Posts tagged ‘Terrorism’
The Moral Imperative of Afghanistan
The scenes out of Afghanistan these past two weeks have been nothing short of horrific. Scenes of Afghan civilians clinging to the side of a C-17 as it took off from Hamid Karzai International Airport, desperate to escape the predations of the Taliban, are now seared into our collective consciousness. Stories of people hiding in the wheel wells of U.S. military planes, and then being crushed by their landing gear, are jarring reminders of just how quickly this nation is deteriorating as the U.S. ends a 20-year mission there. So many people’s lives are under threat from Taliban extremists – from U.S. citizens who have not been able to leave to Afghanis who have served, often valiantly, assisting the U.S. military. Already, there are stories of the Taliban beheading Afghanis who assisted the U.S. military and fears that the group will sexually enslave women who do not follow the organization’s strict interpretation of Sharia Law.
On October 7, 2001, the U.S. launched a military campaign against the terrorist organization Al Qaeda, which was responsible for the September 11 terrorist attacks and was assisted by the Taliban, which provided safe shelter for Al Qaeda. In the decade prior to this, the West lived largely under the philosophical influence of Post-Modernism and its smug amoralism. Universal standards of right and wrong, righteousness and wickedness were largely relegated to outdated and culturally embedded categories from a religiously superstitious era. The modern world had no need for such sanctimoniousness.
But then, planes were plowed into the tallest towers in New York City, sending them crumbling to the ground, and thousands of people lost their lives in an instant because of 19 terrorists, and the amoralism of Post-Modernism shattered. There was no way around it – what happened that day was evil. We needed the categories of morality to describe the gravity of what we all experienced that day.
In the 1964 Supreme Court case Jacobellis v. Ohio, Nico Jacobellis was charged with two counts of possessing and showing an obscene film at a theatre he managed and was ordered to pay fines according to State statutes. The Supreme Court, however, ruled that Mr. Jacobellis’ was Constitutionally protected under the First Amendment’s free speech clause. In Justice Potter Stewart’s concurrence to the ruling, he famously wrote of obscene material, “I know it when I see it, and the motion picture involved in this case is not that.” Though I may quibble over how well Justice Stewart knew obscene material when he saw it, his broader moral argument is an intriguing one. How do we know when something is obscene or not? How do we know when something is wrong or not? It is possible to make an argument that we just do. We just know it when we see it.
The apostle Paul identifies the source of this innate moral compass when he writes of people who are not believers in the true God:
When Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them. (Romans 2:14-15)
The reason we all have an innate moral compass that knows evil when it sees it is because we are hardwired that way by God.
On September 11, 2001, we saw evil – and we knew it. The question was: how would we react to the evil we saw? We chose to go after the terrorist organization that attacked us and, in the process, made many friends in Afghanistan. As we now bring our mission there to a close two decades later, we are seeing threats of evil from the Taliban and desperation among many innocent and threatened Afghanis – and we know it. The question is: how will we react to the evil that we see?
That’s a question that, politically and nationally, we have yet to figure out precisely how to answer. But it’s a question that demands an answer – for the sake of what’s right and for the sake of people’s lives.
2019: Year in Review
Credit: Ulrike Leone from Pixabay
It’s hard to believe another year has come and is now nearly gone. This year has had its share of memorable moments. There were the accelerating attacks on houses of worship – synagogues, mosques, and churches. There were the wildfires that devastated California and Hurricane Dorian that decimated the Bahamas. There was the huge controversy surrounding the Boeing 737 MAX, which experienced problems with one of its automated flight control systems, resulting in two deadly crashes. Politically, there was the impeachment of a president and the death of Elijah Cummings, a fixture in the US House of Representatives. And then, of course, in a story that will reach into 2020, there is a presidential election brewing.
It’s difficult not to experience a bit of déjà vu as I look back over this year’s big stories. Deadly rampages continue to terrorize communities and cultures. Natural disasters, a staple of creation since the introduction of sin, continue to wreak havoc across our nation and throughout the world. Businesses continue to find themselves in PR nightmares. And, our political fissures continue to widen and deepen. None of these problems were new to 2019. These were just new manifestations of old menaces.
