Peacemaker Project

Whether we like it or not, conflict is a part of everyday lives. It can happen to anyone, from your friends to your family.

The novel A Separate Peace by John Knowles is about learning and it reveals that people have to have the bad to see the good. This thematic statement connects to both the book and the world that we live in today. Many people want everything to be perfect and beautiful but the hard truth is that it will never completely be that way. Life isn’t going to be the way every stroke was placed on the perfect painting of life that everyone has in there head which was handcrafted from their wildest dreams. Their may be some slippery patches but good will follow close behind.

The civil war ended and it was soon the beginning of many hardships. “The Problems of Peacemaking” discusses all of the problems with the Northerners and Southerners becoming peaceful after the war. President Abraham Lincoln did many things to try to get peace after the war. When he realized it wasn’t going to be easy, he decided that a “Reconstruction Plan” could maybe help them get peace. After the civil war the South didn’t have many things left because everything they had was destroyed almost completely. People living in the south wanted to regain it back but they soon realized it wasn’t that easy to do. The white southerners lost some land and their slaves but that was nothing compared to the black southerners. Black southerners lost everything when they left to get freedom, besides a little bit of clothing and a few possessions they took with them. Blacks and whites had completely different meanings of freedom. The whites wanted to control what they did without the government’s input, and the blacks wanted to get freedom from the whites. The whites wanted white supremacy which is, they wanted to be more superior. The blacks just wanted to be control and own things such as land. General William Sherman’s “Special Field Order No. 15” helped give 400,000 acres of land to 40,000 freed slaves. Other methods were produced to help slaves get land, one of the most famous was the Freedmen’s Bureau. The Freedmen’s Bureau gave slaves food, health care, clothing, and education. The whites of course, disagreed with the Bureau and would have disputes about it. The disputes were all settled by the Freedmen’s Bureau. General Howard created the “Circular 13” which helped lease 40 acre plots to slaves and hoped to later sell it to them. He also made the Southern Homestead Act that made 46 million acres for sell to slaves in many states. It was later repealed because people thought slaves were taking advantage of it. Republicans had say in what happened during the reconstruction. The conservatives and radicals disagreed on their views. The radicals were more harsh. All the conservatives said was that the south should just take what was happening and do nothing about it. The radicals wanted to take away some rights from a

Agents of Peace are not afraid to be seen as different. In my opinion, they are not afraid to go sit with the kid who is sitting alone. They are happy to help others. And while I believe they have their own forms of beliefs that can be polarizing, they do not force their beliefs on anyone. Instead of spilling hate due to religion and values, they come from a place of love and care. Keeping this in mind, to be a peace agent, I am not afraid to be myself. True, not everyone will like who I am as a person, nor will they agree with all my beliefs. However, in my experience, being myself will bring more peace than hate. As an Agent of Peace, I am not worried about being seen as weird. Peace is keeping everyone included without causing fights. I

There is a war occuring, right in this moment, right in front of you. Much like a tender

In the Christian sacred text, the bible, Jesus’ ‘Golden Rule’ is “do unto others as you would have done unto you”; which in relation to peace infers that one must act peacefully to receive peaceful treatment in return. One of the key teachings regarding peace is to respect all humans; as everyone is equal, this includes one’s enemies. As stated in Matthew 5 “love your enemies and pray for your prosecutors”. The core belief of Christianity is the belief in one God, the creator. As the instigator of creation, God commands humanity to live in peace. This also leads to living peacefully within the environment, as stated in Genesis; as stewards of the earth it’s our duty to respect and care for the earth and all aspects of creation. Another principal belief is that the peace of God is beyond this world and will be achieved in heaven; hence, it is imperative for one to live peaceably to achieve peace in heaven. The principal teaching to live in peace is again outlined in 2 Corinthians; “live in peace and the God of love and peace will be with you”. The bible outlines the most prominent principal teachings regarding peace.

The peace of this world is always uncertain, unless men keep the peace of God.

