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October 07, 2004

Informatio: , ,

Morning questions...

American CrossA friend of mine is a nationalist. He’s not a Nationalist (i.e., affiliated with the political party), but someone who firmly believes in the sanctity/blessing of the United States and its (our) role in playing “world-redeemer.” Now, I wouldn’t say that he believes that The U.S. is “chosen” by any means (especially not like that of the Jewish race), but he does hold strong to the notion that the U.S. was chosen by God to “right” the “wrongs” of the world.

Without arguing about this point (as I do not desire to), I wanted to post a very interesting question that he had this morning — something that got me thinking, so I’m hoping it will get you thinking too. (And just to let you know, I am paraphrasing here).

His question:

Do you think that God has a different calling for governments (as a single entity) than he does for individual people?
Wow.

My first response was this:

“God didn’t call governments to do anything. He did call individuals to believe in Him and love each other. So, in an idealistic world, where the government was run by authentic Chritians, we shouldn’t even see a difference — the government would look exactly like that of an individual; they’d believe in God and love each other.”

This brought up another point from my friend:

But it’s plain that throughout the stories in the bible, God asks individuals not to kill (and to love one another) but He authorizes (even commands) the leaders of many peoples to go to battle with other nations — nations that do not follow their customs or believe in their God — therefore condoning killing.

And then, yet another aspect came up: that of the word “kill” in the sixth commandment. I use the word “kill,“because most people think of the sixth commandment as saying this:

“Thou shalt not kill.“

This is how it is written in the King James version of the bible. But, did you know that in the original Hebrew for the word “kill” is “ratsach,” which actually means “murder”?

This is how the sixth commandment is written in most modern translations of the bible:

“You shall not murder.“

This is a much more accurate translation of that commandment.

But, what’s the difference? Well, “kill” simply means, “to deprive of life.” This can refer to anything from someone’s dreams to a Thanksgiving turkey. “Murder,” on the other hand, means, “the crime of unlawfully killing a person especially with malice aforethought.” This means that though the distinction between killing and murder is quite clear, the implications on us, as individuals becomes a little foggy (e.g., self-defense is killing, but not murder, war could be killing or murder, depending on how you look at it — in fact, so could abortion really).

So, when God commands us as individuals not to murder, does that apply to us and our government? Or is war (not in relation with genocide) just “killing,” and not “murder”? And because of this distinction, does God, in fact have different expectations for us, as individuals, than He does for the government, as a single entity?

Then, if God does expect nations/governments (not just the Unites States, but every nation/government) to act as “world-redeemers” when they see oppression or injustice, was the United States, in fact, “right” to declare war on Iraq?

The frustrating part about all of this is that the questions will always be better than the answers. You may or may not know my views about the current war… I don’t like it. I wish it were over. I wish it never began. But, because of my friend’s question this morning, I am not going to assume that I know what God wants and expects of my country. I can still object to my country’s decisions — I can even object to God’s decisions — but one thing is for sure: I definitely don’t know more than God, or even my government.

Posted at 10:35 am

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Comments (4):
the first thing i would say is that your friend would benefit greatly from reading howard zinn’s “a people’s history of the united states”. i think deep down, we’ve all felt that our country “get’s it” more than others do, it’s commonly masked with patriotism or being a “proud american”. i would venture to say that that attitude has done nothing but cause alienation and negative tension with the other nations who we share this earth with.


secondly, i think the Pharisees felt the exact same way your friend does. Jesus constantly tried to teach them there is a “bigger” issue at hand. we are called to enter into the kingdom of God, that is where we can truly work and move with the holy spirit to project the peace and love of the gospels. it’s tough…..george bush, dick cheney, donald rumsfeld or…....the holy spirit.


thirdly, if we are to follow in the dust of our rabbi, Jesus Christ, we are to do as he did. nowhere in scripture does Jesus say war is ok, or it’s ok to use violent force to harm others to persuade others into doing what’s “right” but rather he shows them through his own actions. our nation should not be in the business of forcing others into being “right”. we should SHOW them, and i think we could start showing them by NOT dropping bombs.

zach () (URL) - October 07, 2004 at 7:18 pm

Zack ~ I’d normally tend to side with you on every point, but, for the sake of argument… No, Jesus didn’t say anything about war/violence being ok but what, actually, did he say about government? Not much. In fact, the only thing I can think of is that we should render to Caeser what is Caeser’s, right? So, yes, we render to Jesus what is his (our lives), but maybe (just maybe) the government has other “instructions”? Just a question.

timsamoff () (URL) - October 07, 2004 at 7:27 pm

i understand what you are saying tim, but what are those intructions? i read instructions from the sermon on the mount and the living example of how Jesus responded to those who brutally murdered him, they are undeniable. they project truths that we cannot sit back and ignore. we have let nationalistic/capatilaistic ideals seep into the gospel and it clouds our eyes. how are we to read the parable of the rich young ruler and feel we are “right” and that we “get it” but others don’t. i love that Jesus cuts to the heart of what our priorities should be, and the government and it’s policies werent really on the radar when Jesus chose to speak about how we live in this world. i need to follow that example much more closely as i tend to get entirely too wound up in worrying about how totally screwed up it is how my government representatives represent me. i need to stop obsessing about their wrongs (but still recognize and confront injustice) and focus on my journey to seek the life that Jesus would love for me to have. if anything else, your entry has confronted me with this and i feel i am the better for it.

Zach Lind () - October 07, 2004 at 8:48 pm

I like how you’re thinking, Zack… And I believe similarly. But how are we to live out Jesus’ sermon when we are (in all reality) so disjointed from the history of Jesus’ culture?


This brings me to another thing that we spoke about this morning when this question came up.


From me:
“Could it be that believers who grow up in the Middle East/Asia Minor have a stronger connection with their purpose and “destiny”? They have this book (the bible) that tells them all about their past and their people. They have a document of their history and their lineage. And because of this, they can read about the learning process of their ancestors in the same exact land they are living in.


“And here we are in the United States. We have no past but that which we inherited when we became believers. The bible doesn’t speak about our own land, but someone else’s. How are we supposed to apply all of this history to our own lives?”


We talked about how Western believers are like step-children; how we never quite belong and never quite fit in. This is how I feel sometimes when reading scripture (not all the time, sometimes). And here we (the U.S.) are taking this air of superiority (moralistically speaking) in the world. That’s definitely not right.


But what is right? The way Middle Eastern governments are run? It seems like they would have a better grasp on how God would like their countries to exist, right? But that just doesn’t seem to be the case.


So, are we — who supposedly have this “better” way of life — responsible for “helping” others to lead abundant lives? (As I know our president would have us believe we have because our country so righteous!)


Probably not. And it’s frustrating to watch. And I wonder why it’s happening — which makes my friend’s original question all the more intriguing.

timsamoff () (URL) - October 07, 2004 at 9:20 pm

  
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