Solomon famously wrote: “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9). This is most certainly true. But we must also remember that this is not ultimate.
The apostle Peter writes about those who, like Solomon, know that things don’t really change. But they also doubt that anything ever will change. They complain: “Everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation” (2 Peter 3:4). But Peter knows that even if the axiom “history repeats itself” is true of history, it is not true for the future, which is why Peter holds out this hope:
The day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with His promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells. (2 Peter 3:10-13)
Peter says there is a day coming when all the drudgery of this age will be overcome by the delight of the age to come.
But here’s the key: Peter says that, since we know that something better and different is on its way, we ought to “look forward” to what is to come. In Greek, the word for the phrase “look forward” is prosdokeo. Dokeo is a word that denotes “thinking,” and pros is a prefix that denotes “that which is first” or “at the head.” In other words, Peter is admonishing us to “think ahead.” Think ahead to a day when mass murders will die and natural disasters will be rendered unnatural and commerce will be consecrated and politics will care only about King Jesus. Think ahead to that day. Because it will be a supremely good day.
I’m praying for a great 2020. But I’m also hoping for a perfect eternity. I don’t know how God will answer my prayer. But I do know He will fulfill my hope. For my hope is His promise.
Sri Lanka, Persuasion, and Resurrection
Credit: Ronald Saunders / Flickr
There is this telling line that describes the way in which the apostle Paul conducted his ministry: “Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks” (Acts 18:4). Paul, when it came to sharing the gospel, sought to persuade. And, by all accounts, he was quite successful. What began a small group of hundreds of Christians in the first century now numbers 2.18 billion.
The Christian faith has always had an affinity for persuasion. There is a whole subset of Christian teaching categorized as “apologetics,” which is meant to defend the faith against those who would attack its integrity and persuade those who question its credibility. Indeed, persuasion is critical to the Christian mission. Christians are called to make winsome, reasoned, intelligible arguments as to why Jesus is the Messiah in the confidence that God’s Spirit will bring people to faith in Jesus as the Messiah.
Not everyone, however, operates in this way of persuasion.
Last Sunday, as Christians in Sri Lanka were celebrating the resurrection of Christ, a spate of coordinated, terrorist attacks were launched by nine suicide bombers at three churches and three hotels in the island nation’s capital, Colombia, killing around 250. There were warnings in the days and weeks before the attacks, which Sri Lankan officials failed to heed. One of the suicide bombers had been previously arrested, but was then released. ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attacks, although the extent to which the terror group was involved remains unclear.
Tragically, these kinds of attacks have become unsurprising. In 2017, 18,814 people were killed in terrorist attacks worldwide. This represents a whopping 27% decline in deaths from the year before. Many, many people have lost their lives in these acts of evil.
Behind terrorism lies an ideology that those who disagree with you, whether their disagreement be theological, philosophical, ideological, or political, cannot and are not to be persuaded. Instead, they are to be defeated and destroyed. This way of thinking is as horrifying as it is frightening. But it is also, ultimately, unsuccessful.
At the dawn of the third century, when Christians were being severely persecuted by the Romans, a church historian named Tertullian famously wrote to the Church’s persecutors:
Your cruelty, however exquisite, does not avail you; it is rather a temptation to us. The oftener we are mown down by you, the more in number we grow; the blood of Christians is seed.
And seed it was. When Tertullian wrote these words, there were around 19,000 Christians in Rome, about 4% of the city’s population. 50 years later, that number had grown to 78,000, around 17% of the city’s population. By the year 300, there were nearly 300,000 Christians in Rome, which constituted over 66% of the city’s population. Christians were killed. But the Christian Church could not be stopped. The persecutors’ terrorizing overtures were unsuccessful.
As it was in Tertullian’s day, so it is in our day. The threats of those who despise Christians are simply no match for the persuasive and attractive truth of Christianity. Those who lost their lives in Sri Lanka while worshipping the risen Savior on Easter are not extinguished. They are simply now waiting – waiting for the One who, on the Last Day, will call forth their bodies from their graves. To quote Tertullian once more:
The resurrection of the dead is the Christian’s trust … Life is the great antagonist of death, and will in the struggle swallow up for salvation what death, in its struggle, had swallowed up for destruction.
