Jumpstarter 2 of 10

Direct Answer Based on the chapter’s later focus, Dean likely had in mind Jesus’ commands about enemy-love and non-retaliation (especially the Sermon on the Mount) and the testimony of early Christian and “pilgrim” groups who practiced non-resistance. Those points would have been hard to raise because the room was emotionally and socially unified around affirming military roles as Christian-compatible, and dissent would mark him as the odd one out.

Support from Transcript:

• He says, “All through his talk I had been thinking of Scriptures and historical facts,” but couldn’t form a question in time.
• The speaker and others defended Christians in warfare; a pilot insisted Christians should have “no problems” with jobs like “dive-bombers and fighter pilots.”
• The meeting had strong social pressure: “many an ‘Amen’” and “a look came my way as if to see what I was thinking.”
• Later, Dean explicitly centers Jesus’ teaching: “words like ‘Love your enemies’?”
• He also later leans heavily on history: “the unanimous voice of the church… during her first 300 years” and multiple groups (Waldensians, Czech Brethren, Anabaptists) taking the Sermon on the Mount “literally” into non-resistance.
• His loneliness suggests the cost of speaking: “The whole experience sealed… I was alone.”