Here’s something crazy: This is my first blog post since April 17th! That’s over three months! You may be wondering what’s been going on in my life over these few months. Here are the highlights:
- At the end of June, I began an exciting new stage of life when I started to serve as the new Associate Minister at my home church–Town & Country Christian Church in Topeka, Kansas. After all the changes that have happened in my life over the last 10 years, I never thought I would end up right back where I started, but I am grateful for the opportunity!
- Chick-fil-A changed the type of barbecue sauce that they use. And while the new sauce isn’t bad, I would say it’s not as good as the original.
- I got engaged! I’ll be getting married this coming November. Actually, that may be the main reason I haven’t written in a while. I started this blog with the goal of using it to impress girls. Mission accomplished!
So that’s pretty much all the important stuff. Now for what I wanted to write about today:
Recently I read an interesting, yet sobering, article from CNN by Paul Cruickshank, who is described as CNN’s terrorism analyst. He writes about the recent murder of a priest in Rouen, France at the hands of two ISIS-associated killers. Cruickshank points out that the attack is yet another instance of ISIS’s specific targeting of Christians. There have been serious attacks against Christians over the past couple years in Libya, Egypt, Nigeria, and Pakistan.
The thing that stands out to me most about Cruickshank’s analysis is when he explains one of the reasons ISIS would target a priest. He writes, “The goal in going after such a provocative target? To trigger a backlash against Muslims in France and drive the country’s Muslims into the recruiting arms of the Islamic State.”
Terrorist groups like ISIS want Christians to fight back. They want retaliation, because when we seek revenge, it allows them to replenish their ranks. It feeds into their narrative that Christians (and, by extension, the entire Western world) hates Muslims.
It puts Christians in a difficult spot, because we want so badly to fight back. When we get hit the way we have, we want to hit back harder. Isn’t this the way we can provide security for ourselves and for others?
But then I am reminded of what Jesus said about how his followers are to respond to such things. He said, “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.” He said that when someone hits you, you don’t hit back. He says we should reflect the mercy of the Father (Lk. 6:27-36).
The apostle Paul echoes similar ideas in Romans 12:14-21. He writes, “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.” He goes on:
Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by doing so you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
The material in the CNN article makes sense when read alongside what we see in the New Testament. Satan wants to create violence, chaos, and hatred. ISIS and others create violence, hoping for a violent response, which allows them to continue to act violently. It creates a spiral–violence responded to with violence; hatred with hatred.
But Jesus offers another path. He shows that the answer to violence isn’t violence. That only creates more violence. Rather, the answer to violence is peace. It’s love. It’s prayer. Only this can stop the spiral. Only this disrupts the designs of the hateful.
I realize, of course, that I have not real right to even comment on issues such as this. I’m safe behind a computer in the Midwestern United States. I’m not a believer in the Middle East or in France or in one of the other places in the world where the violent threat of ISIS may be a daily reality. It’s unearned and easy for me to say what those facing persecution should do.
So all I can really do is pray–pray that the worldwide church listen and heed the teaching of Jesus. We pray that we might have the resilience and the faith to be peacemakers in the midst of a world that wants anything but peace. We pray for the courage to love those who hate us. And we pray that, by suffering, we someone comes to more fully participate in the life of Christ.
A Few Words 