A terrorist may be able to take a life with a bomb, but he cannot extinguish that life for eternity. Just like some soldiers, a long time ago, were able to take a life with a cross, but they could not extinguish that life for longer than three days. Of this we are called to persuade people. Of this I am fully persuaded.
Christ is risen. And because He has risen, Sri Lankan Christians will rise. And so will we.
Terror Strikes New Zealand
Credit: RTE News
“The wages of sin is death,” the apostle Paul writes in Romans 6:23. These words were horrifyingly instantiated this past Friday when a terrorist gunman opened fire on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, killing 50. The crime was, in every way, monstrous. Minutes before he went on his rampage, he emailed top government officials a rambling and incoherent manifesto, outlining his ardent white nationalistic beliefs. He then strapped on a helmet camera so he could livestream his attack on social media. Finally, he shot many worshipers at these mosques, which included several children, at point blank range as they cowered in corners.
If anyone ever doubted the dastardly death that sin – including philosophical sin like white nationalism – can bring, now would be the time to become a true believer in the devastations of depravity.
Near the end of the book of Genesis, we read of a man named Jacob and his twelve sons, the favorite of whom is Joseph. Joseph’s brothers, Genesis 37:4 says, “hated him” because of his status as his father’s favorite son. Their hatred eventually spawned a plot among the brothers to kill their kinsman. And they would have, were it not for a last-second intercession by one of the brothers, Judah, who decided it would be more financially advantageous if, instead of killing Joseph, they sold him into slavery (Genesis 37:26-27).
Hatred is an acid that eats up the soul. This is why the Bible’s consistent and continuous call is to love – and not just to love those who are like us. The Bible’s consistent and continuous call is to love those who are very different from us and even hate us. As Jesus puts it:
Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you … If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? (Matthew 5:44, 46-47)
White nationalism explicitly tramples on Jesus’ command. It not only fails to love its enemies, it actually creates enemies where there need be none and becomes an enemy to those who do not fit its arbitrarily contrived ethnic and philosophical strictures. It trades the foundational and universal sanctity of life for a hackneyed and exclusionary solidarity of race.
Blessedly, love did manage to rise up and break through when hatred was spraying a hail of bullets into two mosques in Christchurch. 48-year-old Abdul Aziz was at the second of the mosques. He was there with his four children to pray. When the terrorist began firing in the parking lot of the mosque, rather than running away, Mr. Aziz ran into the lot with the only thing he could find – a credit card machine. After firing off many rounds, the terrorist returned to his vehicle to grab a second weapon, and Mr. Aziz hurled the credit card machine at him. The terrorist then fired off another series of rounds at Mr. Aziz, who managed to protect himself by ducking between cars. When the terrorist returned to his vehicle yet again to grab yet another weapon, Mr. Aziz found one of the guns he had dropped and, after realizing it was empty, threw it at the windshield of the terrorist’s car. The windshield shattered. The terrorist was spooked. He sped off. And many lives were saved.
Mr. Aziz explained, in an interview with The New York Times, “I was prepared to give my life to save another life.” That’s love. And it stopped hate dead when hate was trying to speed death.
Christianity teaches that there was another man – a perfect man, who was also God – who was prepared to give His life to save other lives. His name was Jesus. And He not only was prepared to die. He did die. And He not only saved lives by His death. He bought for us eternal life with His death.
“The wages of sin is death,” the apostle Paul writes in Romans 6:23. But he continues: “But the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” In Jesus’ death, love killed hate. May this be our confidence and our conviction as we mourn the tragic losses in Christchurch.
2018 in Review
Another year is drawing to a close. Here’s a look back at some of the stories that caught my attention in 2018.
January
President Trump sparks a controversy by making, behind closed doors, vulgar comments about places like Haiti and Africa, and expresses concern about accepting immigrants from nations like these. His comments are part of a long-running debate and disagreement over the kind of immigration policy this country should pursue.
February
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida is shot up by a gunman who kills 17 and wounds 14. The shooting gives rise to rallies across the country that debate the efficacy of stricter gun control policies.
