Is It True That Perfect Love Drives Out All Fear?

This week I am reading the autobiography of John Lewis, and I watched the documentary Restrepo.  The contradictions can't be brighter.  Do we confront evil with violence or with nonviolence?

John Lewis was instrumental in the civil rights movement, considered one of the Big Six.  John's humble autobiography is a testament to his sincere and complete commitment to nonviolence.  As indignities grew to burnings, horrific beatings, and even multiple murders, John held firm to his value that love and nonviolence were the only lasting answer to evil.

Restrepo is a documentary movie of a remote outpost of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan's Korengal Valley.  These soldiers were put into an impossibly dangerous situation, where good motives and diplomacy were useless against the daily attempts to kill them.  These soldiers responded exactly as they were trained and with the equipment in their hands, killing both "bad guys" and innocent people.  When the men mourn the deaths of their brothers, the captain of the outpost sums up the entire cycle by exhorting his men, "We need to go out there and make them pay... we need to make THEM feel the way that we're feeling."  

I can't do justice to the two themes presented above, but I am struck (again) by the humble and powerful path of nonviolence.  The unique bravery in saying 

I offer my back to those who beat me,
my cheeks to those who pull out my beard;
I will not hide my face from mocking and spitting.

The words hang ridiculous in the air immediately after I read them.  To what extent can I really live that level of love?  It feels dangerously vulnerable.  It also feels like a conversation worth having, a way of life worth exploring. 

One Man He Resist

I celebrate the courage, passion and tenacious love of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I admire, even envy, his equal commitments to peace and change. Dr. King faced the hate from his white brothers and sisters, illegal acts of his government, and beatings and murders of his black brothers and sisters with a persistent love. Seeking to change, never to destroy, those persons responsible, believing that "Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend."

On this national day of remembrance and celebration, everyone from the President of the United States to the President of the Local Chamber of Commerce will talk admiringly of Dr. King's life and passion. No doubt, thousands of his words will be read (and will inspire yet again).

What if we took it seriously?

Thousands of us will hear the words, feel the tingle, then walk back into our mis-beliefs unchanged. We may feel energized about equality and peace, but will we ignore the demand for nonviolence? If we acknowledge it at all, will we believe that nonviolence only applies to changing voting laws?

An equally important part of Dr. King's message was "Violence never brings permanent peace. It solves no social problem: it merely creates new and more complicated ones."

Persistently, Dr. King lived and preached, "Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal."

Even President Obama, surely a sincere admirer of Dr. King, in his Nobel speech could not commit to Dr. King's example "in the world as it is." On one hand saying there was "nothing weak - nothing passive - nothing naïve" about Dr. King's belief in nonviolence, but justifying abandoning the principles because "of threats to the American people." Threats like death? Isn't that EXACTLY the threat facing Dr. King when he stubbornly stuck to his belief that love was still the best answer?

On this day, do we truly admire and celebrate him, or call him weak and naïve by celebrating only half of his legacy? I want what he wanted, equality and peace, but am I willing to commit to love as my only weapon and defense? Even if it means my life...