Baby Enemies

One of the great joys of my life is getting to play with my two little girls, Hadi and Lailah. It is exciting to see them learning about their world and laughing with each other. When playing with them, I frequently end up on the floor as their daddy jungle gym, which is fine until Hadi decides to jump on my stomach without abandon (she's not quite as light as she used to be).

As I was playing with my girls yesterday, adoring their wonder and playfulness, the thought crossed my mind--this is how every human starts out their life. Now, I know that many children do not have  parents who play with them and love them or who are even present. Many children are neglected and abused. But, nonetheless, every person in the world begins life as a harmless child. Everyone who has ever lived was once a helpless blob of cuteness that had the same desires for love, affection, and play as the rest of us.

And so, as I stared into the beautiful eyes of my daughters, I realized that I could just as easily have been staring into the eyes of countless dictators, criminals, and terrorists when they were babies. No matter how "evil" a person is, there was a time when they were not unlike my own daughters.

Just take a look at these pictures.

Hitler as an infant

Kim Jong II

Jeffrey Dahmer

Charles Manson

Emperor Hirohito

Normal children, adorable faces made in the image of God. And yet, all of these children grew up to become murderers, maniacs, or dictators responsible for some of the worst evils in modern history.

This thought reminds me of two things. First, evil runs through each one of us. Just because we start off cute and harmless does not mean we will always be that way. Regardless of our beginning, we are each capable of horrible evils just as these above individuals were.

But second, as I looked at my daughters, in some small way it humanized these "villains" for me. This fact helps me to see past the atrocities and anger to begin feeling a true sadness for them. Something in their lives went horribly wrong for them to abandon their innocence and compassion. As evil as individuals like Hitler or Bin Laden were, perhaps it would do us good to remember that they were once children as well--children who played with balls, yearned for love, and giggled at the simplest surprises.

One of the toughest commands of Jesus is to "love your enemies" (Matt. 5:44). I don't know how to fully do this, particularly when it is MY enemies. However, perhaps offering love to our enemies begins with reframing their humanity. Instead of looking only upon their offenses, perhaps we look wider to see their full story. Yes, they have become monsters, but they began as infants. If we do this, maybe we can move past pure anger and into grief, and out of that grief we can learn to forgive and pray for their well-being and salvation.

So the next time you look into a child's eyes, offer a prayer for them and their family that they will stray far from evil and cling to righteousness. And when you look into that child's eyes, imagine for a moment that you are also looking into your enemy's eyes, for your enemy was once a child too.

The Coming Moral Test

The next few days and weeks will be a test for Americans, and particularly for those Americans who claim to follow Jesus. On Tuesday morning, the Senate Intelligence Committee released a 525 page summary of a much longer report on the abuses and interrogations of prisoners by the CIA. In short, the report illuminates the horrendous interrogation methods employed by the CIA. Furthermore, the report claims that the CIA misrepresented its actions and failed to glean any useful information from torturing its prisoners. You can read the executive summary here.

Even before the report was released there has been intense debate over the tactics and the release of the report. Three key areas of debate include whether releasing the report will endanger American lives overseas, whether or not the "enhanced interrogation techniques" should be considered "torture" and violated human rights treaties, and whether or not the "techniques" yielded any useful or accurate information in the war on terror.

The main "techniques" used in "enhanced interrogation" were water-boarding (near drownings), keeping prisoners naked and wet in cold cells for hours at a time, sleep deprivation (up to 180 hours), forcing prisoners to stand for hours on end, shaking prisoners violently, "wallings" (throwing them into a wall), and various slaps. The report also outlines how prisoners were threatened with a power drill,  sexually threatened with a broomstick, had their families threatened, forced to sit in ice baths, or forced to experience "rectal rehydration." Some results of these actions, according to the report, included convulsions, hallucinations, vomiting, and even death.

What grieves me as a Christian is how we as a nation seem so reluctant to admit that these types of actions are wrong. In all of the debate and discussion today, there was really no question that these events and interrogations took place. That much is certain. Rather, the debate heard on the airwaves and internet was over whether or not these actions were "legal" and whether or not they produced useful information that saved lives. For those of us who are Christians, this should deeply worry us, particularly if we claim to have any moral authority at all.

