The Moral Balancing Act
Just moments ago in a comment thread I posed the following question:
Which immediately brought to mind an article I read yesterday by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, Israel: Fighting Back Like Its Namesake. The article is an analysis of Jacob; who he was in comparison to his grandfather Abraham, and why his name being changed to Israel has relevence to the conflicts Israel faces today. But not only that; Rabbi Boteach also asks whether a good man should sully himself to do right.
The book of Hebrews calls Jacob a man of faith... Despite the tarnish. For it is faith that ultimately leads a man to repentance and salvation. Hebrews 11:6 goes on to say that without faith it is impossible to please God... and yet Jacob obviously pleased God. God knows all too well what man is both confronted with in this life from other men, and what the individual man is capable of. And I have to agree with Rabbi Boteach here; God expects us to perform righteously... He expects us to do that which is good, even if we tarnish ourselves in the process. We need only look to David for confirmation. David, the apple of God's eye, a murder, and adulterer, a war-monger, desired to build God's temple, but God said his hands were too bloody. God was pleased with David... but his hands were too bloody to build His temple. So it was left to Solomon.
For those who say, we must turn the other cheek, despite the fact that our neighbors are butchers, commits a graver sin when their abstinence permits others to suffer... and die.
But Jesus said "Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake." Matthew 5:11 [emphasis mine]
Jesus goes on to say, "Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you..." Matthew 5:43-44
When He said we should turn the other cheek did he mean we are to allow evil to befall the innocent? If it is in our power to stop evil, are we to do nothing more than love and pray for them who commit evil? Or is it more, as in verse 11, a matter of why the evil-doer does what he does? Does the evil man do this because of our stance as Christians? Or merely because he desires to see someone suffer pain and death? But no, Jesus plainly said love your enemies... but is it possible to love your enemy and fight him, prayerfully-- and wishing it had not come to this --at the same time?
In the end it comes down to faith... Do we trust God enough to see us through the difficult choice of doing what must be done?
As to Rabbi Boteach's analysis of Israel's present conflict...
For myself, I have wrestled with the concept of Black & White and Shades of Gray for the better part of 30 years now-- I am constantly changing my mind. I will at one moment decide everything is black and white, then something will happen to make me question that... 'no, there are obviously shades of gray...' And like everything else, I create constructs to support what I believe--
I haven't found an answer here either. I am still high above the crowd. Still performing this balancing act, and praying to God my faith is strong... and enough. I don't hate anyone at present; I have in the past, and hope never to return to that place. Sometimes the things I say and do belie that statement-- I am after all human, and have no hope that that will ever change.
But again, I must have faith... and BE faithful.
"How do we as Christians balance doing what is right against doing what is obviously wrong?"
Which immediately brought to mind an article I read yesterday by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, Israel: Fighting Back Like Its Namesake. The article is an analysis of Jacob; who he was in comparison to his grandfather Abraham, and why his name being changed to Israel has relevence to the conflicts Israel faces today. But not only that; Rabbi Boteach also asks whether a good man should sully himself to do right.
"But the greatness of Jacob, which by far transcended that of Abraham and Isaac, was that he was the first personality in the Bible prepared to resist evil, even if it tarnished him. And by fighting evil, Jacob set a precedent that the righteous, rather than the cold and the heartless, would inherit the earth..."
The book of Hebrews calls Jacob a man of faith... Despite the tarnish. For it is faith that ultimately leads a man to repentance and salvation. Hebrews 11:6 goes on to say that without faith it is impossible to please God... and yet Jacob obviously pleased God. God knows all too well what man is both confronted with in this life from other men, and what the individual man is capable of. And I have to agree with Rabbi Boteach here; God expects us to perform righteously... He expects us to do that which is good, even if we tarnish ourselves in the process. We need only look to David for confirmation. David, the apple of God's eye, a murder, and adulterer, a war-monger, desired to build God's temple, but God said his hands were too bloody. God was pleased with David... but his hands were too bloody to build His temple. So it was left to Solomon.
For those who say, we must turn the other cheek, despite the fact that our neighbors are butchers, commits a graver sin when their abstinence permits others to suffer... and die.
"Those who, in the name of their own moral standing, retreat from the fight with evil are guilty of false piety and moral cowardice. Saving your soul while everyone else perishes is the rectitude of scoundrels."
But Jesus said "Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake." Matthew 5:11 [emphasis mine]
Jesus goes on to say, "Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you..." Matthew 5:43-44
When He said we should turn the other cheek did he mean we are to allow evil to befall the innocent? If it is in our power to stop evil, are we to do nothing more than love and pray for them who commit evil? Or is it more, as in verse 11, a matter of why the evil-doer does what he does? Does the evil man do this because of our stance as Christians? Or merely because he desires to see someone suffer pain and death? But no, Jesus plainly said love your enemies... but is it possible to love your enemy and fight him, prayerfully-- and wishing it had not come to this --at the same time?
