Whenever I post articles opposing war and interventionist foreign policy, inevitably somebody accuses me of “idealism” and chastises me for “chasing utopian dreams.”

“Of course, nearly everybody opposes war,” they claim. “But your ideas simply won’t work in the real world.”

First off, I question the notion that “nearly everybody opposes war.” I find plenty of cheerleading for war within my circle of acquaintances. Perhaps they do oppose war in the abstract, but they always seem to find a reason to support the latest military adventurism.

But what of this notion that there’s no sense in opposing war and actively pursuing peace because “it won’t work in the real world?” Should we abandon active, vocal opposition to war because pursuit of peace does nothing but chase an unattainable utopian dream?

To some degree, I can understand this mindset among non-Christians who view the world through a purely pragmatic, utilitarian lens. War has raged across the earth throughout human history. That’s just the way it is. Best sharpen the sword and prepare yourself for the fight. If one embraces violence as an acceptable, or at least the only realistic way to settle differences, it makes sense to mock my non-violent position as naive idealism.

But I find it difficult to understand why so many Christians balk at anti-war rhetoric in light of the teachings of Jesus. When fellow believers chastise me for my strong anti-war sentiments and my rejection of interventionist foreign policy, in my head I hear them saying, “The teachings of Christ sound good and all, but they just won’t work in the real world.”

Jesus commands us to love our enemies. He elevates mercy over justice. He tells us to turn the other cheek. As believers we are not to be overcome by evil, but to overcome evil with good. Do we simply blow off Christ’s teachings as “idealistic?”

When Jesus stepped into the world, the Jews were anticipating a military leader, a king who would lead them victory over the oppressive Romans and reestablish Israel as a mighty kingdom. But he came to establish an entirely different kind of kingdom. Jesus didn’t lead an army. He submitted to the evil of the world and died. In so-doing he overcame the darkness and rose up in victory. Peace triumphed over violence. As pastor Brian Zahnd put it in his book Farewell to Mars, “Jesus was willing to die for that which he was unwilling to kill for.”

That’s the kind of kingdom Jesus came to establish.

Isaiah described the kingdom of God in radical terms -as  a realm devoid of war.

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths. The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.” (Isaiah 2:3-4)

When we reject peace as an unattainable utopia, we reject the very essence of the kingdom of God. We proclaim that we have no faith in God’s ability to establish his will. I can understand this in the non-believer, but how can those who profess their faith in the Prince of Peace deny the possibility of his kingdom?

Many Christians will use what Zahnd calls “an eschatological slight of hand” to argue God won’t establish his kingdom until sometime in the future.

“On the one hand, they admit that Jesus is the Prince of Peace who has come. But on the other hand, they say his peace is not for now…it is only for when Jesus comes back again. Bait and switch.”

Isaiah said in the last day, the nations will come to the mountain of the Lord to learn the ways of peace. On the day of Pentecost, some in the crowd accused the disciples of drinking too much wine. Peter said, “No, they are not drunk!” and quoted the prophet Joel proclaiming that the last days had dawned.

“In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

God established his Kingdom in this world when Jesus rose from the dead. He called the church to serve as its representative body. That means those of us who claim to follow Jesus must live by the kingdom’s code. When you say opposing war is impractical in the “real world,” you deny the reality of God’s kingdom.

Call it utopia if you wish, but it is the utopia Jesus said he would establish. Faith means believing it possible and “pressing toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”

As Zahnd points out, not everybody believes this. That’s why “the anachronism of war is still with us.”

“But those who confess Christ has been raised are to embody the reign of Christ here and now. No more eschatological shenanigans where we keep pushing the reign of Christ off until we’ve waged a few more wars. No! The Lion of Judah has overcome the beasts of empire, and he’s done so as a slaughtered lamb. Now we are called to follow the Lamb and give incarnation to his ways of peace. We who believe that Christ has risen have heard our Lord say, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father sent me, so I send you.’ (John 20:21)”

The question is do you believe God can do what he promised? If so, you should pursue it.