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Blurring
the lines between the Church and the World October 12, 2001 the New York Times praised Mr. Bush for, "his reaffirmation of the need for humanitarian aid to the people of Afghanistan - including donations from American children - seemed heartfelt."1 Apparently Mr. Bush wants the Afghani people to be grateful and to revolt against the Taliban. The US government also wants American citizens, especially Christians, to view these food drops as another example of US concern for "civilian casualties" and there is no doubt that Christians are tempted to see these drops as a direct fruit of Mr. Bush's Christian confessions. However, the New York Times has apparently not listened closely enough to White House staff. Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld said at a news conference about the military offensive against "terrorists," "The only way to deal with it is to take the battle to where they are and to root them out and to starve them out."2 Nor do they remember the United States pressuring neighboring countries of Afghanistan to close their borders and cut off all aid (including humanitarian) to the people of Afghanistan. What concerns me most however is not the revision of history that is constantly being carried out in manners described by Orwell in 1984, but that Bush is trying to blur the distinction between the State and the Church. Or to put it more bluntly, Bush is trying to make the line between the world and the church, unrecognizable. This attempt to take Satan and dress him up in white, give him a Salvation Army cup, and clothe him in "Christian" speech can never work to make war acceptable in God's eyes or in Christian eyes. For one thing the attempts to put a Christian veneer on the military bombings is "works" centered and has nothing Christian about it. This violent war bringing misery to countless lives cannot be justified by a few good "works." Nothing man does can ever justify it in the eyes of God. All of our works are as filthy rags before God, tainted with blood. This anti-Christian attempt to justify our Christian assent to this war through "good works" just might be more disgusting than our actual killing as Christians. For at least some Christians know that war is not of God, and though they do it anyhow, do not try to sugar coat it with "good works" to put a salvific coat on the killing. Secondly Christians should not fall for this attempt to win us by these good works because they attempt to minimize the difference between the world and the church. The gospel is scandalous to the world. The gospel is a stumbling block, not a way to justify the world's actions. God revealed himself in an outlying margin of the Roman Empire and among the struggling Israelites. Jesus offered humankind a "radical vision" of forgiveness and freedom from the necessity of retribution. In this world, of domination and power, this "radical vision" is scandalous and counter to all it deems "good." A God who incarnates himself in a powerless man and dies an humiliating and dishonorable death by execution so that people are able to have abundant life is not the stuff the world's myths are made of? The God of Scriptures who accepts powerlessness and love of enemies as His way of saving is a God the world cannot accept. If the world accepts this proclamation it is no longer the world, and has moved from darkness to light. Any time the world accepts anything less than complete love for enemies, it does not have the gospel but more propaganda of the world. So to accept the current propaganda would be to inoculate the world to the true gospel and allow it to think that it is "good enough." It allows the world to think it can be saved, even in war, by "good works." Thirdly, allowing the world to blur the lines in this manner makes the world less opposed to God than it really is. It makes Christians think that the world really isn't that bad of a place. The world is not so outrageous and offensive to our ears; we can then join hands with the world with good conscious in the knowledge that the works it is doing have baptized it into the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit! But the world is an abomination before God. The world is sinful, it is violent, it is murderous. There is nothign we can do to minimize this reality. In summary we ought to oppose this propaganda attempt by the Government because 1. The
government is lying to us about their motives.
1. "Mr.
Bush's New Gravitas" http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/12/opinion/12FRI2.html
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