I mentioned Harvard Professor Steven Pinker
a couple of years ago. Pinker says the world is getting less violent. That comes as a surprise to most people, especially those who listen to the government-approved "Mainstream Media." We've all been trained -- especially in evangelical churches -- to believe that the world is getting worse and worse (not "better and better").
But Pinker is right. He has the numbers.
…the number of war battlefield deaths has dropped by a factor of 1,000, falling from 500 per 100,000 in prehistoric times, to 60-70 in the 19th and 20th century (notwithstanding epic wars) to… less than one such death per 300,000 now in the 21st. Genocide deaths have dropped by well over a factor of 1000 from 1942 to 2008.
He is wrong about the cause. Pinker says peace is caused by atheism ("secularism," "rationalism).
The real cause is The Great Commission and the spread of the religion of "The Prince of Peace" from 12 weak-kneed disciples to over a billion people around the world. The angels told the Christmas shepherds that the newborn Messiah was bringing "Peace on Earth."
The Bible commands us to beat our "
swords into plowshares." Christians teach forgiveness and love of enemies. Imperfectly, granted. But cumulatively, the result is spectacular: nothing less than
Western Civilization itself.
"
Pacifism" (that is, taking the Prince of Peace "literally")
is
the foundation of civilization. Governments ignore the Prince of Peace, but today most people practice patience and forgiveness in their daily lives (family, business) rather than follow the politicians in beating the drums of war and bombing their enemies "back to the stone age."
The errant eschatology known as "Dispensational Premillennialism" has been predicting the End of The World for decades, and increasingly since 1948 (the humanistic formation of the non-Messianic political state of Israel). The Rapture eschatology is now nearly completely discredited. "Futurism" is rapidly being replaced by "Preterism." We should not be hoping for Armageddon as the doorway to world peace. Premillennialism is a theology of war succeeded by a
police state.
The Christian must proclaim: "We Don't Need War."
Combine that with Randolph Bourne's observation that "
War is the health of the State," and you have a paradigm-shifting combination that leads to peace and radically smaller government.
Here's a new article that expands upon that idea:
Ron Paul, Rand Paul Defy What Keeps Big Government Big
This is a tremendous article. Click that link and read it now.
A
holistic Christian worldview will eventually discard "premillennialism" and the Pentagon and embrace both "
postmillennialism" and "
swords into plowshares."
