Thought for Today

Genesis 4:9  Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?" He said, "I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?"  

Psalm 11:5  The LORD tests the righteous and the wicked, and his soul hates the lover of violence.  

Matthew 7:13  "Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it.

Matthew 11:12  From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.  

Several recent and current events have again brought to my mind an old and even ancient question, “Is there any justification for violence, for destruction, for killing?” Although I cannot imagine God’s ever quoting from the television series The Simpsons, the implicit answer to Cain’s question in Genesis surely was “DUH!” Jesus offered a much more eloquently nuanced answer, "Luke 10:27 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself."

This past week and through the weekend, we saw the wars in Ukraine and Gaza continue. We saw Israel’s war against Hamas, Hezbollah and their sponsor, Iran, expand into drones, bombs and ballistic missile attacks. In our own country, we saw a military parade in Washington, D.C., protest parades in numerous cities across our nation (most calm, a few descending into violent confrontations), multiple politically inspired assassinations. “Is there any justification for violence, for destruction, for killing?”

Thomas Jefferson famously wrote to William S. Smith, “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” (www.monticello.org) Senator and presidential candidate Barry Goldwater famously said, “Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.” (www.brainyquote.com) I have read of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s struggles during WWII with the idea of supporting or even participating in the attempt on Adolf Hitler’s life. “Is there any justification for violence, for destruction, for killing?”

I cannot hope to fully answer the question in these few words I share here. The issue is like an onion, many layered and the peeling of which often produces copious tears and weeping. Historians and moralists can endlessly debate the issue  of whether Hitler and the Nazis could have been stopped much earlier by “preemptive strikes” long before the invasion of Poland. They can debate whether the U.S.A. could have refused to drop atomic bombs given the estimates of 1 million casualties anticipated from an invasion of the Japanese main islands. “Is there any justification for violence, for destruction, for killing?”

The psalmist wrote “43:1 Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause against an ungodly people; from those who are deceitful and unjust deliver me!” “The just war theory (Latin: bellum iustum) is a doctrine, also referred to as a tradition, of military ethics that aims to ensure that a war is morally justifiable through a series of criteria, all of which must be met for a war to be considered just. It has been studied by military leaders, theologians, ethicists and policymakers.” (en.wikipedia.org)

I must admit, the phrase “a morally justifiable war” seems to me an oxymoron. However, I was born during WWII. Would I have felt differently were I part of my parents’ generation? The words of Jefferson and Goldwater seem extreme and harsh to me, but might I feel differently had I experienced what they did?

“Is there any justification for violence, for destruction, for killing?” Sometimes? Never? Maybe? I’m not even near an onion, and yet my allergies are making my eyes water (that’s my story and I’m sticking with it!). Sometimes the issues seem obvious. Cain was wrong. The Nazis were the epitome of evil. Can anyone claim the moral high ground in the Middle East? Can anyone claim the moral high ground on the issues currently roiling our nation? “Is there any justification for violence, for destruction, for killing?”

Stay safe, pray to God for answers, trust God,

Pastor Ray