the Death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi
i caught a glimpse of Michael Berg's (father of Nick) reaction to the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi listed side by side with world leader's reaction on BBC news... and it stood apart:
Judaism and Islam both have the concept of an "eye for an eye" - an idea which speaks to a sense of justice - and an improvement over "many eye's for an eye". While the Christian Bible does contain many "problematic" passages (lest we get haughty) when in comes to violence (assuming for a moment we don't elevate any portion of scripture over any other portion) including the aforementioned "eye for an eye" directive and even God-sanctioned genocide - it also presents a "higher way":
my thought is this: if anyone is going to break the cycle of "justice", or is it really revenge, Christianity should be our (collective) best hope for breaking the cycle. I believe Jesus presented this as "turning the other cheek". yet - this conversation, or expectation even among christians, or from christian leadership, or from a statistically christian nation - is largely absent.
i believe there is a problem here. selah
Well, my reaction is I'm sorry whenever any human being dies. Zarqawi is a human being...i can no longer located this on BBC's website... (baaad BBC) but CNN does have a full interview with Michael Berg - which is well worth the read (and watching the vids). I see two tones ringing throughout the interview: religious and political - and they intertwine much as all conversations do elsewhere in the world. but i'd like to pull on just one thread......As long as people use violence to combat violence, we will always have violence.
Judaism and Islam both have the concept of an "eye for an eye" - an idea which speaks to a sense of justice - and an improvement over "many eye's for an eye". While the Christian Bible does contain many "problematic" passages (lest we get haughty) when in comes to violence (assuming for a moment we don't elevate any portion of scripture over any other portion) including the aforementioned "eye for an eye" directive and even God-sanctioned genocide - it also presents a "higher way":
my thought is this: if anyone is going to break the cycle of "justice", or is it really revenge, Christianity should be our (collective) best hope for breaking the cycle. I believe Jesus presented this as "turning the other cheek". yet - this conversation, or expectation even among christians, or from christian leadership, or from a statistically christian nation - is largely absent.
i believe there is a problem here. selah
The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians...pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand we are obliged to act accordingly. Take any words in the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly. My God, you will say, if I do that my whole life will be ruined. Herein lies the real place of Christian scholarship. Christian scholarship is the Church’s prodigious invention to defend itself against the Bible, to ensure that we can continue to be good Christians without the Bible coming too close.
Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855)
posted by P3T3RK3Y5 for meltingearth
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I was sitting in the Mess Hall at Camp Smith NY, on the 7th or 8th day of Air Assault School, when the LTC in charge got up and proclaimed that members of such-and-such a task force had provided laser guidance to an airstrike, the target of which was Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. As I sat there, everyone around me cheered. I didn't say much of anything...I was more stunned by the cheering than anything else. As a Cadet, I know that al-Zarqawi has caused the deaths of several cadets from previous years. Even so, I could not bring myself to cheer--even more, I was disturbed by the celebration of human death. I don't pretend to have all the answers, but it seems tragic to me whenever a human life is lost.
On a slightly different note, there is a very interesting book by a thoughtful Christian called "Just War Against Terror" , by Elshtain...it doesn't have all the answers, but it is a thoughtful critique of war against terror.
thanks for book recommendation. i've added it to my wishlist :-) the amazon reviews we're very strong.
you are in a time and place of God's choosing for God's purposes.
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