus speaks about laying down his life for the sheep (10: 11, 15, 17-18). This shepherd chose personal sacrifice for the welfare of his sheep. 

So it is with true leaders. They willingly experience personal sacrifice for the benefit of those they lead. It’s not about the leader; it’s about those they lead. 

6. Invested. The shepherd has a personal stake in the well-being of the sheep. A hired hand will abandon them when the going gets tough or dangerous – for him, it’s only a job. The shepherd is invested in the sheep and sticks with them through thick and thin (10:12). 

So it is with true leaders. They are personally invested in those they lead. 

7. Relational. “I know my sheep and my sheep know me” (10:14). 

The true leader takes the time and energy to build solid and genuine relationships with those he or she leads. Those led are not viewed as mere employees, servants, or objects; each is known and treated as an “image of God.” 

8. Visionary. Jesus moved toward increasing the size of his flock – those who would become his genuine followers (10:16). 

True leaders have a vision for the future and move toward it.

These are a few qualities we can learn from a shepherd to become better leaders.

What can you add?