"We need a theology of fist fighting... A time will come when spears are beaten into pruning hooks. A time will come when men no longer study war. This is the end result of the Gospel's fruitfulness in the world. But until the time when men will learn war no more, they must still learn it." -- Doug Wilson, Future Men
We need to think through what's worth fighting for, when the right time to fight for it is, and how to go about fighting for it. Christianity is not a religion of pacifism, but of pugilism. It isn't always striking, but it does strike. It isn't only offense, but it is offensive. It doesn't hit below the belt, but it does hit above it.
Christianity is described in terms of faithful soldiers and ferocious boxers -- good men who are good at being men, fighting a good fight with good manners. It is not enough to know that the good fight is worth fighting. If it is worth fighting, then we must fight. We need to learn how to strike and where and when.
There will come a time when God turns this intuition toward other endeavors, but to do so in the heat of the battle before that time has come is to concede the victory to our adversary.
"It is absolutely essential for boys to play with wooden swords and plastic guns. Boys have a deep need to have something to defend, something to represent in battle. And to beat the spears into pruning hooks prematurely, before the war is over, will leave you fighting the dragon with a pruning hook” -- Doug Wilson, Future Men
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