The great General
Eisenhower, having witnessed unspeakable carnage during WW2, famously said
there's no substitute for peace. Think about it. He was right. And
Ghandi's mantra, "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind," has
been proven to be tragically only too true. The art of unaccountability is
alive and well amongst those who want to drop bombs on Syria. Is Pope Francis
stepping into politics by condemning any proposed military attack on
Syria; should he not stick with religion? This sampling of comments from
people over the weekend have prompted this blog offering for what it's
worth.
Syria is the land
where the Risen Christ appeared to Paul in the suburbs of Damacus, crying
"Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" Nearly two millenia later,
Christ is still persecuted in that part of the Holy Land. Do we, his latter-day
followers, care? The television shots, the close-ups of the eyes, noses and
mouths of those who were gassed are horrendus. They surely call out to high
heaven for justice. Justice, not revenge. Revenge has never been known to
bring peace. "If you want peace, work for justice," goes an old tried
and tested saying often quoted by Paul VI.
Have we in this country
gotten ourselves into a kind of vicious circle with regard to the "enemy"
of the day? Remember when the West felt the Soviet Union would destroy us
unless we first destroyed the USSR?! Under that assumption, this country
spent untold billions that could have been spent on other things. This
encouraged them to make the same assumption about us and to spend themselves
blind as well. Are our assumptions about our current "enemies" as
wrong as their assumptions about us?
We were wrong
about the late Saddam Hussein and his supposed amassing of WMDs in Iraq.
We went in there because we had "proof." Can we possibly be
wrong about who gassed the innocents in Syria? All I hear is that we have
"proof," and "retaliation" is a must against an
alleged/supposed perpetrator. Are not our leaders skating on thin ice? And what
is the difference between retaliation and revenge? My dictionary says that
retaliation is "paying back one wrong or injury with another;" and
revenge is "to return evil for evil." Do you see any
difference? And what if our first missile should kill more than 500
innocent people, the number of his own people Assad is accused of gassing
to death?
"Violence and war
are never the way to peace," said Pope Francis on Saturday during a prayer
rally in Rome for peace in the Middle East. "War never again," was
Paul VI's message to the United Nations in October 1965, almost half a
century ago. His plea has been honored more in the breach than in the
observance. Will Francis' message go the same way?
"Do not repay
anyone evil for evil; be concerned for what is noble in the sight of all. Do
not look for revenge...." - Romans 12:17-18. And Paul continues by
saying to leave all judgment and revenge to God. Cf. also 1 Peter 3:9.
PASTOR EMERITUS