In the end it comes down to faith... Do we trust God enough to see us through the difficult choice of doing what must be done?
As to Rabbi Boteach's analysis of Israel's present conflict...
"Throughout his existence, Jacob will struggle. He will be given a new name, "Israel," which translates as "he who wrestles with God." He will forever wrestle with his Godly spirit and human conscience. He will question himself constantly and wonder whether he is doing the right thing. He will seek to root out killers in Qana and accidentally bomb children. He will loathe his own soul that he is forced to fight inhuman criminals who launch rockets from preschools. But even then he will not give up the struggle. For he is charged with preserving life and upholding justice. He will never surrender the earth, or the Middle East, to killers and criminals. He will not retreat to the isolated life of Abraham. He is not about to move to Scandinavia."
For myself, I have wrestled with the concept of Black & White and Shades of Gray for the better part of 30 years now-- I am constantly changing my mind. I will at one moment decide everything is black and white, then something will happen to make me question that... 'no, there are obviously shades of gray...' And like everything else, I create constructs to support what I believe--
"We all cast shadows because we stand between the Darkness and the Light, and our actions determine whether our shadows are more pronounced and visible to the realm of Darkness, or that of Light."Or,
"Black is not the presence of ALL color, but rather the absense of Light. Color is meaningless to the blind, for color can only be seen in the light. White therefore is the presense of light. And as White and Light are synomymous, so too is Black the antithesis of Light."
I haven't found an answer here either. I am still high above the crowd. Still performing this balancing act, and praying to God my faith is strong... and enough. I don't hate anyone at present; I have in the past, and hope never to return to that place. Sometimes the things I say and do belie that statement-- I am after all human, and have no hope that that will ever change.
But again, I must have faith... and BE faithful.
from the mind of... Eric | 12:06 AM
17 Comments:
Nicely said, EL.
I will give account for my position. I am confident my stance for fighting islamofascism is one based on sound common-sense reasoning. Despite the fact that I am only human and have the ability to be wrong, I believe the position I hold pleases God!
Thank you for this post, Lash.
You have put into words the thoughts and feelings that I have been unable to find words to express.
One other thing...
Let us not forget that the other side in this current conflict both between Israel and Hezbollah, and between the U.S. and Islamic Terrorists everywhere has declared this a HOLY WAR.
They are calling on the power of THEIR god to overcome and defeat us.
If we believe that we worship the one true God, then we MUST oppose this enemy, to the death, for righteousness' sake.
And we must do it in God's name.
Another point that I have never heard addressed in the context of the current conflict is this:
Israel is not a Christian Nation.
To them, Jesus was simply another prophet, same as he was to the Muslims with which they fight.
Israel's God is the God of Deuteronomy, who would order his people to massacre their enemies down to the last man, woman, child, goat, sheep, and house cat, and then to give credit for their victory to HIM.
If anyone believes that the quick, easy solution to this World crisis is to call for a cease-fire, and preach peace, love, and tollerance in the name of Jesus, then I have news...
That is going to be a hard sell, to both sides.
It boils down to this...
Do you believe in the God of Israel, the Heavenly Father of Jesus?
Then oppose His enemies, until they are defeated, whatever that entails.
Do you believe that Allah is the one true god?
Then oppose HIS enemies.
But everyone will eventually have to choose a side.
God will not be denied, nor will He be ignored, no matter WHO you believe God to be.
Oh, for God's sake.
ANY God who needs puny humans to stick up from him is no god at all.
Which is why the following is utterly insane, and whatever else it is, it isn't Christian, so don't blame Jesus for it:
"If we believe that we worship the one true God, then we MUST oppose this enemy, to the death, for righteousness' sake. And we must do it in God's name."
Insane.
Jesus is very clear:
IF someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to them the other one. Sorry, dudes. That's what he says.
He doesn't say, do it and God will save you. He doesn't say, do it because if you are on the right side you will win.
He says do it, because that is my way, and if you want to follow me, then it should be your way!
And we pathetic losers look at Jesus and we read what he says, and we look around us, and we see we are surrounded by enemies -- and we defend ourselves because to do otherwise in the face of attack is suicide.
But suicide in the face of enemies is exactly what Jesus calls us to do! And it's the example he left! He loved his enemies to death -- HIS OWN.
And his call to us is to love our enemies to death -- OUR OWN.
It's crazy. It's revolutionary. It's beyond radical. Jesus is crazier'n a snake on a hot plate. NUTS.
Yet we each here profess to follow him. And we fail, utterly, miserably, horribly! So we repent -- over and over and over.
If we must defend ourselves because we are too weak to do any else -- then we should do it humbly, in trembling and in prayer -- on our knees, begging for the forgiveness that we know will come but we know we do not deserve.
