Some of you may have seen the headlines or the video about the four U.S. Marines who desecrated the bodies of three Taliban terrorists by urinating on them.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/checkpoint-washington/post/us-military-karzai-strongly-condemn-apparent-marine-desecration-of-taliban-corpses/2012/01/12/gIQADTmDtP_blog.html
First off, those of you reading this need to know I have a very high respect for those who serve in the military. My grandfather fought in WWII, and his respect for our nation and willingness to fight for it rubbed off on me. I never considered entering the armed forces because my grandfather strongly encouraged us to do other things. He'd seen combat. He described it as hell, and he didn't want any of his family to ever have to go through it. In a rather interesting twist, I headed in almost the exact opposite direction: clergy. "Blessed are the peacemakers..."
Which, of course brings me to my perspective based as someone who seeks to be a follower of Jesus. It would be quite easy for me to go off on these soldiers by simply offering up the words of Jesus, "Pray for your enemies and bless those who persecute you." (Matt. 5: 43-44) Indeed, these soldiers and our nation stand condemned by Jesus' words.
If we were truly seeking to follow Jesus as people and as a nation, we wouldn't be using weapons to kill one another in the first place. I believe Jesus understood that every person was and is a creation of the Father. God longs to be in a relationship with each and every human being. We sing the children's hymn, "Jesus loves the little children. All the children of the world. Red and yellow, black and white; they are precious in His sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world." News flash: He loves the adults too.
But He doesn't always like what we do. Especially when we demonize one another. Asking us to pray for our enemies makes us aware that they are human too. Asking us to pray for our enemies and bless those who persecute us makes us acknowledge that they, like us are God's creation. It's much harder to pull the trigger when you see someone as your brother or sister instead of as a faceless, nameless, somewhat less than human other.
Which brings us to the horrid reality of war. At this point, I am not speaking from experience only from what I have heard. I might be dead wrong about these next few statements. If so, please forgive me. I confess ignorance.
From what I understand, in order to engage in war, one must psychologically see the other as an enemy. One must see them as deserving death. One must see them as an unequal in order to justify killing another. Slipping into this mindset is made a whole lot easier when you see what folks like the Taliban are capable of...when you hear stories of how they treat women; when you see stories of how they desecrate things important to other cultures and other religions; when you see stories of how they execute civilians for exercising what we see as human rights and freedoms. Slipping into this mindset is also easier when those same folks are shooting at you trying to kill you, bomb you, and blow you up. This mindset soon becomes the mindset you take toward the Taliban and whoever might be related to them. And when this mindset takes over, you have no respect for your enemy.
Thus, urinating on their dead bodies. Forcing them to pose naked in prison. Cutting their heads off so the internet world can view them. Torturing them for no apparent reason, or whatever other abuse you can think of.
Unfortunately, this is the reality of war. Atrocities are committed by both sides who engage in combat. We can feign being shocked all we want. We can say those soldiers should never have done this. We can decry their actions, condemn them, court martial the soldiers or what have you.
But to yours truly, this is just a superficial show. If we really want to get pissed, instead of singling out these four soldiers, let's take a look at ourselves and our failure to live up to what is best about being human. Let's take a look in the mirror and see how we have contributed to a world that settles disputes and arguments with violence instead of negotiation. Let's take a look at how we have sought to look down upon the other instead of seeing him or her as a member of the human race who is supposed to be treated with dignity and respect.
And let's also realize there are those who don't give a darn about the above qualities. Let's realize there are those who are willing to trample over the human rights of others--who do not believe because of their faith or philosophy that individuals eve have rights. Let's realize there are others who are not of our persuasion who do not view the world as we do or view the sacredness of life as we do. Let's realize this world just ain't quite as perfect as we'd like.
And let's realize that we need to be a bit flexible. We need to remember there is a reason the word forgiveness exists. And we need to remember how much we have been forgiven. There's a reason Jesus told the following parable:
23‘For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves.24When he began the reckoning, one who owed him ten thousand talents* was brought to him;25and, as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, and payment to be made.26So the slave fell on his knees before him, saying, “Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.”27And out of pity for him, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt.28But that same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow-slaves who owed him a hundred denarii;* and seizing him by the throat, he said, “Pay what you owe.”29Then his fellow-slave fell down and pleaded with him, “Have patience with me, and I will pay you.”30But he refused; then he went and threw him into prison until he should pay the debt.31When his fellow-slaves saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place.32Then his lord summoned him and said to him, “You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me.33Should you not have had mercy on your fellow-slave, as I had mercy on you?”34And in anger his lord handed him over to be tortured until he should pay his entire debt.35So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister* from your heart.’ --Matthew 18:23-33
Before rushing to too much judgement upon these soldiers or upon our enemies, I would give a cautious reminder to heed Jesus and try to prevent yourself from becoming an unforgiving servant.
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