I'm a Do-Gooder?

Reverend Mike, over at Reverend Mike's House of Homiletic Hash, linked to this What Famous Leader Are You test. When I took it, I came out as Gandhi, which is a bit ironic, since no one would think that I'm emaciated. I'm somewhat anti-emaciated, actually, which sounds like one of those politically-correct terms to avoid hurting people's feelings. So, as to not burden anyone with more political correctness, I'll just say right out that I'm fat. There you have it - but one of my goals this year is to not be anti-emaciated any more.

What Famous Leader Are You?

Note that the spelling in the picture caption is not correct. The correct spelling is "Gandhi."

I'm actually kind of pleased by this result. Morals do matter to me, and I do like to lead by example. Perfection is important to me. My reason for this is, obviously, that I am aiming to be like Jesus, who is perfection incarnate. I have so far to go, though. I'm nowhere near perfect. I won't attain perfection in my lifetime, but I will continue to try - not using my own strength, but the strength of the Holy Spirit.

But he [Christ] said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. _{Apostle Paul to the Corinthian church in 2 Corinthians 2:9,10 (NIV)}

I do have a fair amount of admiration for Mohandas Gandhi. In college, I took a course on the history of India and China. It was fascinating, and one of the required texts for the course was Gandhi's autobiography (or maybe it was just a biography - I can't remember right now). Anyway, I admire Gandhi's courage and commitment to non-violent protest. The Palestinians could certainly learn and apply the lessons Gandhi taught. It would get them a lot further toward an independent Palestinian state than their current terrorist tactics, and a lot fewer innocent people would be killed and maimed on both sides.

Obviously, I'm not the first to say this. Check out this post and follow the links to some interesting discussion.

I wonder - could the blogosphere influence the Palestinians to commit to non-violent tactics, peaceful and serious negotiation, and internal reform in their efforts to gain their own state? If bloggers publicized this effort, like bloggers have supported reform efforts in Iraq and Iran, and talked it up as a real, serious, non-politicized alternative to what's happening now, perhaps public pressure would coerce the Palestinian leadership to truly embrace non-violent tactics to effect the changes in Israeli policy that they desire. I know, it's probably a pipe-dream, but wouldn't it be great if it happened? I just might try to start this idea going around. Is anyone else interested? (See below for more discussion of this.)

Doing Good

It's sad to me that the term "do-gooders" is an epithet. Clearly, the basic definition of a "do-gooder" is someone that does good. In common usage, of course, a "do-gooder" is a busy-body - someone that tries to ruin other's fun by pointing out that it's wrong. A wet blanket. A party pooper. Self-righteous. Up tight. A meddler in other's affairs. Yes, a ... a ...a ...Christian.

There's two sides to this coin, as I see it.

First, being known as a do-gooder is sort of a compliment. It's good to be known as someone that upholds moral standards and wants to do good, but only if that concern for morals and desire to do good is tempered by genuine love and concern for others. Think of Jesus with the woman caught in adultery (see John chapter 8). His example of how to deal with difficult moral issues must be embraced by all Christians.

The other side of the coin is that if we don't deal with sin as Jesus did, with love and compassion, we who are Christians will be (and are) viewed as "do-gooders" with all of the negative connotations that the term carries. Jesus said of the Pharisees, the first-rate "do-gooders" of His time:

You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:
     "'These people honor me with their lips,  but their hearts are far from me.
     They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.'" _{Jesus speaking to the Pharisees in Matthew 15:7-9, quoting Isaiah 19:13}

All too often, Christians are viewed simply as "do-gooders." Why? I think that often, when confronted with sin, Christians react with condemnation rather than love. Sin should be resisted, of course. But when Christians condemn sin, but then are caught up in the same sins, the world naturally yells, "hypocrites!" just as Jesus did to the Pharisees. We who are Christians need to resist and reject sin, but do so humbly, with love and compassion, always realizing that we are vulnerable to sin as well. Without our Savior, we would be in no better situation than anyone else. Only Jesus' sacrifice has set us free to do good - doers of the Word, not just hearers.

More on Non-Violence

To be effective, a Palestinian non-violent protest movement, in my opinion, must also strenuously reject terrorists and terrorism. That is, a non-violent protest movement must be as much, or more, against terrorist tactics as it is against any Israeli policies. The Palestinians, to gain legitimacy with all of the world (not just those leftists that already support them), must say to the world, "We have changed. We reject terrorism, but we also have rights that must be respected and legitimate grievances that must be heard." If the Palestinians could truly and steadfastly embrace non-violence as the road to peace, security, freedom, and self-determination, I believe that success would be possible. But they must:

1. truly embrace non-violence, even when threatened with violence and when actual violence is perpetrated against them, even unto death
2. accept Israel's right to exist
3. drop unreasonable demands (like the right of return)
4. stop indoctrinating children and young people with lies and propaganda against Israel
5. negotiate in good faith toward a solution acceptable to all interested parties

To be sure, there are a number of very difficult problems that would need to be solved, in which neither side would be eager to move from established positions, but in the face of implacable, but non-violent, protest, I believe Israel would be willing to negotiate in good faith and make some concessions.

Unfortunately, the current Palestinian leadership has not shown in any way that it is truly serious about coming to a peaceful solution to the conflict. By "leadership" here, I mean not only Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian Authority, but also the leadership of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Al-Aqsa Martyr's Brigade, and all of the other terrorist organizations that have rejected negotiated solutions.

As a liberal democracy, Israel, practically by definition, would have to negotiate in good faith with a non-violent Palestinian resistance movement. The citizens of Israel, and the rest of the world, would demand it. It's tragic that the Palestinian leadership, in their blind hatred and Islamic fanaticism, are too stupid to understand that. The only logical explanation for their behavior, besides stupidity, is that they aren't interested in a Palestinian state alongside Israel. They want Israel eliminated as a political entity and all Jews in the region deported or dead. What other explanations make sense, when a non-violent resistance movement could get them everything that they say they want?

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