(Mat 5:38 NKJV) "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and
a tooth for a tooth.'
(Mat 5:39 NKJV) "But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But
whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.
(Mat 5:44 NKJV) "But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who
curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who
spitefully use you and persecute you,
(Mat 5:45 NKJV) "that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He
makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the
just and on the unjust.
A decade after 9/11, the World has become a more
dangerous place with an unending war and terrorist threats a common
danger. There's lots of pain but more grace and healing.
As Christians, we have not been very blibical nor evangelical in
our response that has all but shown hate instead of love. 9/11 shows the
unredeemed nature of our heart. It is time both Evangelical and
progressive Christians in America ask God for forgiveness and repent for
the harm caused when we took out the sword in a war path that has killed
a hundred times more than the 9/11 casualties. Is it all worth it?
There was so much pain that America had sufferred
because of 9/11. Ten years later, the pain is still there but slowly
going away with the wars and death of Osama. Should we have
handled pain differently and response instead with love, forgiveness and
grace being the core of Evangelical Christianity and of the Gospel
message.
When the planes hit the twin towers in New York, it
was evening here in Singapore/Malaysia, the CNN website giving us the
update. Soon, over flooded, the CNN web site and Yahoo news sites went
down. But the live news feed continued on the television and we saw the
collapse of the towers with shock and horror at the news of thousands
dead and the destruction caused.
In the aftermath, the Arabs were reported to be
jearing at the terrorist acts with loud shouts of celebrations shown a
few days on the CNN news feeds after 9/11. President Bush quickly
countered that the major faiths are about peace and the terrorist actions
to be attributed to a few extremists. However, it soon dawned that it
was not a small terrorist acts of a few, but the mastermind was Osama of
Al-Qaeda who was supported by Taliban which was a conservative religious
government in Afganistan. Hence, war started against the religious
state.
The Sojourners article "10 years after 9/11 -
the good and the bad" talks of the necessity to respond by love. A
picture was painted of "hateful diatribes of fundamentalist leaders in
all our religious traditions" in the US, but the reality was that the
hostility faced in the US by Muslims was far less that what Christians
had faced in Iran, Iraq, Egypt and Pakistan where many are tortured and
executed on a routine basis according to Open Doors. These common
attrocities against Christians are seldom reported in Progressive
circles.
Whilsts as Christians we should respond in
love, and not hate, Sojourners had over generalised those responsible as
9/11 as isolated extremist when strong grass roots support exists for
their actions. Religion is not necesarrily rooted love but in some major
faiths, their strict prescriptive religious laws are harsh and harmful
especially to minorities such as the gay community. Thousands of gays
for example have been executed in Iran, and other Arab countries all in
the name of religion.
Some progressives have highlighted a Pastor Terry
Jones, who burned religious text, and equate it to the Afgan mullahs!
All faith traditions have extremist they generalised, but for most
thinking Christians, burning paper could not be equated to killing
others in the name of religion or violate the sanctity and dignity of
life.
The United Methodist Bishop Will Willimon gave an
amazing insight in Christianity Today stating that “American
Christians may look back upon our response to 9/11 as our greatest
Christological defeat … when our people felt vulnerable, they reached
for the flag instead of the cross.” However, the failure in response is
not a failure in love per say but a failure in good theological
construction. 9/11 happened after the Christian Right took over the
Government, and along with it came:-
a. A Law
based Christianity based on the Old Testament. This was highlighted by
their gay bashing using OT verses to use gays as a wedge issue to stir
up Christian voting block to win the election. This resulted in an "eye
for an eye" approach where they went after the terrorist to the ends of
the earth.
b. A
Dominion type theology where Christians are to dominate over other
mountains outside the mountain of religion, hence, an attack on America
was seen as an attack on Christendom itself. The response was a
religious war, was aptly potrayed in Benny Hinn's "this is your day"
which showed the US navy going to war with fighter jets taking off the
US carriers in the background sound of "Onward Christian Soldiers". They
have gone after gays in the voting booths, limited basic gay rights and
now time to straighten out the opposition.
At the core of biblical Christianity is however a
much more pacifist tone. When the religious OT bible believing Pharisees
arrested Jesus sending a company of troopers with Judas identifying
Jesus, Peter took up the sword to defend Jesus. The disciples and their
large groups of supporters could have started a civil war and possibly
win. Yet, Jesus stopped them and declared that those who draw the sword
will ultimately die by it.
