On Pacifism

Most Hutterites grow up knowing what pacifism is or what it means at least in a basic sense, for the most part anyways, of course there are some that  have no idea what it means and what our stands are or should be on pacifism. Brings to mind a story our german school teacher told us when he was at a funeral at a colony in the states. He was visiting at a relatives house, when a young man entered in combat clothes. He didn’t think anything of it until he started speaking Huttrish, so he asked him what his story was. Turns out this young man left the colony and joined the army, and was now a commander. So he asked him what it is a commander does, after side stepping the issue a bit, he answered that as a commander he decides what should be done, gives the final say in combat. This shocked our german school teacher to no end, he turned to this young man’s father and said: “so what do you think?” the father said: “I am proud of my son” “And your stance on pacifism?” the father replied: “What’s pacifism?”

   When our teacher told this story to us, we laughed, we thought it kind of funny that he wouldn’t know what pacifism is, and one of us actually said, that maybe the guy didn’t know what the word means, and our teacher replied, “actually he didn’t, but he wasn’t even aware that in our history, we have always taken a stand for non violence” and shaking his head he continued: “And the sad part is, when I tried to explain it to them, they were as shocked as I was, only they were shocked that I said I would not fight for any reason!”

 

   My uncle tells of a phone conversation he had with an ex-hutterite who left with his family and his daughter who became an RCMP officer. He was greatly saddened by the pride in this father when he bragged that his daughter was the first Hutterite to become a police officer. And when my uncle challenged him to what our forefathers believed in an what we still believe in he actually called them and us cowards. My uncle then hung up on him, shaking his head, and explaining to us that telling him that nonresistance is not cowardice, but bravery of a different kind altogether wasn’t worth telling him.

  These are my first introductions to the fact that there were ex hutterites who had left and joined the military. And my first initial response was shock, C’mon we all grew up with the stories of our forefathers who refused to bear arms and pay war taxes, even at the risks of their own lives and that of their families. The story of the Hofer brothers in our not so distant past, who died in prison of mistreatment because they took a stand, and refused to bear arms and wear the military uniform, all this and more, is rampant in my mind. Their answers to those when they were challenged  about obeying the laws was that they must obey God rather than man. And even then they sometimes failed, there is an interesting account in our Chronicle on Dec. 18, 1633 when their Lords came with Hussars to steal their horses, in the panic they came out to defend their horses, and a very ugly affair arose regarding this incident. And even though a lot of people then said they were in their rights to protect themselves and their animals, the elders of the church wrote a very serious letter rebuking them for what they did.

   From a very young age we are taught that fighting back is wrong. Not to say we don’t and didn’t, I know I did, I had regular fights with my sister and my brothers, when we were small it was physical and as we grew older it was more verbal. But even through all this it was implanted in us that it was wrong.

   In German school and Sunday School when my uncle Joseph was still teacher, he instilled in us the stories and the reasoning behind all this, the radical teachings of Jesus, turning the other cheek, to love our enemies, and even our young minds were able to grasp the reasoning behind it even if we didn’t understand it fully.

   Today as I teach kindergarten, just watching the children, you can see that this teaching of Jesus goes against our/their  very nature! But as we all know non-resistance is something we have to be taught, for when one child takes another’s truck, what happens? As you all know there is a lot of screaming and fighting. So I try to sit them down and tell them why we can’t fight, which isn’t that easy, trying to tell a child that he should rather give up his truck than fight with the other child to get it back. I guess someday it will (hopefully!)

   And today? This brings me to the theme of my blog, are there still people out there that are convicted by the Spirit to take a stand and practise Pacifism? Looking around me, I ask this question, there are of course the Hutterites and the Amish, and some Mennonites, I say some Mennonites, because a number of Mennonite churches are no longer non-resistance. Somewhere I read that in the second world war there were a lot of young Mennonite boys who signed up. Which brings to mind my grandmother telling us that during the second world war some men and boys had to go to camp, because they were CO’s they had to do something else for the country, planting trees and other things.

   I have read numerous books on pacifism, and a few stand out. One of them, “the kingdom of God is within you” written by Leo Tolstoy is interesting, but it definitely isn’t light reading. I was actually quite surprised when I read this book, I didn’t know that Leo Tolstoy was a pacifist. I read this book a few years ago, and all I really remember is that he had valid points, very much the ones we have.

   The other book is called “The kingdom that turned the world upside down” by David Bercot. I first saw this book in my uncle’s library and when he was done, I borrowed it and read it. Talk about an eye opener! This book draws you in right from the start with the accounting of the taking of Jerusalem by the crusaders in July 1099. The way the author describes this massacre is done in such a way that I was puzzled, what is this book about? He describes how the crusaders prayed even the Pope had blessed their mission! and when all hope seemed lost how God turned it all around and defeated the Muslims, and infidels. An accounting by an eyewitness tells us how they the crusaders sang and praised God for the victory. By now we are thinking God must be on their side, the way things just happened, but he ends the first chapter with the question: “Did Jesus view this massacre as something joyous? Had the crusaders truly advanced the Kingdom of God, or had they done great harm to it?” And then he talks about the Kingdom of God and what it truly is. A kingdom built on love, where we literally turn the other cheek, where we pray for those who curse and harm us. Where we love our enemies. He also tells the history of nonresistance and how the radical teachings of Jesus were ‘lost’ through the centuries. How the churches of then and today totally twist the meaning of Jesus and His teachings of loving our enemies. I have read this book numerous times, and even bought a copy for my own personal  library.

