September 23, 2001
Scatter thou the people that delight in war.
Psalm 68.30c
What is America going to do about the terrorists?
When President Bush addressed the nation Thursday night he ended with these words:
Freedom and fear,
justice and cruelty,
have always been at war,
and we know that God is not neutral between them.
Several questions have been disturbing my sleep (and probably yours) since September 11th:
What is a just (or righteous) war?
In the 60’s John Lennon wrote the lyrics that made patriotic souls cringe. He sang, Imagine all the people¡living life in peace
nothing to live or die for.
I was just barely old enough to be sent to Vietnam, but I never got the words of Lennon’s song.
Nothing to live for? Nothing worth dying for?
Does our contemplation of engaging in war over the recent tragedy constitute a just war? Is there something worth sending our sons (and now daughters) to die for?
If so, how should this war be conducted?
What if we lose?
(Even more perplexing, what if we win?)
I want to do (at least) two things this morning:
a. I want to answer all your questions (because then
mine would be answered as well). And
b. I really want to run home, jump in bed, pull the covers over my head, and not think about war, so it will go away for ever.
It has occurred to me that both my wishes are unrealistic.
1. I cannot answer all the questions.
(I toyed with faking it, then remembered Billy Graham’s address at the National Remembrance Day last week he said he still has unanswered questions.)
So, I decided to put my omniscience on hold.
2. Pulling the covers over my head doesn’t make anything go away. It only makes the darkness much more my reality. This thing is here, and we must deal with it!
Why? Why grapple with the ethics, the motives, the just-ness of our cause? Because we must! Because grappling with our motives, God’s law, Jesus’ compassion, and the seeming endless contradictions of war and peace is what keeps us from just striking-back in blind rage. It is what separates us from the terrorists. It¡¦s what keeps us from doing what they did, and, therefore, becoming what they are evil!
And so, let’s grapple with the questions:
What is a "just¨ war?
We look to history, and historic theological interpretation for beginning points; from the Westminster Confession of Faith we find 350 year-old reference to Christians getting involved in government, and participating in just war:
23.2 It is lawful for Christians to accept and execute the office of a magistrate, when called thereunto;
in the managing whereof, as they ought especially to maintain piety, justice, and peace, according to the wholesome laws of each commonwealth; so for that end, they may lawfully now, under the New Testament,
wage war, upon just and necessary occasion.
(Westminster Assembly of Divines, 1647 -- Many Baptist "faith statements¨ lean heavily on this.)
In the 13th century, Thomas Aquinas said, For a war to be just, three things are necessary public authority, just cause, right motive.
(Bob Phillips, Book of Great Thoughts, Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 1993, 326)
"Just war" a phrase derived from commentary on the Scripture. Aquinas used three terms,
Public Authority, or the secured good will of those governed.
Just Cause, when the provocation is clearly initiated of evil.
Right Motive, when the end, or aim of response is righteous.
In the current situation, it would appear, even at this early stage of investigating, that all three conditions exist:
The American people certainly have the will to respond; that is the consent of the governed.
The provocation was an evil attack on the unsuspecting and innocent; that is clearly evil, and..
The end, our purpose in responding, as stated by our president is to stamp out terrorism; a righteous motive.
If our government decides to lead us into a warrior response, the conditions of just cause appear validated.
The one qualifying factor is: against whom? The justness of a cause presupposes that you aim your gun at the right target. Sentiment is running sky-high to make Osama bin Laden the enemy. That may prove justified; in which case I will have no questions left concerning the justness of the cause.
Will Our Response be "Infinite Justice"?
Every thinking Christian should be conflicted in his feelings about this. As believers we know what Jesus said, Love your enemies ¡V overcome evil with good. As human beings with natural feelings, we want to scream, Love ’em? Take ’em out! Get those suckers! Make ’em all pay!
As members of a freedom-loving, justice-seeking nation, we also understand that justice, even our imperfect system of justice, requires prudence, fairness and measured responses. To act this way requires patience, forbearance, and resources of stamina and wealth.
We certainly must respond. Exactly how is the agonizing part. As much as the cause of a war-response must be just, so the conduct of the war must pass the same scrutiny. All forms of war are not acceptable. Pro’s and con’s weigh heavily:
Surgical Warfare is an option, as in the Gulf War. We suffered minimal casualties because our technology beat-up the enemy before our ground troops met them head-on.
But the term "surgical warfare" is misleading. It is cleaner for us to drop laser-guided bombs, but the so-called collateral damage, the deaths of civilians -women, children - this is not surgically-clean. It is hardly different than crashing a hi-jacked Boeing 767 into a marketplace building.
Assassination of Osama bin Laden is a pointed response. I pray that we have conclusive proof before that happens. We have a little thing in our justice system, and our collective public psyche called due process.
We could just close our borders to the world. Us four and no more is never a Christian response. It doesn’t square with how we all got here in the first place. With the exception of the native Americans, every one of you is the child of an immigrant.
It also doesn’t square with the Great Commission, which tells us to spread the Gospel, and to welcome strangers.
All-Out Conventional War is an option. We learned in Vietnam that a partial commitment will get you burned. We learned in Kuwait that if you don’t cut off the snake’s head, he’ll be back.
The question becomes, are we ready for the all-out conventional war, and all that will mean? Most of us can’t get along without air conditioning, or we go on overload if Food Lion sells out of Breyer’s Double Fudge Peanut Butter.
We don’t know much about sacrifice these days. I can talk about ground troops with the best, or assault units. But the discussion takes on a life of its own when I say, Sergeant Jason Brownworth as part of those ground troops.
Am I conflicted over what should be done? You bet!
