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sonally," he might add, " at a time
inconventent to me or at a risk too
great. But if there 's something in 1t
for me - sure,
1'11
fight in my own
time and place.' '
And as history pamfully demon–
strates, the average man does in–
deed fight. He verbally f1ghts his
neighbor over the garden fence - if
he feels ilke it; he takes his rival or
even h1s neighbor to court - if he's
conf1dent of v1ctory; he even tights
by stealing - if he thinks he can get
away with it.
All thts strife indicates a mental
condition of per-
really desired peace - peace with
their triends and neighbors - and
made real efforts to live peaceably
with them, then the word "war"
might even be eliminated from their
vocabulary.
Needed: Individual Peacemakers
The plain truth is that everyone who
harbors thoughts ot enmity, jeal–
ousy, hatred, cruelty, greed, fear,
and pride is actually a potential
contributor to the more visible trag–
edy of war.
Unless we as lndlvlduals are ac-
ter the war mentality on which the
world has become addicted. But
the lesson of h1story is that by hlm–
selt, man has little chance ot ac–
complishing such a Herculean task.
Actually , accordmg to the Btble,
man could have peace tf he would
just meet three basic conditions -
the causes ot peace.
One: A Law of Peace
Adherence to an universal standard
or law is the tirst cause ot peace.
The Bible states that God's law, the
law ot liberty (James 1:25; 2:10-
12), produces
petua! conflict, a
state of siege
with everybody
and everyth ing
forming the op–
posl ng army .
This is war m es–
sen ce. These
little prívate wars
going on in indi–
viduals are the
sparks that 1n
time burst into
the great con–
flagrations
of
global war. All
that's needed is
a clever and
charismat1c
leader to gather
these
war
thoughts, focus
them on a com-
PEACE IN ACHILD/S MINO
peace as the au–
tomatic result or
etfect of obedl-
mon enemy, and
tan them by
propaganda. The
result: war.
But 1! is no
new creatlon. lt
is but a collec–
tion , o rganiza-
What is peace? Toa firs t o r sccoml
gradc r thc answer is dear:
"Peacc is not havi ng an) more
war. Peace is a
e¡
uiet walk in the
wood:.. Peace
i~
rcading a good
book in fronl o r the tire . lt is hav-
ing a good dinner with your !:'lm–
ily. Pcacc is !ove ami having a
good fricnd.' '
Becky
' 'Peacc mea ns und crs tanding
o thcr people even ir yo u do no t
agree with thcm: a lso a daddy who
s tays homc. "
Michellc
·' Peacc is thal my d ad i:, safc
and not dead like his.bro thcr.' '
Jo hn
' ·Peace mcans tha l a llthc pcople
were happy but one of the mo m–
mics was dead and the children
we r e cryi ng and the d og was
cryi ng loo, but pretty oon th e) got
ha ppy again.' '
Yve tte
"1
wish cvc rybody had a mo m
and a dad. and 1 fcel sorry fo r the
familie:, that do n' t havc a mom or
a dad because lheir dad wcnt
10
the army an d they got kil lcd."
Alexandcr
" 1 want no mo re bombing und
1
wan t no more shooling and no
mo re shooling falhc rs and
1
ha le
me n who shoo t fa thers.'· - Stephcn
' 'Pcace mcans lovc and hap pi–
ness. That's why man discovercd
America. to find peace." - Barry
' ' Peacc means that 1 wish all
wars wou ld s top so lhe chi ldren
wi ll havc fathers and mothers and
clothes and so the mothers and
falhers wi ll not gct ki lled. The end
o f the s tory."
- Lori
"Peace i:,
)OU
don't have lo say
good-bye."
- Chris
ence .
Unfortunately ,
men have never
followed that
way. Theretore,
they have never
had peace. lt 's
just that simple.
Consider a tew
examples of how
God 's law oper–
ates.
How could na–
tions , on an in–
ternational level ,
continue to f1ght
and kili if torced
to obey the one
simple injunct ion
" Thou shalt not
k i li " ? (Exodus
20 : 13.) Just
think of the
countless mil–
lions of lives that
would have been
spared by total
tion, and man1pulation of what
already existed. The Bible puts 1!
quite succinctly:
"What causes wars, and what
causes fightings among you? ls it
not your passions that are at war in
your members? You des1re and do
not have; so you kili. And you covet
and cannot obtain; so you fight and
wage war . .. " (James 4:1-2, RSV).
tively engaged
1n
seeking peaceful
solutions to every domestic and
business problem that confronts us,
then we may, in fact, be engaged in
establishing the altitudes that pre–
cipitate the war we desperately do
not want.
obedience to
those tour simple words.
Peace between neighbors? Con–
sider the second great command–
ment: "Thou shalt love thy
neighbor as thyself " (Matthew
22 :39).
Peace in the family? Three of the
Ten Commandments are designed
to di rectly protect the sanctity of
marriage and home (Exodus 20:1 2,
14 , 17).
lt is well known that it takes two
to make a quarrel. But if enough
people would simply refuse to be
the " ones" of the "twos, " there
would be no quarrels. lf people
The
PLAIN TRUTH December 1976
War is a terrible master, and once
people submit to it - once people
consent to fight, quarrel , hale , and
suspect - they have submitted to a
pattern that can only lead to agony
and woe.
lt is right in our own homes and
families that we must begm to shat-
God's word assures us that those
who are careful to continuously
walk down, or follow, the pathways
(Continued on page 45)
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