Most people may have also head Rush Limbaugh's comment about being glad these "leftist feel-good hand-wringers" are being "shown reality." What follows are some comments by Ryan Beiler of Sojourners on the matter:
"To follow [Limbaugh's] version of the parable [of the Good Samaritan], they'd never have fallen among thieves if they hadn't been walking on the road to Jericho in the first place. His reference to reality is intriguing, coming in support of an administration now widely regarded as out of touch with the reality in Iraq. Promises that we would be greeted as liberators, that Iraq would pay for its own invasion with oil revenue, that we knew where the weapons of mass destruction were, that only a few troops would be needed - all evaporated in the face of a reality that the likes of Limbaugh can only imagine, while the men and women of the armed forces, CPT members, and the people of Iraq experience its horror on a daily basis...Tom Fox had no illusions about the dangers he would face in Iraq. 'I am to stand firm against the kidnapper as I am to stand firm against the soldier,' he wrote more than a year ago. 'Does that mean I walk into a raging battle to confront the soldiers? Does that mean I walk the streets of Baghdad with a sign saying ‘American for the Taking?' No to both counts. But if Jesus and Gandhi are right, then I am asked to risk my life, and if I lose it to be as forgiving as they were when murdered by the forces of Satan'...Far from "feel-good hand-wringers," these men knew the difference between good and evil, and that living out Christ's call is costly."May the CPT hostages' witness of costly devotion strengthen all whose seeking of peace has been filled with sacrifice, grief, or pain.
Dios de tierra y cielo, favor de dispone todas las cosas para el bien de quienes lo aman, los que han sido llamados de acuerdo con su propósito. Amen.
8 comments:
It is particularly sad that Sunni clerics in Iraq (Sunnis are the base of the insurgency, remember) are pleading for the release of the hostages because they opposed the war in the first place, while Christians in America who disagree with them politically are ready to let them be slaughtered. Which of these was a neighbor to the man in need?
It really saddens me to hear such hatred of others. I am thankful for and encouraged by these who love the shalom of Jesus so much that they give their lives for it.
"Which of these was a neighbor to the man in need?"
The one who showed mercy on him, of course.
I agree with you 100%, Anya.
Anya, saing that some Christians on the right are ready to let them be slaughtered is just false. I hope their capture will teach them a lesson about evil (as an unfortunate consequence of their capture, not as an aim of it), of which they seem to be plainly ignorant or severely misinformed, but I certainly don't want them to be killed nor do I want them harmed in any way. I want them immediately released.
Those Sunni clerics don't give a dang about the peaceful ways of the four or the four's theological or ideologicial underpinnings for opposing the war. They're only concerned about how useful the four are to their cause of eroding American support for the war effort. The four are useful idiots. Were it not for the politcal use they can get out of the captured folks, they'd be perfectly content to let 'em rot.
Dan,
No doubt the Sunni clerics have some less than pure motivations for their public statements about releasing the hostages. Granted. But I don't think comments like the ones Rush made are any more helpful.
To claim the peace-loving hostages had no understanding of evil is going a bit far. I would suggest that their understanding of evil transcends the nationalistic tendencies of many people in the US who are content to see our foreign policy actions as pure and humanitarian and reluctant to ackowledge when the current administration makes mistakes or is just plain wrong.
If they understand evil, then they severely misunderstand it. Before the war, they played the role of useful idiots to Saddam, bolstering the tyrant; tried being human shields to keep Saddam's infrastructure from being targeted; and since then have happily been the insurgency's PR arm. They seek to protect those who wish their destruction and call those who protect them their enemies.
Their understanding of evil also hasn't transcended any nationalistic concerns. It's merely the opposite of the people you mention. Instead of thinking the U.S. always does right and its opponents are wrong, they think that the U.S. always does wrong and its opponents are right. I call evil as I see it and kidnappers who saw off the heads of their prisoners fall nicely into that category.
Jesus knew who his enemies were and loved them anyway. People from CPT simply don't know who their enemies are. Those who are their enemies, they embrace out of ignorance thinking them friends. Those whom they should see as their friends, they shun as their enemies and they do not love them.
I don't know the entire history of CPT, so I can't address that part of your argument. If what you say is true, I think it is wrong for CPT to think of those in the US who support Bush's policies as enemies.
I think we agree that Saddam and the insurgents have behaved and are behaving in evil ways.
But I guess we will have to agree to disagree in a spirit of Christian love about the actions of the CPT in this particular situation.
I should have said "a Christian in America" and confined my response to Limbaugh. His comments were unmerciful and unneighborly.
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