At the point where there is no longer a question over whether these interrogations took place or not, we should not even be asking whether they produced useful information in fighting terrorism. That is an irrelevant point. The ends cannot justify the means. To try and minimize the evil of what took place by saying that we gleaned information that saved lives is to walk down an immoral path blinded by pragmatism. Once we open that box, we invite in all kinds of other evils. As the people of God, we must firmly stand behind the Biblical (and, in this case, Constitutional) affirmation that all human life is valuable and carries at least a glimmer of the image of God. Therefore, all such cruelty done to others, even to our enemies in the name of "national security" is unethical and immoral.

Some might say that this is a necessary compromise in times of war (like killing innocent civilians in drone strikes), but to admit it is "compromise" or a "necessary evil" is still to admit that the action is evil and falls short of the vision for the Kingdom of God.

And so I hope that in the coming days Christians in America will rise up, denounce the torture, and say "never again!" But honestly, I'm not holding my breath. I'm not expecting that response because I also know that most American Christians are also blinded by American culture. I know that many American Christians obey the narratives and values of the empire of the USA rather than the Good News and ethics of the Kingdom of God ,to which they should be swearing their primary allegiance.

And since this is true, most American Christians will continue to value American lives as more important than the lives of others around the world. We will resist releasing all the details of the report because it might endanger "American lives." We will find nonsensical ways to justify the abuse and torture because destroying the lives of those prisoners doesn't really matter as long as we can maybe save some American lives. We will not only reject the claim of the Founding Fathers that "all men are created equal" and are "endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights," but we will also reject our Scriptures and our Savior which declare that God created humanity in His image and call us to "love our enemy."

Are we really so morally blind and bankrupt as to dance around the truth of what actually happened?

Yes, a moral test is coming, but I fear the American church will fail. Kyrie Eleison.

Scandals in the Family

In the past few days I have seen several posts on Facebook and news stories concerning the scandals and accusations surrounding Seattle pastor, Mark Driscoll. In case you missed it, a fresh round of accusations has come his way and seem to be coming to a head. Some are the same old charges of misogyny, while newer concerns have also been raised about mismanagement of church funds. The most recent revelations have led the Acts 29 network to kick Driscoll and his church, Mars Hill, out of their fellowship, Lifeway publishers to pull Driscoll's books from shelves, and church members and others to protest outside the church demanding for Driscoll's resignation.

Pastor Mark Driscoll

For a number of Christians, this news no doubt excites them. I know numerous Christians who have criticized or made fun of Driscoll because of his theological stances which they viewed to be sexist or misogynistic. I myself would tend to agree and have never been greatly impressed by Driscoll's overall demeanor. So, now that things seem to be falling apart for Driscoll and his church, it would be easy to those who have criticized Driscoll in the past to pat themselves on the back and say, "I told you so. It was just a matter of time."

But now is not the time for gloating or for seeking vindication. Rather, I think now is a time for weeping. It is becoming clearer that the ministry built by and surrounding Driscoll has not always been very ethical. In fact, this is the central reason Acts 29 gave for removing Driscoll and Mars Hill from their membership. But this is not something to celebrate.

The previous two churches I attended have experienced scandals and church splits. I can say that this is not a joyful experience. While some of us may not care for the ministry approach (or sins) of Driscoll, we cannot forget that there are many members of his church who are caught in the crossfire of these controversies. Whether their pastor resigns or simply has his credibility damaged, this congregation will suffer. And, if some of us are right in asserting that he has failed to minister in an ethical or godly way, then we should also grieve that this congregation has not been served well for years.

But even beyond grieving for this particular congregation, incidents like this should cause us to weep for the entire Church. "There is one Body." You and I are connected to Driscoll and to his ministry whether we like it or not. We serve the same Savior King. We were baptized by the same Spirit. We are part of the same Body. And so, when one minister sins, even on the other side of the country, his (or her) sin impacts us all. It damages the credibility of the Church in the eyes of the world. It hurts our brothers and sisters in Christ. And it creates a distraction from the central mission Christ has given the Church.