March
A mystery bomber sparks terror across the city of Austin by leaving and mailing package bombs to apparently randomly selected people across the city. As law enforcement officials close in on the subject, he blows himself up, killing himself and injuring a police officer.
April
The CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, travels to Washington DC to testify before Congress and answer questions about how his company protects users’ data and what it did to stop Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
May
The nation of Ireland, which has been historically informed by Roman Catholicism in its national stances on various moral issues, votes to legalize abortion-on-demand when it votes to repeal the Eighth Amendment to its Constitution.
June
Two celebrities, Kate Spade, an iconic fashion designer, and Anthony Bourdain, a foodie and CNN adventurer, tragically take their own lives. The suicide rate across the country continues to rise.
July
Justice Anthony Kennedy announces his retirement, effective the end of the month. A so-called “swing” vote on the Supreme Court, his retirement sparks many questions and debate about who will replace him.
August
The New York Times publishes a bombshell report chronicling the abuse of over 1,000 children in the Dioceses of Pennsylvania by over 300 priests there.
September
Confirmation hearings for Judge Brett Kavanaugh, President Trump’s nominee for the man to replace Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court, explode after he is accused of sexually assaulting a woman while in high school. He is eventually confirmed.
October
In the scope of one week, a bomber sends a series of explosive packages to public detractors of the president, and a gunman, armed with an AR-15 and three rifles, walks into a synagogue in Pittsburgh on the Sabbath and kills eleven.
November
The midterm elections are held. Republicans keep and increase their lead in the Senate while Democrats flip the House of Representatives and give themselves a comfortable majority, leading many to describe the election as a “blue wave.”
December
The 41st President of the United States, George H.W. Bush, passes away. A state funeral at the National Cathedral in Washington DC is held in his honor.
Needless to say, it’s been a busy year. There were many more stories I wrote about that I didn’t include in this brief retrospective. Along with the above stories, in 2018, the famed televangelist Billy Graham died, a columnist for the Washington Post, Jamal Khashoggi, was brutally murdered, a famous evangelical pastor had to step down after accusations of sexual impropriety surfaced in the Chicago Tribune, two major hurricanes crashed into continental United States, the deadliest and most damaging wildfires ever ravaged the state of California, the Hawaiian volcano Kilaeua spewed lava and destroyed homes, the US moved its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and the stock market took us on a wild ride.
So, what can we learn from all of these stories? Here are a few thoughts.
First, there is a lot outside of us we cannot control. From volcanos that erupt to hurricanes that flood to wildfires that scorch, the year’s events remind us that, for all our technological achievements and manpower, there is plenty we cannot control. Indeed, there are many natural disasters to which we cannot even adequately respond. The limits of our power should keep us humble in the face of the cosmos. It is big. We are small.
Second, there is a lot inside of us we cannot control. Mass shootings, dangerous bombings, accusations of sexual harassment, and tragic suicides have become commonplace events. Evil is grimly efficient, it seems, at infecting and overtaking people. It is difficult to stop tragedy when it turns out that the perpetrator of the tragedy is us.
Third, all this means we need something or someone bigger than the cosmos’s brokenness and bigger than human sinfulness. We need a Crafter of the cosmos to step in and reorder what has gone wrong. We need a Helper for humanity to step in and rescue us from our willingly wicked ways. In short, we need Jesus. 2018 needed Jesus.
My guess is 2019 will need Him, too. So let’s not only hope for a good new year, let’s pray for one.
Heavenly Father, thank You for Your blessings in 2019. We ask You to guide us in righteousness in 2019 and guard us from sinfulness. Protect us from calamity, foster in us charity, and give us hearts that live in light of eternity. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
A Package Bomber and a Synagogue Shooter
Credit: Associated Press
It’s been a tragic week in our nation. And that’s putting it mildly. Beginning last Monday, a series of packages containing explosive devices began to turn up at homes, at business, and in post offices. These packages were addressed to Democratic politicians, including the Obamas and the Clintons, as well as to financier George Soros, actor Robert De Niro, and CNN. Though none of the packages detonated, they were sent by a man who was, to put it mildly, devotedly partisan in his views. He drove a van covered with bumper stickers showing Democratic politicians in crosshairs. He also posted violent and threatening rhetoric on social media.
