Early last year I sat silently eavesdropping on a conversation a friend was having with a political mover and shaker in church circles. One phrase that the M&S'r kept repeating was that he was a 'die on every hill' kind of guy. What he meant was that he was willing to fight on every issue, every issue was of supreme importance, there could be no thought of compromise. Which got me to thinking, why is the phrase ' die on every hill' used. Why not be more realistic and say, ' I'm a "kill on every hill" kind of guy' or ' I'm a strategically retreat until I can crush you and then take your position...kind of guy'
I guess saying that sounds less and less like Jesus.
Of course, I said nothing. I left feeling vindicated as the martyr who would never stoop to such barbarity.. ha!
This quote, stolen from inhabitation dei, serves as a great rebuke to both our church culture, which loves to posit big bad enemies for us to fight valiantly, and a rebuke to quiet cyynical people lik me for keeping my mouth shut.
“The pathology of a martyr complex is often a heavy-handed attempt to escape the vulnerability of speaking the truth without the means of convincing others that it is true. It signifies impatience with the freedom of others not to believe. It betrays an insecurity that cannot bear its own knowledge without compulsion for everyone else. In a word, it expresses doubt. Such doubt may explain why martyrdom is sometimes misconstrued and applied to the deaths of fighters. For the New Testament, martyrs do not die because they fight for what is right but precisely because they refuse to fight for what is true. A fighter fundamentally doubts whether his truth is true and anxiously grasps at it, preferring secure knowledge to uncertain promise made certain only through faith. Fighters do not stand by the truth of their convictions.”
~ Craig Hovey, To Share in the Body: A Theology of Martyrdom for Today’s Church (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2008), 148.
Heavenly Father, give us such a faith in your resurrection power that we don't kill others to defend it
Where would I be without Bob Goudzwaard?
1 day ago
3 comments:
Can you be a "die on every hill kind of guy, and I'll take the rest of you with me."
What do you do when people don't play by the same rules?
I heard a better phraseology, distinguishing between things I am "willing to burn for" and things not.
Those with a martyr complex can be just as combative as those who are merely convinced of the urgency of the gospel, but their security lies in the truth, not others' acceptance of it. They want full-grown trees when God asks us to plant seeds with faith in the power of the gospel.
No one aims to be a martyr. To seek it is to turn it into something other than martyrdom. Great quote.
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