Waiting For Sunday

I heard Tony Campolo, the well-known speaker, author, and radical Christian, speak at a conference a few years ago.  His topic was gay marriage, and he ended his talk with an appeal to support children through Compassion International.  As you can hear in this two-minute audio clip (which I’ve used at MHCC before), I felt he was speaking directly to me.

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Friends are still sending me emails that say that the death-rate of US soldiers in Iraq isn’t all that different from the murder rate in big cities like Detroit. The implication, I guess, is that people die everywhere, so why get upset over some deaths in Iraq? Or maybe the idea is that our troops are as safe in Baghdad as Detroit.

Come on! If you need to defend our Iraq activities, put some thought into it and stop sending me this nonsensical data.

First off, if ever there was an apples -to- oranges comparison, it has to be US soldiers to Detroit civilians. Put these well-trained, well-armed and (hopefully by now) well-armored men and women in Detroit and their death rate drops to zero.

CNN says that 113 American troops died in Iraq in December 2006, 102 from hostile action. For 2006, the number of American deaths was 814. If I read this chart right, the Detroit metro area suffered about 440 murders in 2005 (the most recent year of complete data), so our men and women in Iraq are dying at twice the rate of murders in Detroit (I can’t believe I’m stooping to make this point, but that was the comparison in the email).

But the real story is the CIVILIAN causalities in Iraq. Today CBS News quotes a UN report that says that nearly 35,000 Iraqi civilians were killed last year. (I presume CBS means these people were killed in war-related violence, but shoddy reporting makes it hard to say for certain). Compare that to 16,692 murders in the US in 2005 and you have a better comparison (and remember that Iraq has less than 10% of our population).

Now I’m not saying that US troops are killing all these civilians (I don’t believe that for a minute, and I am VERY pro-troops), and I’m not saying that an immediate US withdrawal would end the violence (though I think us getting out would help - four years on, I’m pretty anti-war too).

I am saying: Quit sending me emails that downplay the deaths of our soldiers and ignore the civilian causalities. When Christians forward this nonsense, we reveal how knee jerk our political views are and how little thinking we do about Jesus, violence and our faith.

In fact, don’t send me any emails that you don’t write yourself.

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Last night, Saddam Hussein was executed in Iraq. No matter how you feel about capital punishment or the war in Iraq, it’s pretty obvious that he deserved it, and not just in a “wages of sin is death” kind of way. MSNBC has posted a video which shows Saddam, on the very first day of his reign in 1979, sitting in a crowded room reading off the names of his enemies who are then snatched out of the room and taken away. Many of these “traitors” to the Baath party were shot without trial. These were but the first of his crimes as president. Even the ones for which he was convicted and hanged (the 1982 slaughter of 148 Shi’ite villagers) were but a tiny part of his infernal legacy.

Should Saddam have died? I have problems with capital punishment as it is carried out in the U. S., but those problems stem not primarily from Scripture (I understand Romans 13:1-7 to allow for capital punishment, along with Genesis 9:4-6), but from our system’s inability to reliably find the guilty person. That wasn’t an issue with Saddam to say the least.

What if Saddam had been sentenced to life in prison instead? Could this have been a tiny step toward ending the eye-for-an-eye cycle of retribution in that region? I’d like to think so. It’s just as likely, however, that his continued presence would have have been seen as 1) a horrible injustice to the tens of thousands he tortured and killed, and 2) a rallying symbol for those on all sides who desire to stoke violence.

The major news sites have all posted footage of Saddam with the noose around his neck, along with stills of his corpse. I suppose it’s just a matter of time before the moment of his death is widely available too. A friend said to me yesterday that when we finally have that video, we’ll see a lost man stepping through the gates of hell. That’s that saddest thing that can be said of anyone.

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If you’ve got some time and patience to invest, here’s an extremely enlightening article by New Testament scholar N. T. Wright called God, 9/11, the Tsunami, and the New Problem of Evil. Wright challenges prevailing views on war, God’s role in the world, and interpreting evil in light of the gospels. Well worth the time. (Thanks to David Osborn for pointing me to this article).

