A quick note to my fellow Christians:
Since when did fear and loathing become a part of the Christian message? For many this is now the default position of all public words. The things we used to keep to ourselves we can now broadcast instantly on Facebook or Twitter or Tumblr. Maybe it's better to have kept those things to ourselves...but then again, putting them out in open demands a response.
The easy response, of course, is to blast them all to hell. It's what our base instinct tells us to do. They attack us or our friends and we want blood. We demand justice, and we certainly have the power to do something about it. The bad guys are already being bombed and hunted down around the world. Heck, as one friend said, in 1945 we nuked the Japs and we haven't had problems with them since...so why not do the same?
But remember: we do not respond as they do. Why do we find it so easy to explain away Jesus' words about turning the other cheek? Peter told his readers that we are to always regard Christ the Lord as holy, that it is a better thing to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. God spoke through the prophet Isaiah during a time of invasion and said, 'Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread.' When did we start letting the fear-mongers and the Lamech disciples tell us what it is that we need to be doing?
I don't have all the answers. Governments will do what they do, for they are earthly kingdoms that fight earthly battles. But for Christians we can never let the terrorists make us live in perpetual terror and to fight their battles for them. God has made us better than that when he transformed us and given us his Spirit and made us citizens of his Kingdom. Remember this as you speak and post.