   David Bercot takes the title of his book from Acts 17:6 “They dragged Jason and some brethren to the rulers of the city, crying out, ‘these who have turned the world upside down have come here too.’”  And truly it is a world upside down when we follow Jesus!

   And the other book? I first heard about “A change of Allegiance” by Dean Taylor from a social networking site by Hutterites. The discussion about this book intrigued me enough to get an interlibrary loan for a copy of this book. And what a book! We all can stand and say we are pacifist, but how many of us have been called to the stand regarding our beliefs and convictions? Here is a book that tells us about the journey of two people who were in the army, and what happened to them when they started reading the bible. How they were convicted by the Holy Spirit and radical words of Jesus and the sermon on the mount, and that Jesus truly meant exactly what he said when he said to turn the other cheek. This book fascinated me to no end. This was in today’s world, in my life time, not in the far distance of history, so when I finished this book, I searched around for a copy for myself, I finally found one at the Baker bookshop. I reread it countless times, each time more and more impressed by the way God lead these two.

   One of the events he writes about stands out in my mind. When he was to appear for the hearing regarding his applying for CO and exemptions, he writes that the Mennonite church gave him a pamphlet to read with questions that he might be asked. But he got an overwhelming feeling to put the book away. He remembered a powerful promise that Jesus gave for exactly moments like this, that we are not to worry about how or what we should answer, the Holy Spirit will teach us in that very hour and put the words in our mouths. He put the book aside and trusted in the Holy Spirit and it was exactly so! Reminded me of how our forefathers did the same thing when they appeared before their persecutors and were on trial for their faith. God put the words in their mouths.

   At the end of the book there is a small blurb about the author, where there is a picture of him and his family in conservative Mennonite dress, and it mentions that they now reside in Ephrata, Pennsylvania. When I read this I thought why is Ephrata so familiar? And then it clicked Charity church! I must say I was slightly disappointed when I realized that he was now with Charity, and those of you who are familiar with the story of Charity church and the Hutterites will know what I mean. But then I thought to myself, Charity can’t be all that bad, just because we ‘lost’ a lot of people from the Hutterite church to Charity, doesn’t mean that God can’t and doesn’t use Charity to draw people to Him. Which is all that matters anyway in the long run, that we end up where God wants us to be, which is with Him. So I put that all to rest, but when I heard a few years later that Dean Taylor and his family were at Elmendorf, and were seriously considering the Hutterian way of life, I have to admit, there was joy in my heart. For a change we were gaining from Charity instead of losing! (Not that it is a competition, but I would be lying if I said it didn’t matter)

   Anyways, I few days ago I mustered up the courage to call Elmendorf and speak to Dean himself, and I am so glad I did, although the half hour was not enough for him to answer all my questions and for him to tell all his story. Someday I hope to meet him and his family. I did ask how he got to hear about the Hutterites, and he mentioned Peter Hoover, and his books. He studied a lot of Anabaptist history and through that and his association with the Mennonites he met up with the Hutterites. He also mentioned that the ex-hutterites who are with Charity church were the most encouraging and supportive when he decided to explore hutterites and our faith. He has now been at Elmendorf for about 2 ½ months, he still hasn’t joined, (which as we know isn’t that easy,) but it certainly will be interesting to see where his journey with God will lead him.

   And me? I sit and I wonder, when the time comes, could I do all that? Turn the other cheek, stand by and watch my family be killed and not lift a hand to fight back? Somewhere I read that ‘there is at least one person in this world that we would die for.’  I believe that to be true, I think most of us would easily die for one of our children or friends, but would any one of us die for an enemy? Could I like Dirk Willems, who could have escaped his enemies, turn around and help my pursuer and rescue him from an icy river where he would have drowned had not Dirk pulled him out and saved him? And thus get captured and be tortured and burned at the stake? He could so easily have continued running and escape and return to his family, but Dirk loved Jesus and he believed in the radical teachings of Jesus, and he believed with all his heart and staked his life on the fact that Jesus truly meant exactly what he said. thus he couldn’t not turn back. And that is what Jesus asks us. I can sit here and say, “yes I could” but I really think that we can’t say or know that until we are actually faced with this question. I pray I never have to, but the time may come again when we are faced with this and what will we do? And like David Bercot ends his book with the statement: “Let’s do our part in turning the world upside down!” because the time is coming and God will test us. Are we ready?

   There is a saying “It is easier to die for Christ than it is to live for Him” I am not quite certain I totally agree with this saying, because I think it takes a great deal of courage to die and suffer for Jesus, but at the same time I know what it is saying, sometimes just living for Christ seems so hard, I do know a few  times when I have personally said nothing and walked away  regarding my convictions, when I was too afraid to speak up, too “ashamed” to show who I am and what I believe in, so yes I can see what that saying means in that sense, in today’s world many of us are silent rather than speak up, sometimes even compromising our convictions, and sometimes even to people of our own faith! So I pray that I and all of us can live and die for Christ, when and if that day comes.