Ludwick, Christine Wilson

LUDWICK, CHRISTINE WILSON

Christine Ludwick's Story about how the bumpersticker message

"When Jesus said, 'Love your enemies' I think he probably meant 'Don't kill them'"

made a difference for her

I married into the Church of the Brethren in 2005. In membership classes, I learned that the denomination believes that "all war is sin;" however, it wasn't explained to me what pacifism is--- what nonviolence is.

Then, a couple of years later, I saw a video about the 300th Anniversary of the Church of the Brethren, in which a man stood up and said, "When Jesus said, 'Love your enemies' I think he probably meant 'Don't kill them.'"

 It just clicked with me, and made sense; THAT'S what it means to be nonviolent, a follower of Jesus, and to be a pacifist church!

I live in the inner city, and we see a lot of violence here. My following Christ --- my faith--- has led me to work with youth here to try to help stop the cycle of violence in our community.

The phrase helped define or crystallize my beliefs about the importance of nonviolence as a follower of Christ, and the priority we need to place upon stopping the cycle of violence.