Then, on Saturday, a gunman armed with an AR-15 and three rifles showed up at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. He shouted, “All Jews must die,” and opened fire. By the time his shots fell silent, eleven were dead and a number of others were injured. As investigators looked into this shooter’s past, he too was found to have posted violent and threatening rhetoric on social media. He was also a member of an egregiously anti-Semitic online community.
It’s no secret that we’re a nation on edge. A lot of people hate a lot of other people. This hate, in turn, when coupled with a mental health crisis that seems to be creeping across our society, erupts in violence – just as it did in the case of these two men.
At this moment, when hatred is hot, Christians must be on the frontlines advocating for love. Our culture is fighting the wrong demons. Our culture sees demons in politicians and positions it doesn’t like. It sees demons in religions and races it doesn’t like. But Scripture is clear. We are called to fight:
…not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. (Ephesians 6:12)
If we’re fighting other people, we’re doing it wrong. Our struggle is against the demons the Bible identifies as truly demonic – not against the demons created for us on social media.
In his new book, Them: Why We Hate Each Other – And How To Heal, Senator Ben Sasse offers a convicting analysis of our cultural milieu:
It seems clear that in America today, we’re facing problems that feel too big for us, so we’re lashing out at each other, often over less important matters. Many of us are using politics as a way to distract ourselves from the nagging sense that something bigger is wrong. Not many of us would honestly argue that if our “side” just had more political power, we’d be able to fix what ails us. Fortunately, we can avoid addressing the big problems as long as someone else – some nearer target – is standing in the way of our securing the political power even to try. It’s easier to shriek at people on the other side of the street. It’s comforting to be able to pin the problems on the freaks in the pink hats or the weirdos carrying the pro-life signs.
At least our contempt unites us with other Americans who think like we do.
At least we are not like them.
Senator Sasse speaks specifically to our political climate, but his words can be applied to our broader cultural problems as well. There is an attitude prevalent among many that does not want to solve problems. Instead, it only wants to grab power. There is an attitude prevalent among many that does not seek understanding. Instead, it only traffics in character assassination. And the results, even if they are, thankfully, generally not violent, are certainly not good. People begin to trade transcendent commitments for tribal grievances. They stop looking at others as people who are precious by virtue of being created in God’s image and instead see them as enemies needing to be eradicated. They make demons out of mortals.
The Psalmist describes God’s patience with the Israelites of old like this:
He was merciful; He forgave their iniquities and did not destroy them. Time after time He restrained His anger and did not stir up His full wrath. He remembered that they were but flesh, a passing breeze that does not return. (Psalm 78:38-39)
God was patient with and merciful to the Israelites because He remembered who the Israelites were – mere, fragile mortals. Their lives were so short and fragile that they were like passing breezes. God is patient with and merciful to us because He remembers who we are – mere, fragile mortals. Our lives are so short and fragile that we are like passing breezes. Perhaps we should see each other like God sees us. Perhaps we should restrain our anger and wrath like God does for us. I hope this past week has taught us at least that much.
Life’s too short to hate.
2017 in Review
2017 is officially history. And what a whirlwind of a year it was. As we gear up for what will more than likely be another fast-paced year in 2018, it is worth it to reflect on some of the biggest news stories of this past year and ask ourselves, “What lessons can we learn from what we’ve experienced?” After all, though the news cycle is continually churning out new tragedies, scandals, stresses, and messes to capture our immediate attention, the lessons we learn from these stories should linger, even if the stories themselves do not. Wisdom demands it. So, here is my year in review for 2017.
January
By far, the biggest story of January was the inauguration of Donald J. Trump into the office of President of the United States. After a campaign that was both contentious and raucous, many were on edge when he was inaugurated. As our nation increasingly fractures along partisan lines, Mr. Trump’s presidency continues to inspire both sycophantic adoration and overwrought incredulity.
February
A debate over immigration led the headlines in February as fallout over President Trump’s executive order banning immigrants from nations with known terror sympathies – including Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen – came fast and fierce. The president’s travel ban was, until very recently, the subject of endless court battles.
