Peace

in German published 2017-12


Everyone wants peace.

Not true, unfortunately!

For ideologues of all kinds, their own version of the truth is more important than peace.

According to Marx, peace will only come when communism has achieved world dominion.

What kind of behavior does the Bible recommend?

The New Testament states:

Jesus said unto him: Put up your sword again, for he who lives by the sword shall perish by the Sword. But I say unto you, that ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.

The New Testament advises highly defensive behavior. However, the New Testament writers certainly did not want their faith to become a state-sponsored religion. Subsequently, many wars were waged and terrible atrocities committed in the name of the Christian faith.

In prehistoric times, and even in the last century, tribes of primitive peoples were almost constantly fighting.

If a tribe wanted to live in peace, it was overrun by the neighboring tribes. Each tribe had to arm itself well and practice the art of warfare. These exercises quickly became warlike conflicts.

In ancient Greece, war was considered a normal condition in relations between the poleis in Greece. Accordingly, peacetime was usually described using terms such as spondai, which roughly translates as a truce (Wikipedia).

In North America, wars between the immigrants and the Indians led to the subjugation, expulsion or extermination of a large section of the native Indian population. But there were also frequent armed conflicts between the Indian tribes.

In the Middle Ages, it was practically a matter of honor for the feudal lords to increase their territory by means of wars.

Today, peace is repeatedly shattered when states try to maintain their unity by force of arms.

In recent years, Islam has proven that the only-true religions cause wars.

        And the Christian West tried to enforce its values by force of arms in Vietnam, Iraq, Libya and Syria, with catastrophic consequences.

As long as people are guided by emotions rather than by reason, they cause enormous misery.

I suggest that our history books be rewritten.

Alexander the Great, Charlemagne and Napoleon must be removed from their pedestals and must be shown to have been responsible for the deaths of millions of people.

Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and all those responsible for the peaceful revolution of the GDR in 1989 were exemplary.