Today’s Scripture Reading (November
11, 2015): Deuteronomy 25
The Islamic
State has cheered the election of Justin Trudeau in Canada believing that it
means that Canada has been defeated and will withdraw their support to the war
against the Islamic State. Trudeau’s decision is one facet of the feeling
toward the war in Canada, but there is a depth and variety of feeling with
regard to the Mid-East conflict within the country that cannot be denied. Some just
seem to want to stick their heads in the sand and somehow believe that in our
Global Village, what happens there has nothing to do with what happens here. I
am not sure. I am a pacifist. I believe in peace, I want to know that every
alternative has been tried and every stone has been turned before war is
joined. I believe in a love that extends, not just to my Christian brothers and
sisters, but to my Jewish ones and my Muslim ones, and to the Hindu and
Buddhist and whatever other line in the sand that we can draw. But the Islamic
State bothers me. It bothers me about how they treat life, killing
irresponsibly and degrading those that they kill. Their treatment of women
seems to be a step beyond that of their other Mid-East siblings and cousins and,
at some point, it seems to me that they have crossed a line. The Islamic State
seems to revel in degrading life – every life – unless they can find a way to
make it serve there purposes. That bothers me. And I am severely disappointed
that my nation, Canada, it seems has decided to bury its head in the ground and
pretend that what happens there has no bearing on what happens here. I am not
sure it was ever that way – but it definitely is not that way now.
The Bible
majors in its opposition to degradation although we often miss it because it
isn’t always spelled out for us. The biblical stand on sexual promiscuity is
made on the grounds that it degrades the person. I am convinced that this is
the root of the Bibles opposition to homosexuality, that the practice degrades
those involved (this is an extremely complex issue, but if we don’t understand
the root cause of the Bible’s opposition to homosexuality we will not have a credible
voice with which to speak into the debate over same-sex marriage and homosexual
rights in our current society.) The idea that someone who has been emasculated
could not enter into the religious life of Israel really finds its roots again
in the idea of degrading life. Today, that is still the issue with regard to
issues like abortion. It is not that Christians oppose the women’s right to
choose, but we believe so strongly in life, both of the mother and the unborn
fetus, that we struggle understanding some of the other issues.
This is
where I get confused. I am a person of peace, but I struggle with the idea of
doing nothing in the face of degrading behavior on the part of the other. As
the church, degradation of any person is simply unacceptable behavior. Paul
told the church at Ephesus something that I think we often pay little attention
to - Do not let any
unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building
others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen
(Ephesians 4:29). As “People of the Book,” we must stand in
the face of degradation and do something to stop it. I am not sure that that
means war, but I have to admit that I sometimes fail to see any alternatives.
But we must do something – nothing is simply not a ‘Christian’ choice.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading:
Deuteronomy 26
In Canada, today is Remembrance Day,
the day that we honor the memory of those who have fought for our nation. May
we always honor their memory – for what they have done for us.
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