Brian,

As I read your comment here I bristle. Because I see Jesus as a pacifist, I have a 'very incomplete understanding of scripture'? Am I to assume that you believe you have a 'complete' view because you place emphasis on the old testament, while seeming to ignore the message of the new? Can you show me one example where Jesus called for us to strike down our neighbor before they had a chance to strike out at us, or any example where Christ called for us to use force and violence? His example, dying on the cross, is in itself, a rejection of your argument.

It was a subtle move, shifting from 'Jesus as pacifist' to 'Jesus as war maker' through semantics. The fact is, in many ways, the message of the new testament conflicts with the message of the old. Didn't Jesus repudiate the 'God ordained' laws that the Pharisees sought to uphold with such religious fervency? Isn't the message of the new testament a repudiation of the 'old order of things'? Are you following God's laws, set forth in the old testament, on dress, food, and making sacrifices, or do you believe that the testament marks a fundamental transformation in the message of God and his covenant? If so on food and dress, why not on violence?

My views clearly differ from yours, but different is not 'an incomplete understanding.'