OUT with bravado. Out with the insanity of thinking God needs ANY of us. Out with the blasphemy of claiming "our" God is greater than "their" God! It's blasphemous because There. Is. Only. One God.
And neither side knows him well enough to be claiming to fight "on his side."
If we who claim to follow Jesus can't see *that,* then we will never, ever stumble through the quandary that really confuses:
If one attacks us, the thing we are called to do is turn and let him attack again! We will fail, because we love ourselves.
But what under heaven do we do when one attacks one of our friends? I say we DEFEND OUR FRIEND, even as we love our enemy and *their* enemy. But certainly we are not called to turn away when a friend is attacked.
Great post at the right time!
Cap'n, your statement about "the God of Israel" is one that many people ignore--especially those Christians being duped into this non-violence baloney.
Anyone who's ever raised a child knows there is a time for negotiation and a time for action (despite the environment in which that child was reared).
In this case, we are forced to face children who have grown into adults hearing their esteemed leaders calling for the destruction of the infadel!
What's the term the elitists have given to those who are raised in environments that nurture evil?
Super-predators?
Our enemy consists of NATIONS of super-predators.
God love ya, ER! I agree!
...but... Muslims do not worship the one true God. My God... OUR God IS greater than their god.
Thanks, and welcome, MSUgal.
Daddio, You're spot on also... hence the moral quandry we all continually find ourselves in... The brain says Fight!, the heart says Fight!, the spirit says Succumb!
It often seems as though my spirit is outnumbered.
ER, Jesus also said Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's.
In modern America, "Caesar" is the Bush Administration (like it or not), and "That which is Caesar's" is the ability and responsibility to "Provide for the Common Defense", as set forth in the Constitution.
By your logic, ER, the U.S. is entirely justified in what we are doing in Iraq, since the Government of Iraq never attacked us, they were oppressing the defenseless (the Iraqi citizens.)
By your logic, we should have also already sent troops and equipment to Lebanon, to join with Israel in the fighting over there in the name of Jesus.
Our friend (Israel) was attacked (until seventy times seven) and by God, we should not turn away.
One other point.
God absolutely does not "need" puny humans to come to his defense.
He does not 'need" our tithes, our service, or our worship.
But he demands it.
Explain this one to me, ER, if you will...
Out with the blasphemy of claiming "our" God is greater than "their" God! It's blasphemous because There. Is. Only. One God.
Are you saying that you believe that "God" is "Allah" is "Buddha" is "Vishnu" is "Xenu" is my neighbor's Bass Boat?
There is only one God. I'm with you on that.
But human beings worship a wide variety of things and people that are not God.
So I guess it's blasphemous to claim that my God is THE.ONE.TRUE.GOD., but not to claim that Jesus, were He standing here,would take MY side in this discussion?
Come again?
Tug, I think an early church father said, "Render unto ceaser that which is Caeser's, yes, but not unto Tiberius." Or something like that. The idea being that all governments may be in place under God's grace, but not all governors. Caesar WAS the government. George W. Bush is NOT. Complicating matters further in this country, WE, The People, ARE the government.
Your comments about Iraq and Israel would be valid only if the U.S. was consistent. Jesus didn't say pick and choose your friends. If the U.S. would go to the rescue of every oppressed people, in other words. But it doesn't.
As for the rest, I think it's arrogant and presumptious to claim much at all about God, whose name our Jewish-spiritual ancestors dared not even utter -- other than that He loves us, and must weep when ANY of us kill any other of us. :-)
I think that we also forget that where Jesus demands personal surrender to His will and dying unto ourselves, the Bible is replete with examples of God using the military might of men to do away with those humans who have sinned in the most heinous of fashions. Think Joshua and the Battle of Jericho. Another example of God taking out evil men is Sodom and Gommorah,
Perhaps you think it is hypocrisy to fight against those who I believe are evil by God's standards. We all know that the Muslims shout "Allahu Akbar" when killing civilians, and they justify what they do in the name of Allah.
However, I think that if you listen to that small, still voice within you, you know that what they do is wrong, and what we are doing is the right thing, even if you disagree with the way we are going about it.
Would you rather live in a Christian nation, or one ruled by Sharia law? I know which I would prefer.
Also, God and Christ view me as a beloved child. I know that I screw up frequently in His eyes, but he still loves me regardless. And just as I would never want my child to continually shy away from a bully for fear of punishment from me, I have a hard time believing that God would want us to simply curl into a fetal position and let terrorists kick the crap out of us.
"It is criminal to teach a man not to defend himself when he is the constant victim of brutal attacks."
--Malcolm X
...Hardly an example of biblical virtue, but his sentiment hits the nail hard and squarely in light of this debate, and this world's current state of affairs.
I would rather live in the secular nation I DO live in. I would move out of a Christian nation, in the sense that most people these days mean it.
