| Biblical path to peace traverses through a battlefield by David Tingley Bishop Felton Edwin May recently asked the people of the Baltimore-Washington Conference to pray, fast and study our Bibles to understand the issues of war and peace. I have done so. When I decided to undertake my own review of Scripture, I started in the Old Testament, reviewing every time the Bible recorded that there was peace in the land to see what caused it. I found that in each case where there was lasting peace it was always preceded by two events: First, the establishment of righteous leadership willing to undo the wickedness of the previous leadership; and second, by the shedding of enemy blood on the battlefield. I found this pattern repeated over and over and did not find that any sort of lasting peace was established any other way than by following this process. In fact, after studying further, I found it interesting that whenever a leader was humble enough to be willing to go personally before God and ask, Should I lead this nation into war? the answer from God was, Yes. But this was an Old Testament conclusion. The bishop said that he has thumbed through every page of the New Testament and found no justification for war with Iraq. So I, too, turned there to find where, if the Bishop was right, Jesus has revoked this well-established biblical pattern. Instead I found that Jesus affirmed it and demonstrated through both his words and actions that it was more than just a pattern, it was a principle that holds true for the past, the present, and the future. First he established his righteous leadership, then he allowed his own blood to be shed in substitution for we who have made ourselves enemies of God. I am not implying that the United States is Old Testament Israel or that the United States is a stand-in for Jesus when it goes to war. But, if we want peace in our land, there are no shortcuts. When God promised to defend Israel in the Old Testament he still required them to prepare themselves, to take up arms, and show up on the field of battle. President Bush has displayed the humility and thoughtfulness that make me expect that he would not lead this nation into war without personally getting on his knees before God and asking whether it was right. If he does so, and God says to him, Yes, then we too must prepare ourselves, take up arms and show up on the field of battle. As I write this, my father is preparing to go into surgery to have a diseased organ removed from his body. The surgeon will do his best to minimize the effect on the rest of him. As surgical skills and technologies have advanced over the years, we have been able to reduce greatly the effect on the surrounding organs, but there will still be blood and he will still have to cut healthy tissue to get the necessary job done. It occurs to me that this is exactly what happened in Afghanistan. The U.S. military demonstrated an unprecedented surgical skill in avoiding civilian casualties. They will apply those same skills to get the necessary job done in Iraq. From my own review of the Bible, what I have been hearing from the bishops sounds more reflective of personal politics and wishful thinking. I acknowledge that each of us, myself included, is subject to the same shortcoming. So while I will continue to pray for peace, this United Methodist must conclude that in this case the path to peace traverses through a battlefield. David Tingley is a member of Taylorsville UMC, in Mt. Airy. | 
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