We're at a pivotal moment in history where good must stand up against evil. For good to triumph it cannot use evil means. Blood will be shed, of this I'm sure. But let it be the blood of martyrs, willing to die to themselves, pick up their crosses and follow the truth.
This is going to be really, really difficult, but I believe we are being called.
Pledge of Nonviolence
1. As you prepare to march meditate on the life and teachings of Jesus
2. Remember the nonviolent movement seeks justice and reconciliation - not victory.
3. Walk and talk in the manner of love; for God is love.
4. Pray daily to be used by God that all men and women might be free.
5. Sacrifice personal wishes that all might be free.
6. Observe with friend and foes the ordinary rules of courtesy.
7. Perform regular service for others and the world.
8. Refrain from violence of fist, tongue and heart.
9. Strive to be in good spiritual and bodily health.
10. Follow the directions of the movement leaders and of the captains on demonstrations.
The Five Principles of Nonviolence
1. Non-violent resistance is not a method for cowards. It does resist. The nonviolent resister is just as strongly opposed to the evil against which he protests, as is the person who uses violence. His method is passive or nonaggressive in the sense that he is not physically aggressive toward his opponent, but his mind and emotions are always active, constantly seeking to persuade the opponent that he is mistaken. This method is passive physically but strongly active spiritually; it is nonaggressive physically but dynamically aggressive spiritually.
2. Nonviolent resistance does not seek to defeat or humiliate the opponent, but to win his friendship and understanding. The nonviolent resister must often express his protest through noncooperation but he realizes that noncooperation is not the ends itself; it is merely means to awaken a sense of moral shame in the opponent.
3. The attack is directed against forces of evil rather than against persons who are caught in those forces. It is a struggle between justice and injustice, between the forces of light and the forces of darkness.
4. Nonviolent resistance avoids not only external physical violence, but also internal violence of spirit. At the center of non-violence stands the principle of love.
5. Nonviolence is based on the conviction that the universe is on the side of justice. It is the deep faith in the future that allows a nonviolent resister to accept suffering without retaliation. The nonviolent resister knows that in his struggle for justice, he has a cosmic companionship.
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I pledge to always place the individual right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness first, and to never initiate force against another.
ReplyDeleteI cannot pledge never to use force. Hitler could never have been stopped by the type of resistance showed by Ghandi to the British, and the only thing that dissuaded the Soviets was the threat of the use of overwhelming nuclear force on the part of the United States if we were to be attacked.
Evil respects one and only one thing: overwhelming and unremitting force to engulf and conquer it. Pacifism does NOT work. It never has. And it never will. Our freedom will once again require the shedding of blood not by martyrs in the cause of pacifism, but by men willing to be soldiers in the defense of hearth and home. If attacked, then we have to fight NOT because we hate liberalism (though that may be true), BUT because we love our families, our churches and our freedom.
No, I won't sign Glenn Beck's pledge. I won't be a mere martyr. If I have to go to my death because I oppose the onslaught of tyranny, then once attacked (and "they" will attack, rest assured), let me go defending what is most precious and noble: my family (such as it is), my church and my freedom to worship God.
I do pledge however to NEVER EVER bend my knee to the Obamination of Desolation and his demonic legions of putrid liberalism and rancid wicked progressivism from very depths of satan's hell.
You go boy!
ReplyDeleteLook, I agree that the attack will come and in the end we will have to fight, if a nonviolent witness proves ineffective. However, I think the nonviolent witness must be tried first.
My reason is that when the attacks come they will use the media against us. They will try to paint us as the aggressors and themselves as the defenders of all that is good and holy.
If we respond to their violence with violence we will play into their hands. It will be all to easy for a skilled technician to cut and paste defensive fighting and turn it into aggression.
We must show the world that we are the sensible ones, the ones on the side of the angels. It is this peaceful approach that is causing Obama's forces trouble now.
They have tried to paint the Tea Party as a group of wild eyed revolutionaries bent on the destruction of the Republic. Boy have they tried. The full force of the government propaganda machine has been brought to bear, from Saturday Night Live to most of the major newspapers to MSNBC and CNN and even the snide and inane remarks made during sit coms.
And it's not working. Why? Because the Tea Parties haven't given them anything to work with. No arrests, no beatings, no rock throwing; nothing but peaceful assembly to ask the government for redress of our grievances.
This peaceful witness has been our best weapon and it will continue to be because the American people see it for what it is and they see the Progressives and their union thugs for what they are.
At some point the people may have to pick up their guns once again to defend our natural rights. If that time comes, and I pray it doesn't, there will be no turning back and no end until one side or the other emerges the clear victor.
Americans are a peaceful people and a peaceful approach must be our first response. We must try to remain peaceful, even in the face of violence, asking for the protection of God in our times of trouble. We must allow God the time to change hearts. If the time comes that we must take up arms, let God make the decision. By acting in peace we leave it in His hands. We will act as His instruments of justice, not our own.