UnWARranted?

Thanks to J.P. for sending me this article.  I've been wrestling with how best to address it for the past two days.  Rather than continue to wrestle with it alone, let's throw it out to see what others think of it.  Here are a few of my thoughts based on what the author seems to imply:

  • Patriotism is not necessarily unChristian, in a proper context
  • Christians engaged in warfare are not necessarily being unChristian - a la Augustine's City of God
  • We can - and should - acknowledge when God appears to be taking a hand in human events.  It isn't necessarily wrong to give thanks to God, and attribute to God, the success of a particular battle or nation.  All blessings come from God
  • We can - and should - be very cautious (ie. avoid it completely) talking in terms of America being a new Israel, or in some other sort of exclusive covenant relationship.  Just because God is blessing us, doesn't mean that He's on our side.  Think about the Assyrians or the Babylonians of the Old Testament
  • The fact that a Christian chaplain should exhort Christian soldiers to spread the Gospel wherever they are at is not surprising or somehow to be frowned upon.  This is the duty of Christians in every situation - always to be witnesses to Jesus Christ
  • Evangelical support for torture is both dangerous and misguided
  • How we use the term dangerous might well inform Condoleeza Rice's comments about al-Quaeda.  Not necessarily more dangerous than the Nazis in terms of how many people they've killed, but likely more dangerous in terms of how hard they will be to stop, since they're a decentralized group in terms of both where they operate and how their command structure works
  • Mr. Darling needs to read Heart of Darkness for a better understanding of Apocalypse Now
  • Mr. Darling probably needs to review a Greek lexicon, as he seems to be inferring additional meanings and nuances to the title martyr than are appropriate or accurate
Ok.  Thoughts?








Posted by Paul Nelson at 5/13/2009 9:59 AM
Categories: Citizenship, Church, Theology, Politics, History, Apologetics, Current Events
 

What did you think of this article?




Trackbacks
Trackback specific URL for this post
  • No trackbacks exist for this post.
Comments
Display comments as (Linear | Threaded)

  • 5/16/2009 7:28 PM JP wrote:
    Greetings, Paul! A couple thoughts...

    You mentioned that Christians can, and should, acknowledge when God appears to be working in the world, and that we can, therefore, thank God for success in a particular battle. I wonder if this is dangerous ground, along the same lines as saying America is the new Israel. Is it really ever wise to attribute to God a political cause or war, etc.? By doing that are we saying that God favors one nation over another? And whose definition of justice are we using when we talk about God's justice being done in a battle?

    On the flip side of that, if we want to attribute good things to God, how do we talk about bad things? We can't simply let God off the hook for all those, right? Surely he is involved in some way, as hard as that is to understand and unpack.

    I am not trying saying we cannot thank God for good things, but when it comes to politics in particular, this gets tricky and potentially dangerous. How do we define what those good things are?

    Another thought is to affirm your statement about torture. I couldn't believe his numbers (60% of Christians approve of torture)! It seems Christians love to grasp on to this "eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth" idea, coupled with exhortations in Paul to obey the government, and thus give the government carte blanche to do whatever they want. This is dangerous and it is disappointing to see among our Christian brothers and sisters.
    Reply to this
    1. 5/16/2009 8:38 PM Paul Nelson wrote:
      Christians acknowledge that God is sovereign - that nothing in the universe occurs without His knowledge and permission - whether explicitly or implicitly.  As such, for a Christian, success (or failure) in battle is attributed ultimately to God.  Not that God *necessarily* directed the outcome, but that the outcome occurred at least by God's permission.  

      As such, we will thank God for what appear to be blessings, and we will likely seek to understand those situations that appear to be non-blessings.  I don't think that it's wrong to think in this way, as long as we do so as aware as possible of our incredible short-sightedness and inability to fully distinguish the will of God beyond the explicit Word of Scripture and the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  

      The Old Testament is chock full of reminders that the events of this world can be directly attributable to God.  Now of course, the Old Testament deals primarily with God's dealings with His people Israel.  But it also deals indirectly with God's dealings with other nations.  God raised up both the Assyrians and the Babylonians as instruments of rebuke for His people Israel.  The successes those pagan leaders and nations experienced were directly attributable to God.  Likewise, the loss of Israel and Judah respectively to these respective superpowers was directly attributable to God.  So I think that we can - and probably ought - to think of God as being involved in the events of our world.  Not that the United States is the new Israel - we are not.  And not asserting that God has somehow covenanted with America (unbeknownst to us!) in a way that has committed His divine favor militarily and economically - favor which can be and perhaps is being withdrawn because of our failure to live up to the unspecified conditions of His bounty.  I don't buy that one bit.

      We know that God's ultimate desire is that all people would be saved (Ezekiel 33), and that all nations come to worship Him on His Holy Mountain (Isaiah 2).  So those events that seem to lead to these goals will be interpreted by Christians as God's blessings, while those events that seem to lead away from these events will be interpreted as God's wrath.  Whether we are blessed or suffering in any given situation, we are called to praise God.  It is not His specific blessing or cursing in any single event which determines the worthiness of God to be praised.  It is God's actions in our lives as a whole, and in our deliverance through His grace in the death & resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

      So we should praise God for the good things we experience, while at the same time we should never confuse the blessings with the blessor.  And we are called to remember that the people in Third World nations who are our brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ are called just as much as we are to praise their savior, despite the apparent lack of the blessings which we so easily take for granted.  Physical blessing or victory is not proof ultimately of God's lasting favor - as the Assyrians and the Babylonians would testify to if they could.  

      I believe the issue about torture is reflective of the legalistic streak of many Evangelical circles, and the confusion this can lead to.  I find it interesting that this issue is so divisive, whether amongst Christians, or amongst non-theistic but patriotic Americans.  Amazing what we are willing to justify, what abuses we are willing to authorize, so long as we feel we can sleep a little more securely tonight.  Amazing how much we will sacrifice for our little illusions of safety and control and normalcy.  It's that willingness to trade away our souls for the creature comforts of this world that will ultimately be the downfall of this nation.

      Reply to this
  • 5/17/2009 6:14 PM JP wrote:
    Couldn't agree more, Paul. I think one key sentences in your reply are,"I don't think that it's wrong to think in this way, as long as we do so as aware as possible of our incredible short-sightedness and inability to fully distinguish the will of God beyond the explicit Word of Scripture and the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ." Any situation in which we discern God's activity in a current event must come to grips with our limitations. We cannot go around, as you point out, proclaiming that God has done it without also acknowledging that we do not always have the complete picture. This limitation might help us think twice before attributing actions to God that are not actually his.

    I also appreciate your comment, "It is God's actions in our lives as a whole, and in our deliverance through His grace in the death & resurrection of Jesus Christ." We can never look at the single events of our lives without remembering the ultimate hope and victory that is ours in Christ.
    Reply to this
Leave a comment

Submitted comments are subject to moderation before being displayed.

 Name

 Email (will not be published)

 Website

Your comment is 0 characters limited to 3000 characters.