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For many centuries after Christ, Christian pilgrims in Europe found spiritual meaning in traveling to the Holy Land, especially to the birthplace of Christ. The rise and spread of Islam didn’t interfere with these peaceful pilgrimages. But as the year A.D. 1100 approached, things changed. Seljuk Turks, aggressive and warlike converts to Islam, seized Jerusalem from their fellow Muslims and began to take control of what had once been the eastern part of the Roman Empire. And reports reached Rome that Christian travelers to Israel were being harmed.

In this context, Pope Urban II launched what became one of the most shameful eras of Christian history – the crusades. When Urban launched the first of these “holy wars” he promised his soldiers spiritual rewards in heaven and also the temporal benefits of having more land. He said: “Enter upon the road to the Holy Sepulcher; wrest that land from the wicked race, and subject it to yourselves.” In this and the subsequent six crusades that followed, all regard for the principles of just war fell away in the name of this holy battle. Non-combatants and prisoners were tortured, raped, and their towns plundered. Jews and Christians often fell victim to the attacks by the “Christian soldiers” who sometimes cut open bodies in search of gold.

Perhaps the most awful fact about the crusades is that the name itself – “crusade” – refers to taking up the cross, after the example of Christ. What horrible blasphemy it was to use the cross as a weapon of hatred and murder.*

Now, if you were to read back through my three previous paragraphs, and you switched places between Christians and Muslims, I think you’d find an account that parallels today’s news. A holy war proclaimed by religious leaders, attacks against “infidels”, disregard for non-combatants, and promises of earthly and heavenly rewards for soldiers – it all sounds so familiar.

Here’s something else to notice: A large number of Muslims today (the majority, I think) cry out: “This isn’t Islam. My faith has been hijacked by people who know nothing about it, men who want only power. Jihad, holy war, properly refers to the war within, the war to overcome sin, not to this!”

Christians should be able to identify with this latter group. We correctly say that “crusade” or to take up one’s cross, properly refers to the process of denying self, lifting up Christ, and serving others. “The crusades weren’t Christianity,” we say. “They were a perversion of our faith, quests for riches and power.” We have tried to live down the crusades and forget them. Yet we cannot. They are part of our history. They illustrate the terrible sin we can commit when we allow our religion to draw us away from relationship with Christ. In my understanding, the crusades pointedly illustrate Jesus’ words in Matthew 7:21 – “Not everyone who says to me, `Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”

Is it fair that Christians are sometimes known only for their wars, murders, and lust for power? No. But it is understandable, given our history.

And what about us? Maybe your view of Islam is so colored by war that you can’t imagine something like Islamic Relief. IR is a charity that works to relive suffering caused by natural and man-made disasters around the world, and focuses on things like water and sanitation, orphan sponsorship, and economic development – much like World Vision, the Christian relief group to whom we recently donated more than $27,000 for water wells. Many millions in Islam find more to identify with in Islamic Relief than they find in the current popular definition of jihad.

Please do not think for a moment that I am saying that all faiths are the same, or that Islam is as valid a way to God as Christ. Our Savior claimed that no one would come to the Father except through him (John 14:6). Jesus Christ is the ONLY begotten Son of God, God’s way of reaching out to us. All other religious systems represent our futile attempt to reach Him. Christ also expressed a profound desire for every willing person to be saved, for he came to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10).

This is why the Communion Meal is so important, so special to us. At no other time in worship do we confront the sacrifice so pointedly of the one who gave himself for us. Our sins are crimson stains. History bleeds with the scarlet sin of people of all races, nations, and religions. So does the heart of every person. At the foot of the cross, the ground is level and we are equals all.

May we never miss this opportunity to lift up Christ, and only Christ, so he can draw all people to himself.

*My source for historical information: Church History in Plain Language, by Bruce L. Shelley. Word Publishing, 1982 pp. 205-06

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Mike Zukowski sent me this link to a Philip Yancey story called “Postcard from Africa” in Christianity Today. In Africa, AIDS, death, poverty and strong Christianity live with one another. My persistent thought while reading this story: African Christians will certainly lead us in the Kingdom of Heaven.

