"You Have Heard It Said"

This article in Ha'aretz (translation: The Land) is interesting. It certainly keeps with the 'eye for an eye' theme from the headline (taken from the Book of Exodus). And I suppose I understand to some small degree the desire, not for revenge, because that isn't what Mr Marcus is talking about--but justice. A balancing sort of justice that evens things out. You kill one of mine, I kill one of yours; there, now we're even and we can stop killing. Or so goes the thinking. The church's viewpoint is a wee bit different. It is just this passage from Exodus that Christ references when he says, "You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' But I tell you, do not resist and evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also." This is from Matthew five, at the beginning of which Christ says, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God." The church's aim is not for a balanced justice, but for a peacemaking forgiveness.

So what to think about Iraq? Perhaps we should have just 'turned the other cheek'? I am no theological expert on pacifism and all of its variations (if you want someone who is, read the late John Howard Yoder, who was a pacifist, an incredibly sharp thinker, and a clear writer). But it seems to me that Einstein was right: Stuff is relative. I do see a possibility that we are waging a short-term war for a long-term freedom. In other words, peace is always the thing, but you sometimes must live in lesser peace for the hope of greater peace.