How might a Christian apply these beliefs about justice forgiveness and reconciliation in situations of conflicts today? Refer to 2 specific situations to illustrate your answer.

Another situation that apply with Christians’ view of justice, and the biblical reference of Luke 4:16-21, where Jesus was filled with Spirit of God, being free from fear and oppression. It is relevant to the 1955- 1956 non- violent protest of the Montgomery bus boycott in Alabama, USA, led by Martin Luther King. This was the biggest non- violent protest on the issue of racism between black and white people. A black woman refused to give up a seat for a white man and was arrest for breaking the segregation laws and causing the protest to start. About 90%of black people who took the bus joined the protest and although some black people were harassed and bombs set off in leaders’ houses, the non- violent protest still continued. The result of it is that the USA Supreme Court ruled that segregation laws on the bus were illegal and injustice laws had been defeated by the non violent protest.

However, Christian may not always be able to use beliefs on justice and forgives successfully, for example, a German pastor in the 1930’s called Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a pacifist and joined a non- violent protest against Hitler and Nazism, but soon joined a group of people plotting to assassinate him. Christians use their beliefs of this to create a “just war” meaning that certain conditions must be meant in order for Christians to participate in it. These conditions include; a good cause and motive of the war, it must be the decision of the government not an individual, there must be a good chance of success, , innocent civilians must not be attacked and war must be the final resort and if its absolutely necessary. The recent use of nuclear war is against bye many people including atheists and Christians. They can cause massive destructions evidenced in the Hiroshima in Japan that killed 80,000 to 14,000 people immediately in August 1945. This is against the beliefs of justice from Christians and other religions, and so in 1995 178 nations pledged to work for total global nuclear disarmament.

In all these examples we can learn that Christians have used their beliefs on justice, forgiveness and reconciliation in conflicts and to solve them, it can be solved far more effective than using violence, but sometimes a conflict can only be solved with violence and it’s the only way the gain justice for others. Christians just need to remain faithful to those beliefs to gain a place in heaven and be good disciples to God, whether their acts of justice may or may not work.