Pro-Life and Violence?

I have wondered lately if the hypocrisy many sense in the church concerning our limited definition of pro-life can also be partly tied to the belief of redemptive violence that so many Christians in our culture also seem to embrace?

While most Christians can and do adamantly and rightly condemn the murder of Dr. George Tiller, I wonder if this murder is actually not that inconsistent with believing in redemptive violence in other areas such as in war, torture, and the death penalty. In other words, what ground do Christians who embrace the idea of redemptive violence have in condemning someone that believes that killing an abortion doctor can help save lives? What is used to draw the lines the determine the difference between what is condemned and what is approved?

It is great that the murder is condemned, but how is such condemnation consistent with a world view that encourages and embraces redemptive violence in other arenas? Again, what determines the difference? How can any view that ever embraces the idea of redemptive violence truly be PRO-life? As followers of Jesus how do some see the idea of redemptive violence as something that is consistent with the gospel and the teachings of Jesus?

I am just thinking out loud here because I believe these are the kind of hard questions we need to humble ourselves and ask if we really want to help the world around us embrace the sacredness of human life. These questions are sincere questions, and I am trying to resist jumping to any answers too quickly or easily.

I welcome others who want to wrestle with these questions with me. I am not advocating for over simplified answers or denying the messy world we live in and the hard choices that we often have to make; I just think these realities make it that much more important that we continue to wrestle with these difficult questions.

My good fried Greg Arthur also has some thoughts about this on Emergent Nazarenes, which actually got me thinking about these question.