It has been some time since I last blogged. A comment sometimes repeated to me in hurried conversation with SOME people who like to harass me (not think of anyone in particular...no really, not ONE).
It's about time I took this back up again. I find myself filled with thoughts about what is currently going in and wish I had a way to express myself...and then I remember...I do...that funny blog with the weird pizza on it.
Of course, getting back into an account that is years old takes some doing. But here we are...
CNN called this past week: Religion's Week from Hell. I am dumbfounded by the seeming growth of religious hate and violence - and it is not all muslim. There has been religiously instigated violence from Atheism, Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. As a pastor and as a person I can't stand violence. Please, I get squeamish at the thought of killing a mouse (spiders, on the other hand, are dealt with in Armageddon-like finality)! However, the need to kill someone whose views are different from your own leave me bereft of reason and thought. I can understand the hatred, but I cannot understand the action. Forget the moral, theological, political or social arguments, historically, this line of action is a monumental failure.
Killing someone for religious reasons in order to advance your own religion and eradicate another religion has never worked. At least, to the best of my knowledge. Martyrs become heroes and the cause gets stronger as a result. ISIS is doomed to fail with its current tactic. They now have Egypt, Lebanon, USA and Israel amongst others standing against them. It would seem more will follow.
I, also, cannot stand with those that would call for the eradication of all religious extremists. I find the call for violence against violent acts a tough pill to swallow. I am fully aware that this is a necessary step when no other course of action is left open, but it is not a good choice. In the end...we all lose! Perhaps this is what saddens me most of all - the current state of affairs from this hellish week shows only losers, no winners.
I cannot offer solutions, but I do think we have an action. God calls us to pray - pray for our enemies, pray for His intervention, pray for our own repentance and witness. I know it seems insipid and weak to talk about prayer in the midst of beheadings, shootings and slaughters, but prayer is where it begins.
Join me in prayer1
We need to pray but we also need a concerted and serious response to the exploitation and murder of innocent people by movements like this.
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