11-23-15<\/p>\n
An ironic side-effect of the current wave of bombings and attacks against Christians by fringe-group Mohammedan jihadis is the revival of disputes between<\/span> Christians. Not Moslems vs Christians; but Christians vs Christians.<\/p>\n On the airwaves, in churches, on street corners, over dinner tables, proponents range and rage. Put aside the ancient debates about how many angels could dance on the head of a pin: I would not be surprised if even those angels are arguing as they dance on the heads of pins. <\/p>\n What would Jesus do? Should we stop the flow of refugees? Are some of them \u201crefujihadis\u201d? Should persecuted Christians from the Middle East receive preference? Are we being bigots as we express wariness of Moslems? Do we invite slaughter on our doorsteps? Isn\u2019t it about who we ARE as a people? What is wrong about wanting to preserve our inheritance and traditions? And so forth.<\/p>\n It seems certain that there is not one answer to each question. There might be no good answers. They might all have bad answers. Maybe the choices of the Christian West, speaking generically of our background and heritage, are Bad and Worse. Challenges that shift and morph are difficult to solve wisely. Enemies who declare their blood-lust hatred but refuse to expose themselves are complicated adversaries, surely. <\/p>\n Theoretical, even theological, responses, in the face of secular and Christian dissenters with whom we contend, are influenced by putting ourselves in the places of persecuted refugees (I hope none of us identifies with embedded terrorists)\u2026 or innocent potential victims. <\/p>\n There are many aphorisms in folk wisdom, which we all revere, that nevertheless contradict themselves. \u201cHe who hesitates is lost,\u201d yes; but \u201cLook before you leap.\u201d Life lessons whose wisdom, sometimes, is difficult to discern. The Bible is no different \u2013 in fact it contains the pre-eminent life lessons. <\/p>\n Yet we have Jesus adjuring uncharitable listeners with the parable of the Good Samaritan\u2026 but told His disciples to tend to the Jewish \u201clost sheep\u201d before the Samaritans. He tells us to \u201cturn the other cheeks\u201d but overturned money-changers\u2019 tables and called people \u201cfools, blind guides, hypocrites, murderers, brood of vipers, tombs with rotting corpses inside, hell’s offspring,\u201d etc. Was Jesus inconsistent? No, God cannot lie, and Bible scholarship relies on scripture confirming scripture \u2013 contexts, cases, prayerfully perceiving God\u2019s will.<\/p>\n So it is with \u201csecular\u201d issues\u2026 many of which, today, are not so secular after all.<\/p>\n In 1988 I took my family on a vacation to Europe, landing in Paris and proceeding through France to Germany. In 1988-89, the Eiffel Tower was painted a tan color that looked dull up-close, but at night, in floodlights, gave it a look of pure gold. It was for the 100th anniversary of the Eiffel Tower, built for the 1889 World\u2019s Fair.<\/p>\n One evening we took a boat ride around Paris on the Seine, watched a fireworks display, then went up the Eiffel Tower to view the city, and for a late snack. It is not a one elevator-ride express, ground level to top: there are platforms with shops and restaurants. But we decided to go all the way to the top, and then walk down the iron-rail steps a level or two.<\/p>\n My daughter Emily, who was only five, suddenly froze in fear halfway down one of the stages. It was hard to get her to move… until we suggested that we all hold hands and walk down together. Some people joined us (including an Australian couple we met again on a tour bus in Germany a week later!).<\/p>\n At one point, Emily smiled and looked up and said, \u201cIf we all hold hands, we can do ANYTHING!\u201d<\/p>\n That is true today as well. In Paris, certainly. And all over the world. And\u2026 in our own neighborhoods.<\/p>\n Before we can join hands with our enemies, even potential enemies, we must learn to join hands with one another. But does it seem, these days, that this is the more difficult challenge?<\/p>\n + + +<\/p>\n