March
The headlines jumped across the Atlantic in March when Khalid Masood, a British-born citizen apparently inspired by online terrorist propaganda, drove an SUV into pedestrians on the Westminster Bridge, leaving four dead and forty injured. After crashing his vehicle outside Parliament, he ran, fatally stabbing a police officer before he was fatally shot by law enforcement.
April
In one of the strangest stories of the year, Vice-President Mike Pence was both criticized and, at times, even mocked for refusing to dine alone with any woman who was not his wife or one of his close relatives. Many people interpreted his boundary as needlessly prudish. Mr. Pence viewed it as a wise way to guard his integrity.
May
Another story of terror echoed through the headlines in May, this time in Manchester, England, when suicide bomber Salman Abedi detonated himself at an Ariana Grande concert leaving 22 dead and 59 wounded.
June
The terrorist attacks continued in June as seven were killed and another 48 were wounded in London when a vehicle barreled into pedestrians on London Bridge. Three attackers then emerged to go on a stabbing rampage. Also, Steve Scalise, the majority whip for the House of Representatives, was seriously wounded when 66-year-old James Hodgkinson opened fire during a congressional baseball game.
July
President Trump and Pope Francis offered to provide medical care for the family of Charlie Gard, a baby born with mitochondrial DNA depletion syndrome. A judge in the UK, where the Gard family resides, ordered that Charlie be taken off life support because he saw no hope for Charlie’s recovery, which prompted the president’s and the pope’s overtures. Charlie was eventually removed from life support and passed away.
August
James Alex Fields killed one person and injured nineteen when he plowed his Dodge Challenger into a group of counter-protesters at an event called “Unite the Right” in Charlottesville, Virginia, which was protesting a decision by the city to remove a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. Hurricane Harvey also ripped through Texas, devastating the Coastal Bend, the Houston area, and the Golden Triangle on the Texas-Louisiana border.
September
Hurricane Irma churned its way across Cuba, the Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, the Virgin Islands, Antigua, Barbuda, and, finally, Florida, leaving mass devastation in its wake.
October
The worst mass shooting in American history took place when James Paddock broke the window in his hotel suite at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas and fired onto a crowd of country concert goers below, killing 59 and injuring hundreds. In a much more heartwarming moment, the Christian Church celebrated the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation.
November
On the heels of one mass shooting came another – this time at a tiny church outside San Antonio in Sutherland Springs. 26 people were killed when a gunman opened fire on the congregants inside in the middle of a Sunday service. A sexual assault epidemic also broke wide open, as man after man – from Hollywood moguls to politicians to television news personalities – were revealed to have engaged in sexually inappropriate behavior.
December
Devastating wildfires ripped through southern California, scorching thousands of acres and forcing hundreds of thousands of residents to evacuate.
These are only a few of the stories from 2017. There are, of course, countless others that I did not mention. So, what is there to learn from all these stories?
First, when I compare this year in review with others I have written, I am struck by how, in the words of Solomon, there really is “nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9). Other years have featured other terrorist attacks, natural disasters, mass shootings, and political upheavals. Even the freshly revealed charges of sexual assault chronicle things that happened years, if not decades, ago. The news cycle seems to have a certain, sordid rhythm to it. The news may be saddening, but I’m not so sure it’s surprising.
Second, if anyone ever needed a bit of empirical verification of the biblical doctrine of human depravity, the news cycle would be a good place to find it. Both the drumbeat of dreariness in our news cycle and the fact that we, as a matter of course, are often more riveted by horrific stories than we are by uplifting ones are indications that something is seriously wrong in our world.
Finally, at the same time the news cycle testifies to human depravity, it must not be forgotten that, regardless of how bad the news cycle gets during any given year, hope seems to spring eternal for a better set of stories in the coming year. Yes, we may brace ourselves for the worst. But this cannot stop us from hoping for the best. Such a hope is a testimony to the fact that God has “set eternity in the human heart” (Ecclesiastes 3:11) – an eternity when everything that is wrong in this age will be set right in the next. We cannot help but yearn for that age to come.
So, here’s to hoping for a grand 2018. Yes, the news cycle may indeed take a turn toward the sour, but we also know that God has promised a new age to come, even if we do not yet know its day or hour.