(Mat
26:52 NIV) "Put your sword back in its place," Jesus said to him, "for
all who draw the sword will die by the sword.
(Mat 26:53 NIV) Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at
once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?
There are many faiths in the world, some even
with swords in their banner, but the Christian banner is not an armoured
knight with a sword/shield of the crusades, but the Cross of Calvary. It
is Jesus dying for us for our sins, not us killing people for their
alleged sins against us. This is God's grace and mercy for which no
religion, no law based old wine skin can contain.
When we draw the sword to kill others, there will
be innocent people who suffer and die. The names of many people of faith
in the bible was never mentioned eg the good Samaritan, the woman at the
well etc, yet the "sword" incident of Jesus arrest was so profound, that
the high priest servant whose ear was cut off by Peter was mentioned in
name in John 18:10. The Servant's name was Malchus. When the innocent
suffers, God is always there and takes down their names.
When the sword is drawn, it will end with
much more bloodshed and those who draw the sword will also die by it.
And the Americans have suffered incredible "death" as a result of the
sword being drawn, many more than the 3,000 who died in 9/11. As at 05
June 2011, according to Washington Post, "Faces of the Fallen", there
were 6,026 casualties of war. The Arabs and their supporters of
Al-Qaeda also suffered when they drew the sword. Their deaths is said to
be in the hundreds of thousands in Iraq and Afganistan. The cycle of
death is never ending based on hate and revenge.
The backlash of two wars by the Bush and his
Christian Right supporters who came into power using gays as a wedge
issue was also devastating. The cost and the economic impact of the war
increased the expenditure of the military putting a large dent in the
budget. Bush won the 2004 election on the basis of his strong stance in
the war, and a shameful attempt to ellicit Christian support by banning
basic gay rights on the voting booth. Bush won and 8 years later we are
on a slippery slope of financial and military disaster.
Osama recently met his demise by the sword but the
war hasn't ended. Osama hated America for supporting Israel, and for
helping to sustain the monarchy of Saudi Arabia. It was a religious war
for the hearts and minds of Arabs to start a new religious revolution.
And for a moment, it had very strong support despite the attempts by
progressive Christians to paint him as a lone extremist. Ironically, he
may have succeeded in bringing down America financially with a grinding
war which cannot be won wihout changing the religious hearts and minds
of the local population.
The proper biblical Christian response to 9/11
should not only be about love, but a love in action personified by Jesus
Christ who would have forgiven the terrorists, and not gone to war. That
would be the greatest message of love, not to seek revenge nor justice,
but to give grace and mercy. For at the Cross of calvary, Grace and
mercy was given to us.
We cannot win a physical war, because it is a
religious battle for the hearts and minds of souls. It can only be
fought by the Good News message of the Gospel, of God's love and
redemption in Christ Jesus. It is Jesus Christ who changes us from
within when we received Him as Lord and Saviour.
Similarly, for the GLBT tribe, especially Gay
Christians, the key to church growth is not only reflective progressive
theology of loving ourselves, of how God created us wonderfully, but to
forgive, and give those who has all but destroyed our lives and limited
our basic rights, the grace of God. We have too much hate and anger, too
much bitterness of the grave harm done to us, when we should put on the
mind and heart of mercy and grace. God will do the rest in our quest for
justice, and equality.
The battle belongs to God and not to us. When
we raised the sword and fight for ourselves, we end up being no
different than those who were against us. Perhaps after 10 years of a
fight back, it is already too late to put the sword back into the sheath
for the US and for Evangelical and Progressive Christianity which the US
represents.
We pray for healing for the nations that love
prevails over hate, and religious divisions.
Verse 1
There’s a lot of pain
but a lot more healing
There’s a lot of trouble
but a lot more peace
There’s a lot of hate
but a lot more loving
There’s a lot of sin
but a lot more grace
Chorus
Oh outrageous grace
oh outrageous grace
Love unfurled by heaven’s hand
Oh outrageous grace
oh outrageous grace
Through my Jesus I can stand
Verse 2
There’s a lot of fear
but a lot more freedom
There’s a lot of darkness
but a lot more light
There’s a lot of cloud
but a lot more vision
There’s a lot of perishing
but a lot more life
Bridge
There’s an enemy
That seeks to kill what it can’t control
It twists and turns Making mountains out of molehills
But I will call on my Lord Who is worthy of praise I run to Him and I am
saved
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