2008 Woodie Awards
Give peace a chance
Emily Holladay
Issue date: 2/27/08 Section: Opinion
Ever since I have been able to understand the meaning behind their lyrics, I have thought U2 was one of the most profound, inspirational bands of our time. Recently, one verse from the song, “Peace on Earth,” has been haunting me: “Heaven on earth, we need it now. I’m sick of all of this hanging around. I’m sick of hearing, again and again, that there’s never gonna be peace on earth.”
The first time I heard this song back in high school, I thought the band was being unreasonably radical and idealistic. The idealist in me wanted to believe peace on earth was possible, but my logical nature was inclined to believe that heaven on earth was inconceivable. After all, heaven is only a place people go after they die—it can’t be brought here.
All my life, I have heard people telling me that we are broken, that we all have a sinful nature that we can’t overcome.
Sometimes I think people spend so much time talking about our brokenness that we forget about the life and death of Jesus, and how he came to set us free from our brokenness and our sin. My pastor once said, “Jesus came to unsettle everything for us to put it back together in what looks like the kingdom of God.”
There are a lot of things wrong with this world: people are living in poverty, nations are constantly at war, innocent people are being murdered, etc. When we don’t do anything to stop this corruption, we are allowing it to continue.
As Christians, we are called to rise above our sinful nature and at least attempt to produce heaven on earth. Maybe it’s not possible to literally bring God’s kingdom to earth, but it is possible for us to help make earth a better place to live.
An anonymous source said, “Sometimes I want to ask God why he allows hunger, poverty and disease to exist in the world, but then I’m afraid he’ll ask me the same.”
As a community, we have become complacent. We have everything we need and attempt to turn a blind eye toward those who don’t.
God did not call us to a life of complacency; we have been called to action. The longer we sit around, allowing sorrows to continue, the more we contribute to the brokenness of our world.
We have so many opportunities to take a stand against the wrong in this world. Samford offers us an abundance of resources allowing us to work toward advancing the kingdom of God in Alabama and throughout the world. These resources are so easy for us to take advantage of that complacency should not be an option.
We are the rising generation. Through becoming involved and taking a stand when we see wrongs in this world, we can make a difference for generations to come.
Like Bono, I too am sick of hearing that there’s never going to be peace on earth. It is possible, and it begins with us.
The first time I heard this song back in high school, I thought the band was being unreasonably radical and idealistic. The idealist in me wanted to believe peace on earth was possible, but my logical nature was inclined to believe that heaven on earth was inconceivable. After all, heaven is only a place people go after they die—it can’t be brought here.
All my life, I have heard people telling me that we are broken, that we all have a sinful nature that we can’t overcome.
Sometimes I think people spend so much time talking about our brokenness that we forget about the life and death of Jesus, and how he came to set us free from our brokenness and our sin. My pastor once said, “Jesus came to unsettle everything for us to put it back together in what looks like the kingdom of God.”
There are a lot of things wrong with this world: people are living in poverty, nations are constantly at war, innocent people are being murdered, etc. When we don’t do anything to stop this corruption, we are allowing it to continue.
As Christians, we are called to rise above our sinful nature and at least attempt to produce heaven on earth. Maybe it’s not possible to literally bring God’s kingdom to earth, but it is possible for us to help make earth a better place to live.
An anonymous source said, “Sometimes I want to ask God why he allows hunger, poverty and disease to exist in the world, but then I’m afraid he’ll ask me the same.”
As a community, we have become complacent. We have everything we need and attempt to turn a blind eye toward those who don’t.
God did not call us to a life of complacency; we have been called to action. The longer we sit around, allowing sorrows to continue, the more we contribute to the brokenness of our world.
We have so many opportunities to take a stand against the wrong in this world. Samford offers us an abundance of resources allowing us to work toward advancing the kingdom of God in Alabama and throughout the world. These resources are so easy for us to take advantage of that complacency should not be an option.
We are the rising generation. Through becoming involved and taking a stand when we see wrongs in this world, we can make a difference for generations to come.
Like Bono, I too am sick of hearing that there’s never going to be peace on earth. It is possible, and it begins with us.
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