ISIS and Sufis
Credit: Akhtar Soomro / Reuters
Because it was over the long Thanksgiving weekend, the ISIS attack on an Egyptian Sufi mosque that killed 305 people a week ago Friday received some attention, but not as much as it might have normally. But it is important. The sheer scope of the tragedy is gut-wrenching. The mass shooting at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas claimed 59 lives. The mass shooting at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs claimed 26. The attack on this mosque killed over 300. It is sobering to try to fathom.
Part of what makes this attack so disturbing is that one group of Muslims – or at least self-identified Muslims – in ISIS perpetrated this attack against another group of Muslims who are Sufi. At its heart, this attack was driven not by political or cultural differences, but by an all-out holy war. Rukmini Callimachi, in a report for The New York Times, explains:
After every attack of this nature, observers are perplexed at how a group claiming to be Islamic could kill members of its own faith. But the voluminous writings published by Islamic State and Qaeda media branches, as well as the writings of hard-liners from the Salafi sect and the Wahhabi school, make clear that these fundamentalists do not consider Sufis to be Muslims at all.
Their particular animus toward the Sufi practice involves the tradition of visiting the graves of holy figures. The act of praying to saints and worshiping at their tombs is an example of what extremists refer to as “shirk,” or polytheism.
Certainly, the veneration of the dead is a problem – not only for many Islamic systems of theology, but for orthodox Christianity as well. When the Israelites are preparing to enter the Promised Land, God warns them:
Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD; because of these same detestable practices the LORD your God will drive out those nations before you. (Deuteronomy 18:10-12)
On this, many Christians and Muslims agree: venerating the dead is not only superstitious and paganistic, it smacks of polytheism by exalting a departed soul to the position of God, or, at minimum, to a position that is god-like. Yet, one can decry the veneration of the dead without creating more dead, an understanding that many others in the Muslim world, apart from ISIS, seem to be able to maintain with ease. Theological disagreements can be occasions for robust debate, but they must never be made into excuses for bloodshed.
There are some in the Christian world, who, like Sufi Muslims, venerate those who are dead in ways that make other Christians very uncomfortable. Catholicism’s veneration of the saints, for instance, is rejected as unbiblical and spiritually dangerous by many Protestants, including me. But this does not mean that there are not many theological commitments that I don’t joyfully share with my Catholic brothers and sisters, including a creedal affirmation of Trinitarian theology as encapsulated in the ecumenical creeds of the Church. I may disagree with Catholics on many important points of doctrine, but they are still my friends in Christ whom I love.
Jesus famously challenged His hearers to “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:44). Part of what I find so compelling about Jesus’ challenge is not just its difficulty – though it is indeed very demanding to try to love someone who hates you – but its keen insight into the devastating consequences of hate. If you love your enemy, even when it’s difficult, you can most certainly love your friends, and, by God’s grace, you may even be able to make friends out of enemies when they become overwhelmed by your love. But if you hate your enemy, even your friends will eventually become your enemies, and you will hate them too. Why? Because hate inevitably begets more hate.
ISIS has made a theological system out of hate. Thus, they have no friends left to love. They only have enemies to kill, including other Muslims. Christians, however, worship a God who not only has love, but is love (1 John 4:16). For all the Sufis who are mourning, then, we offer not only our condolences, but our hearts, and we hold out the hope of the One who is not only the true God, but the one Savior, and who makes this promise: ISIS’s hate that leads to death is no match for Jesus’ love and His gift of life.
Reflections on London
As I finish my preparations for worship at Concordia tomorrow, I do so knowing that people across the world are hurting tonight as terrorists have launched an attack yet again, this time in London.
As I’ve been reflecting on another tragic night, I cannot help but hold out hope. Here’s why. Terrorists strike. They quickly detonate a bomb, or mow down people using a car. Terrorists strike. Our God, however, does something more. He abides. He abides with us to comfort us in our distress. He abides with us to dry our eyes when they are filled with tears. He abides with us to give us strength when we are weak. Terrorists strike. Our God abides.
And abiding is better.