Do I have an answer as to what should be done? Yes, emphatically so! We must pray.
We must pray that we will keep the perspective of Christian people, engaged in a just war, in a just way. Here are the perspectives I see we should keep:
Perspective #1.
Keep the High Cost of War in Your Mind
War is extremely costly. It is not only the price tag of a Cruise Missile, or a Phantom Jet. War costs life. Will Rogers once said, You can¡¦t say civilization isn;t advancing; in every war, they kill you in a new way. (Will Rogers (1879-1935) -Edythe Draper, Draper’s Book of Quotations for the Christian World Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 1992.
A 5th century philosopher had it this way: In peace sons bury fathers, but war violates the order of nature and fathers bury sons. (Herodotus (C. 484-C. 425 B.C.) , Ibid
The high cost of war is incredible. Bruce Larson, a preacher and author said, "our casualties in Vietnam were 58,000 dead, but there have been 75,000 Vietnam-veterans’ suicides since the war--more than our casualty list." (Bruce Larson, When Your Enemy Prospers, Preaching Today, Tape No. 78.)
Amid the horrors of World War I, there occurred a unique truce when, for a few hours, enemies behaved like brothers.
Christmas Eve in 1914 was all quiet on France’s Western Front, from the English Channel to the Swiss Alps. Trenches came within fifty miles of Paris. The war was only five months old, and approximately eight hundred thousand men had been wounded or killed. Every soldier wondered whether Christmas Day would bring another round of fighting and killing, but something happened:
British soldiers raised Merry Christmas signs, and soon carols were heard from German and British trenches alike.
Christmas dawned with unarmed soldiers leaving their trenches as officers of both sides tried unsuccessfully to stop their troops from meeting the enemy in the middle of no-man’s-land for songs and conversation. Exchanging small gifts--mostly sweets and cigars--they passed Christmas Day peacefully along miles of the front. At one spot, the British played soccer with the Germans, who won three to two.
In some places, the spontaneous truce continued the next day, neither side willing to fire the first shot. Finally the war resumed when fresh troops arrived, and the high command of both armies ordered that further informal understandings with the enemy would be punishable as treason.
That is a heart-warming and heart-breaking incident. Perhaps the highest cost of war is that it drives us to animal-like behavior. Keep that high cost in your mind.
Perspective #2
Keep the Higher Price of Peace in Your Heart
War is not a good option. Sometimes it is the only option. It should never be greeted warmly. The commander of our troops in Desert Storm 10 years ago was Norman Schwarzkopf. The general was interviewed by Ted Koppel, and he gave his understanding and philosophy of war: I would never want to serve under a general who enjoyed war.
(Earl Palmer, Weighing Others Heavy, Preaching Today, Tape No. 134)
Loving peace, and keeping peace are vastly different in the toll it takes on a person. Loving peace only requires thinking aright. Keeping peace has a higher price of sacrifice.
My father hid his tears when his son got on a plane bound for Southeast Asia in 1967. A year later he soaked my shoulder with tears of joy to receive me back home. Yet, there were those who did not make it back. (58,000 of them). What did their fathers think? What will I think if my son has to go to Afghanistan?
There is a high price for this peace and safety from terrorism. Is it worth it? Only if freedom and justice are more highly prized than fear and cruelty.
We would do well to listen to the voice of the prophet:
He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
Micah 6:8
Keep the high cost of war in your mind;
Keep the higher price of peace in your heart; and
Perspective #3
Keep the Only Prince of Peace on His Throne
Dr. Billy Graham spoke at the national day of remembrance last week. Listen to his remarks:
Several years ago at the National Prayer Breakfast here in Washington, Ambassador Andrew Young (who had just gone through the tragic death of his wife), closed his talk with a quote from the old hymn, How Firm a Foundation.
We all watched in horror as planes crashed into the steel and glass of the World Trade Center. Those majestic towers, built on solid foundations, were examples of the prosperity and creativity of America. When damaged, those buildings eventually plummeted to the ground, imploding in upon themselves. Yet, underneath the debris, is a foundation that was not destroyed.
Therein lies the truth of that old hymn that Andrew Young quoted, How Firm a Foundation. Yes, our nation has been attacked, buildings destroyed, lives lost. But now we have a choice: whether to implode and disintegrate emotionally and spiritually as a people and a nation -- or, whether we choose to become stronger through all of this struggle -- to rebuild on a solid foundation.
And I believe that we are in the process of starting to rebuild on that foundation. That foundation is our trust in God. That’s what this service is all about and in that faith we have the strength to endure something as difficult and horrendous as what we have experienced this week.
(National Day of Prayer and Remembrance Message;
National Cathedral Washington, D. C. Friday,
September 14, 2001)
Our days of flag-waving to display our love for America and her ways of freedom and justice will soon be over. The real sacrifices are ahead. It is never easy to sacrifice, but if you are assured of the rightness, the just-ness of the cause, then the sacrifice must be made, or we trample under the cause in cowardly excuses.
Spiritually, this has happened before. Satan, the master terrorist attacked the whole of humanity in the Garden of Eden. Sin took our spiritual freedom.
A tower of cross beams was raised on a hill called Golgotha, and the sacrifice was made. The terrorist thought he had brought down the tower to the shame of the heavenly host.
But, out of Friday night’s rubble came Easter morning’s message, as clear and strong as on the day of creation. The sacrifice is complete - don’t look for the living among the dead. The life I bring is abundant and free.
That war had the highest cost - some souls lost for
eternity.
That peace was bought with the highest price ever paid - the blood of Christ, the Lamb of God who took the sins of all man, so we might be forgiven.
That Prince of Peace now sits at the right hand of the Father - a throne like no other.