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At the Willow Creek Leadership Summit, our group got to see a short video from World Vision depicting AIDS through one woman’s eyes. I found it moving. Now I invite all of you to watch it online. You’ll need a high-speed connection and about 15 minutes.

Our church is raising money for a water well in Zambia to bring health and life (and, indirectly, fight AIDS) in one village. This video, and the passion of our youth and leaders behind the project, motivated me to get involved.

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“The greatest use of life is to spend it on something that will outlast it.” James Truslow Adams. Last week at Willow Creek’s Leadership Summit, I heard Bill Hybels interview rock superstar Bono on his faith and his passionate work against poverty and AIDS in Africa. Bono is one of the world’s most famous people, even though my Dad thinks he used to be married to Cher and many folks under 20 don’t know him as well as I expected.

Bono said in the interview that celebrity is a ridiculous thing, an exact inversion of the Bible’s principles on value. But, he says, since he HAS celebrity, he chooses to spend it on Afirca. Celebrity gets him in to see the President, Senators, UN Leaders, and other wealthy and powerful individuals who can DO something. Celebrity also connects him to the masses of us who can each do a LITTLE something that can add up to MUCH.

Bono is directly involved in the One Campaign which, among other things, calls the U. S. to use one percent of its budget for basic health, water, food and education in the world’s poorest countries. I like this idea because I read in both Testaments of the Scriptures that God takes interest in nations as well as individuals and how they do justice.

Another group I’ve been impressed with is World Vision’s One-Life Revolution, a Christian-based organization that MHCC has worked with in the 30-Hour Famine. For the past 11 months, some of our youth have been raising money to dig a well for an African village to provide clean, life-giving drinking water to the people there. The last event in this effort will be a spaghetti and salad dinner here at MHCC on Sunday night, September 10 at 5p before evening activities. Come and donate!

More importantly, find your place in Africa, South America, Asia or other parts of the global south where poverty and disease is rampant, and then read Matthew 25:31f and see where Jesus is in such circumstances. Find your place to pray about daily and where YOU can get involved.

Many of you have enough money to know that it doesn’t satisfy. So start spending it (and your life) on something that will outlast it.

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Christianity Today has posted an interview with Rod Sider, a well-known representative of the “evangelical left” and one of the founders of Christian Peacemaker Teams, the group whose members were captured and rescued (some of them) in Iraq. Sider has been around for a long time and comes at the Christians and Culture issues from a Mennonite (and therefore, pacifist) perspective. He apparently isn’t associated with CPT anymore, but shares their ideals and provides an explanation of their strengths and weaknesses in this interview.

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Jared Keller at Exultate Justi has a great post detailing his opposition to “Christian pacifism” in Iraq. Keller uses the recent rescue (by non-pacifists, naturally) of three Christian aid workers in Iraq to delve into the issue of pacifism, and he pulls in some excellent sources including C. S. Lewis and George Orwell. I invite you to read Keller’s post and maybe consider starting a thread on this topic at our discussion board.

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This week, two senators introduced legislation to create a xxx domain for porn sites (i.e., smut.xxx instead of smut.com). The idea isn’t to promote porn, but to ghetto-ize it or label it and make it easier to filter out. It might be a good idea, except that (as I understand it) pornographers won’t be required to surrender their .com domains. Also, legislation in the U. S. applies only to U. S. companies, not overseas pornographers, which is a substantial weakness since the Internet is international.

It isn’t the issue itself I’m interested in as much as the acrimonious debate about it between two parties that are on the same side. John C. Dvorak (a PC Magazine Columnist and one of my favorite tech gurus) and Concerned Women for America (an evangelical Christian activist group) both want to make it harder for kids to see porn, yet they have made themselves enemies of one another with lots of name-calling and mud-slinging in their respective columns. Dvorak likes the idea of a xxx domain (in fact, he may have been the first to suggest it, way back in the ’90s). CWA hates it, and doesn’t think much of Dvorak for liking it.

Too bad. As an evangelical myself, I wish I could call CWA to a higher standard of discourse. The bickering keeps US ghetto-ized.

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