We run our website the way we wished the whole internet worked: we provide high quality original content with no ads. We are funded solely by your direct support. Please consider supporting this project.
Responding to Bullying
Robert Martin over at Abnormal Anabaptist posted this video on The Bullying Experiment. While I’m not convinced that shaming people who don’t intervene is an appropriate way to instigate change (shame rarely helps and you don’t know what fears may have kept someone from helping) I’m so impressed with some of the non-violent and courageous interventions you see here. Pacifism is not passive, and if we want to bring peace to situations unfolding around us, sometimes we’re going to have to step in.
Robert shared his powerful reaction to seeing this video as a past victim of bullying:
As someone who, in grade school, found himself withdrawing into the background because, the alternative, was to be mocked, hit, and deliberately embarrassed in public… I cried as I watched this every time someone intervened because, in my mind, I asked “Why did no one do that for me?”
Category: General
Tags: Bullying, Non-Violence, Peacemaking
Related Reading
Love in Unexpected Places
Here’s a letter we received from a reader pointing us to this TED talk: Hi, My Name is Austin. I’ve been a podrishoner at Woodland Hills Church for the past 3 years and frequently visit reknew2015.wpengine.com. I stumbled upon this TED talk from September 2012 yesterday entitled Israel & Iran: A Love Story. Recently, Greg…
Why Are You Vegetarian?
In this episode Greg talks about non-violence in his diet and in his treatment of household insects. Spiders=are worth saving. Mosquitos=apparently not. http://traffic.libsyn.com/askgregboyd/Episode_0031.mp3
The Violent Vineyard Owner: A Response to Paul Copan (#8)
In my previous post I addressed two of the three parables that Paul Copan argues present God in violent ways. Today I will address the third, which is the parable of a vineyard owner with hostile tenants (Matthew 21:33-41; Luke 20:9-13). This parable differs from the previous two parables. Whereas the previous parables deal with…
Should Christians really only use non-violent resistance to things like war/genocide?
Question: Greg Boyd describes himself as a pacifist. I am curious to know what he thinks about wars or any other situation where genocide is happening. When such evil things are being done by force and violence, how should Christians, and other moral, loving people for that matter, respond? Are we really to use only non-violent…
What Would You Do If Someone Attacked Your Family?
The New Testament commands us never to “repay evil with evil” but instead to “overcome evil with good” (Rom.12:17; cf. I Thess 5:15; I Pet 3:9). Jesus said, “Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also”(Mt 5:39). He also said, “Love your enemies, do good…
Is Having the “Right” Theology the Core of Christianity?
Last week, we posted a piece by Greg that challenges the practice being violent “in the name of Jesus” toward others who err theologically. (Click here to read this post.) Being that this piece got a lot of attention, we thought it worthwhile to provide some further explication to this point, especially in the light…