In further understanding that we “do the things we do not wish to do” (Romans 7:15), I see myself becoming a more gracious person. Suddenly, when someone lashes out in the middle of a conversation, rather than reacting to it, I am recognizing that they are fighting against the inner subhuman characteristics, and that was, in that moment, a fight they had lost. This allows me to be kinder when pointing out the destructive behavior, coming from a place of humility, knowing that I too have lost against the struggle.

Remedy: Brothers and sisters in Christ should seek out counsel for arguments through the Church first and should figure out what the problem is, and solve the problem with the other that has wronged them.

Texts regarding peace are frequent throughout the bible with the Greek word for peace (Eirene) written in every book of the new testament except for the first letter of John (P. Glasburgen 2015). The New Testament itself is largely made up of books explaining the life and times of Jesus Christ. The Jewish word ‘Shalom’ is defined as the Hebrew definition of peace that encompasses all aspects of a person’s life. It is completeness leaving no room for conflict or negativity. It is the ultimate state of peace that can only come from god “Shalom is a place where mercy/forgiveness/honesty/have all met. It is a place where peace and justification meet/a place of unconditional love/a place found by one man, through his death and resurrection” (Christ Episcopal Church, 2012). These quotes clearly show how God and Jesus are understood as the providers of Shalom and why, in order to achieve inner peace, one must follow their teachings “For God is not a god of disorder but of peace” (1 Corinthians 14:33). There are many examples in the new testament of the importance of the teachings of Jesus Christ regarding peace. It is written in the book of Matthew that Jesus said ‘but I say to you love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you”

The purpose of this discussion is for the Writer to engage doctoral classmates on different approaches, thoughts, and beliefs about how God would want us to engage conflict based on the following: 1) The importance to “take the log out of our own eye” first before pointing out someone else’s?; 2) Why is this difficult for some? and 3) Share a time when you did this well.

The New Testament reveals to Christians the important relationship between an individual’s fidelity to the requirements of the gospel and their own sense of peace and wellbeing. It is not possible to achieve inner peace while experiencing turmoil due to compromising personal values and therefore Christians use the examples of Jesus facing and overcoming temptations to highlight the serving of self and avoiding challenging situations. [example] Jesus’ example shows the importance of being true to the values of the Gospel and being uncompromising as it would inevitably erode a sense of inner peace as a lack of infidelity will result in inner conflict. Selflessness is another quality that Jesus highlights as having a significant impact on ones capacity to achieve inner peace.

This was our third peace circle in class. Topics for discussion were” how do you feel about transitions”, “what community means to you”, and “what is hope. I had a hard time participating in this peace circle.” Similar to the second peace circle we were instructed to bring a scared item to this one as well. I did not partake in that part this time due to the amount of vulnerability it would convey upon me. Also, if I would have brought a personal item I would have been required to speak; before I arrived I wasn’t sure if I wanted to speak. Not only because in my life outside of school I am currently going through many transitions that have nothing to do with school. As a result, the last time we had a peace circle I became emotional during the session and found myself to be reluctant about the idea of participating in another one after that. Usually I would participate regardless of how emotional I thought it was going to be. However, I found myself observing this time. I knew that because of everything taking place in my life I would become emotional and therefore I decided to stay quiet. Notably, I would like to point out that I still don’t feel comfortable with this type of

An ounce of prevention is indeed worth a pound of cure since it’s a lot easier to be careful or to stop something from happening in the first than dealing with how to restore and repair the damage after it has happened.

Conflicts are inevitable but they initiate changes and opportunities for spiritual growth. Interpersonal conflicts are not usually thought of as a Bible topic. However, there is an exorbitant amount on the subject in regards to dealing with other people. There is at least one passage in every book in the New Testament to believers to live at peace with one another. The largest part is found in the teachings of Jesus and His apostles. No matter what the conflict may be the Bible 's advice is spiritually sound and practical for promoting peace and harmony, whomever and whatever the conflict may be.