SENTINEL WATCH August 30, 2010 Issue

DESIGNED TO BE PEACEMAKERS

GREG JARVIS

WHETHER IT'S IN AFGHANISTAN, Iraq, Israel, Nigeria, Somalia, or some other part of the world, war needs to be seen as no longer a solution among nations and peoples. To quote Mahatma Gandhi, "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind." While violence cannot be ignored, it's important to seek ways to engage in conflict resolution other than resorting to the battlefield.

Peace is increasingly possible if we are willing to do the hard work of changing thought—starting with ourselves—from one of resignation to conflict, to achieving peace among nations and peoples. Jesus' teachings offer much guidance. In his Sermon on the Mount, he said, "Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God" (Matt. 5:9). That statement deserves to be considered deeply and carefully. What does it mean to be a peacemaker?

Mary Baker Eddy's discovery of Christian Science reveals that we are all the children of God, and thus are all created to be peacemakers. Through her writings, she presented a method of prayer we can follow for individual action toward peace. She stated: "The First Commandment in the Hebrew Decalogue—'Thou shalt have no other gods before me'—obeyed, is sufficient to still all strife. God is the divine Mind. Hence the sequence: Had all peoples one Mind, peace would reign" (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 279).