It's not what the U.S. is doing that galls me as much as the bravado and faux righteousness that is being attached to it.
The Bible is replete with a lot of supposed depictions of God's actions that are immoral on their face. Genocide is genocide, not matter who does it for what reason.
Whose side is God on? The BABIES. The AGED. The INNOCENTS. As well as the SINNERSD. Our FRIENDS. Our ENEMIES.
I defy anyone to dare claim God is solely on either side of any war EVER.
Ahh, but what do I know? I find myself flirting with Christian Universalism today.
Tug said:
"In modern America, "Caesar" is the Bush Administration (like it or not)"
And I find myself in agreement with ya, Tug. How 'bout that?
And, just as in Jesus' day, the empire and their war machine are an evil that Jesus and his followers are not to be a part of. Caesar may do (and usually does) many horrible things and Jesus acknowledged that's the nature of empire. But HIS followers were working on a different Kingdom, God's Kingdom.
And Jesus' kingdom works differently than Caesar's Kingdom. Sometimes, in fact, we will be diametrically opposed to Caesar's ways. So opposed, sometimes, that Caesar may find us a threat and choose to do away with us.
Church history (early church history, anabaptist history, reformer's history) has borne this truth out again and again.
Unfortunately, as Kierkegaard rightly points out, "Christianity has been made so completely devoid of character that there is really nothing to persecute. The chief trouble with Christians, therefore, is that no one wants to kill them anymore."
And so, Amen to your comment, Tug. Like it or not, Bush IS our Caesar. And we must decide, like the early church, like Jesus, which side are we on?
Of course, ER is right, as well.
There IS a difference between Caesar's empire and ours (sometimes more obvious and sometimes less): We ARE the gov't in this empire, at least in theory.
And so, because of that fundamental difference, we're faced with the responsibility of speaking an oftentimes unpopular truth. We are given the duty of sharing Jesus' good news, good news to the poor, to the oppressed, to the run-down. And good news when it comes to war - that we need not be part of the violence that is undoing us. We can be freed from the worries about our enemies, we have been given the grace, and the command, to LOVE them, not fear them.
It is NOT to say that we wouldn't stand against oppression when evil folk act badly. Yes, as Brooke pointed out, "the Bible is replete with examples of God using the military might of men to do away with those humans who have sinned in the most heinous of fashions." Joshua, David and others who were acting on God's repeated command to NOT depend upon a large army, but to depend upon God.
Likewise, we have been given commands, too, on how to overcome evil: "Love your enemies, do good to those who'd hurt you, overcome evil with good."
These are our commands (which is why you no longer see warriors in the New Testament - God taught God's followers a better way).
And so, we vote for flawed humans to represent us, who will do so in a flawed manner, and when their policies are so flawed as to be a threat to our nation, we protest them because WE are the gov't. We have a responsibility to make our voice heard.
Interesting discussion, everyone...
Finally, to just respond again to this false teaching:
"For those who say, we must turn the other cheek, despite the fact that our neighbors are butchers, commits a graver sin..."
I'll point out two things.
1. We Christians, indeed, MUST turn the other cheek or surrender the name, Christian, because that is what Christ taught. We can't reject the teaching and embrace the teacher. And we can't hardly be committing a graver sin unless you suspect the Son of God to be committing a graver sin ("How dare Jesus refuse to stand up against the Roman oppressors! Clearly the Bible teaches we must kill all such butchers!").
2. Turning the other cheek does NOT mean not standing up against "butchers." I'll agree with EL to this degree: Those who'd use Jesus' teachings as an excuse to allow oppression and killing innocent people to occur without taking any action are troubling to me ("Well, Jesus said 'love our enemies,' so I guess I've got to go along with terrorism and not do anything about it, I've got to go along with my country bombing the children in another country, and torture, and...").
We ARE to take action. But we Christians must take actions wisely, creatively and within the context of God's commands to us (Love your enemy, overcome evil with good, etc). But no one is suggesting that we not take action, so for war-supporters to suggest that those who are trying to follow Jesus' teachings are advocating allowing butchery is just an instance of bearing false witness (also a sin).
Read Walter Wink's writings about Jesus' radical Third Way (Not fight, Not flight, but standing up to evil with good.) Or John Howard Yoder's essays on Gospel non-violence. Go to the Friends (Quakers) website and read detailed plans for stopping oppression without going to war. Understand that we are not limited to either going to war (and thereby sacrificing our greater values) or "doing nothing." There ARE other options.
I DID describe it as a balancing act... Balancing the weights of human and Godly desires. And the image of a tightrope high above a watchful crowd is quite accurate. It is a narrow path we walk, and on display for all to see our successes... and failures.
Thanks for the comments, Dan
Lots of meat in this post and comments. May God bless all y'all.
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