ESTEBAN SALCIDO | staff writer
The Matheteis forum last Tuesday, Jan. 27 “Is Peace Possible?” gathered over 100 people together in the common interest of building a community—local and global—based on the values of human life, peace and coexistence.
The forum began in LAPC with dinner at 5:30 p.m. and concluded with the actual discussion later in the evening.
The discussion featured three experts on the subjects of peace, war and the philosophy of Jesus Christ: Glen Stassen of Fuller Theological Seminary, John Kisimir of World Vision, and Assitant Professor Kurt Werthmuller of APU.
“The purpose of the discussion forum was to educate and inspire students and to challenge current thought and expand on it,” student ministry coordinator of Matheteis and junior physiology Brittany Machado said.
She also believes the relevance of the issue may have largely contributed to the high turnout of event.
According to Machado, this latest forum’s attendance was almost 50 people more than any previous attendance.
“The timing of the topic is what makes it so significant,” Machado said.
Student coordinator Machado asked questions concerning the topic of peace and in response, the three experts took turns explaining their answers and opinions.
Many of the questions asked were oriented towards specific circumstances on a national and international level. Much of the discussion involved examples of successful and unsuccessful peace and war events.
The speakers emphasized that in all successful peace interactions, leaders did not resort to war before they negotiated first.
“If there is a problem, you need to talk. Cooperative conflict resolution is not a theory. It works,” Stassen said, summarizing Matthew 5:21-25.
The panel of experts also made special note that a just war is possible and a likely resort if peaceful negotiations do not succeed.
According to the just war theory, a war is only justifiable if the following conditions are met: there is a just cause, comparative justice, legitimate authority, right intention, probability of success, last resort and proportionality among all war parties.
After Machado finished her questions for the panel of experts, the forum was opened to the students and their questions.
When asked to define the term “peace,” the panel largely agreed that a strict definition of “peace” is irrelevant to what needs to be done to achieve some sort of coexistence.
“I don’t want to know the ideal definition. I want to know the practices of how to get there,” Stassen said.
Kisimir offered a suggestion on how to get there.
“Possible peace is achieved through cooperation,” Kisimir responded.
Werthmuller based his answer on the ethics of Jesus Christ.
“When Jesus said, ‘Blessed are the peacemakers,’ he wasn’t giving us a quaint observation, he was giving us a mandate,” Werthmuller said.
The speakers stressed that Jesus is the perfect example of actively living out this notion of peace.
Not only do the teachings and actions of Jesus Christ reflect the practicality of living within the domain of peaceful coexistence, Jesus teaches that as His own disciples, we should love one another.
While many of the students seemed to positively receive the experts’ opinions, senior English major Joshua Rosa believes the forum was too oriented towards the international aspect of peaceful living and not enough towards the practical and personal aspect of peaceful living.
“They talked mostly about international affairs, but not really about practical peace in smaller groups of people,” Rosa said. “The forum was informative, but it’s hard for a student to be directly involved with international affairs.”
The speakers shared that the teachings of Jesus confirm that peaceful coexistence begins at the personal level and before expanding to the global community.