Abiding is better because it outlasts a strike. Abiding is better because long after terrorists disappear into the shadows to plan their next sinister attack, our God remains by the sides of those who have lost loved ones. Abiding is better because long after the police clear, loved ones are laid to rest, and today’s tragic story gets coopted by the next big tragic story, our God will not forget the events of this night.
One of my favorite hymns is “Abide with Me.” Two of its verses are especially poignant to me tonight. The first of these verses is for those who are mourning losses in these attacks. The hymn reminds us of how Christ’s abiding presence can comfort us in our loss:
Come not in terrors, as the King of kings;
But kind and good, with healing in Thy wings;
Tears for all woes, a heart for every plea;
Come, Friend of sinners, and abide with me!
In a world of terror, we do not need Christ to be our terrible Judge. Instead, we need Him to be our gentle Healer. May Christ begin the healing process in all those who are grieving.
The second of the verses reminds us of the hope that we have for the lost:
I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless;
Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness:
Where is death’s sting? Where, grave, thy victory?
I triumph still if Thou abide with me.
Terrorists struck tonight. And with them, death struck. But when Christ abides with us, we triumph.
Terrorism doesn’t stand a chance.
Praying for London.
Terror in Manchester
Terror struck again, this time at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England. What began as a night of fun for fans of the pop music diva ended with 22 dead, many of them children, and 59 others wounded when a suicide bomber detonated himself in the middle of the concert arena. ISIS quickly claimed responsibility for the attack, which was carried out by 22-year-old Salman Abedi who seems to have become radicalized after travelling to Syria.
Once again, the world is left struggling with what can only be described as a senseless and ghastly act of violence. As I have after other similar attacks, I want to offer a few thoughts on how to process yet another week marred by a terrorist’s malice. Here are three things to consider.
Sin is real.
In general, we want to believe that people are good. Sure, there may an occasional evil outlier, but, overall, we like to assume that people are hardwired for goodness. The steady stream of terrorist attacks, however, indicates differently. Indeed, the tragedy in Manchester was the most widely reported terrorist attack of last week, but three additional attacks were also launched this past week – one in Egypt, another in the Philippines, and yet another in Indonesia. Heinous acts of evil are rampant. Sin is all too real.
It is true that the vast majority of people, thankfully, will never be party to a terrorist plot. Every one of us, however, will struggle with some kind of sin. Whether it be the sin of deception, or lust, or pride, or anger, none of us can escape the sirens of our sinister sides. Because we live in a broken world, we have to live with the sad fact that the sin of terrorism will continue to be “out there.” But because we ourselves are broken people, we also have to live with the sad fact that we will continue to struggle with sin in us. The apostle Paul is right when he writes, “For all have sinned” (Romans 3:23). Sin is real and is everywhere.
Righteousness is real.
We may struggle against sin, but we also yearn for righteousness. We recoil in disgust against terrorism precisely because we know it’s wicked and we yearn for what is right. But how do we know what is right and that terrorism is wrong? Paul explains that, even if we do not know God, we know what is right and wrong because God has written righteousness on our hearts: “When [people], who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts” (Romans 2:14-15). This is why, in the face of evil, we appeal to and press toward righteousness.
Justice is coming.
In his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, Martin Luther King Jr. declared, “We refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt.” At a time when racism was rampant, Dr. King believed justice would ultimately triumph. And although racism still spreads its ugly tentacles through our society, justice has been slowly but surely bludgeoning the evil of racism over the 54 years since Dr. King’s speech. What is true of racism is also true of ISIS and other organizations like it. The evil of ISIS is simply no match for the justice of God. ISIS may delight in the death of the innocent, but a day will come when “there will be no more death” (Revelation 21:4), for “death will be swallowed up in victory” (1 Corinthians 15:54) through Christ. Indeed, Christ has already defeated death by His resurrection. And because of Christ’s resurrection, those who lose their lives in Him do not lose their lives forever. Death, for them, is but a pause in the drumbeat of life. Their resurrections are soon to come when Jesus comes.
So after a week when a terrorist did his worst, we can take comfort in the biblical promise of everlasting life. To quote the poet and pastor John Donne:
One short sleep past, we wake eternally
And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.
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