Wednesday, February 04, 2009

Fighting Monsters

"Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster."
-Nietzsche

I ran across this quote in a book I'm reading. I've been thinking about how relevant that could be to our politics today. I think it can be easy in the process to lose sight of what the fight is really about. If we are not careful, we can become the very thing we should struggle against.

Bombing an abortion clinic in the name of pro-life is becoming a monster. Extreme example. What about slandering a president because he does not demonstrate the moral values you support? What does that say about the state of the heart? (Matthew 15:18-20)

We can disagree and we can be angry. We don't have to become monsters in the process.

I think that it is important to let our voices be heard on political and social issues. And I think that when we disagree, we need to remember that we are not fighting against people. As Christians, our war is not against people but against forces of evil (Ephesians 6:12). We need to pray for people, pray for our nation, and not become monsters ourselves.

Make use of every opportunity to demonstrate that those who are redeemed do not conform to the standards of the world.

2 comments:

Kristie said...

Umm, I needed to hear that. Thanks for putting things in perspective for me and reminding me that my fight isn't against people but against a very real enemy!

Jesse said...

Awesome. You hit the nail on the head. Thanks for the reminder. =)