And so, even though I personally don't care for Driscoll, I must suppress the urge--the temptation--to gloat or celebrate. As part of the Body of Christ I need to grieve. After all, I am called to love Driscoll and his church, despite the shortcomings. So, let us grieve for this situation and seek healing and forgiveness because the love of Christ compels us to do so.

"But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it." 1 Cor. 12:24-26

The Unasked Immigration Question

Unless you've been living under a rock, you've no doubt heard the debate over immigration heat up again in the past 2 weeks. This time the catalyst has been thousands of children crossing the border into the U.S. There have been protests and fierce arguments on both sides, but overall I continue to be disappointed by the Christian response on this issue.

Christians are talking about this issue as much as other people, and yet rarely do I hear the key question Christians should be asking: "How can we LOVE these illegal immigrants?"

Oh sure, I hear plenty of raving about how we need to tighten border security or else gangs, terrorists, and chupacabras will enter our great nation and ruin us all. I hear laments about how unchecked immigration will harm our economy and take away jobs from "deserving" Americans. I hear complaints about how these immigrants benefit from our tax dollars while we only benefit from their dirty, sweaty, cheap labor.

But I don't hear much about love.

Even worse, much of what I hear is flat out racist. In reading a recent article about those protesting against admitting the illegal children, I was struck by how their comments made these children sound like objects or property rather than people. One protester complained that we have no place to "store" illegal immigrants. Apparently we don't "house" or "shelter" immigrants, we "store" them, like a can of soup.

Or take the article I read tonight where a certain commentator ranted about how "This country belongs to us; it doesn’t belong to you ["every foreigner outside this country"]. It doesn’t belong to the 7 billion other people all over the world [emphasis mine]." I read that and didn't even know what to say, although perhaps this picture begins to get at my thoughts:

In the end, I fear few Christians are approaching this issue from the perspective of their faith. I've talked about before how many Christians claim to want a "biblical worldview," but suddenly stop thinking biblically or Christianly on certain political issues. They think the Bible and/or God doesn't have much to say so they rely on purely secular or Constitutional arguments instead (gun control, anyone?). But the reality is we must train ourselves to think in a Christian way on EVERY issue. Some issues just require more thought and work than others.

Sadly, immigration appears to be one such issue. And so, I challenge Christians to at least ask one small question which will get them closer to a Christian response on immigration: "How can I/we love illegal immigrants?"

For starters, if we ask this question it should immediately eliminate any and all racist, dehumanizing, and fear-mongering language from our speech. We cannot talk about immigrants as objects or as less than human.

Second we had better make sure the policies we advocate for treat immigrants humanly and fairly as well. I am not saying we don't need better border control (in general I am in favor of better managed borders.) However, I do seriously question the way we treat illegal aliens once they have already made it through our porous border. Sometimes it seems like we are mad they outsmarted us so we go out of our way to punish them and make their lives miserable (welcome to America). I have personally seen several individuals have their families torn apart because of the way we treat illegals who have already entered our country.

At this point, some of my more conservative readers may be thinking I am just advocating a wish-washy, fluffy idea of "just love them, man." Let me assure that is not at all what I mean by "love." When I say "love" I don't have a romantic or emotional idea in mind; I have a Christian idea in mind. And the Christian picture of love is self-sacrifice. Christian love says, "I want to see the best for you even if it costs me." Christian love says, "I would rather lay down my rights for the sake of the other than selfishly fight for and demand my own rights at your expense." Of course, Christ's view of love runs directly against the line of "this country belongs to US; it doesn't belong to you!" The opposite of love is selfishness.

I don't know what all a Christ-like immigration policy might look like, but I do know this--it will cost us. If we truly say we love immigrants, it means we will think twice before denying them a better life in our country (probably the reason why your own ancestors came to this country). It means we won't just make decisions about this topic from a distance, but will hold our tongue until we've actually seen and met the people involved. We can't have an opinion on the topic and sit passively at home. It means we will take efforts to clearly communicate to these people that they are important and valuable even if we decide to send them back to their home country. And it means we recognize the only real resource we may be running short of in this country is love for others.

So if you dislike the notion of amnesty, if you want to see closed borders, fine. But do me a favor if you are a Christian--don't dehumanize, don't put your rights above theirs, and ask yourself how you will choose to directly and sacrificially love immigrants. If you can't answer this key question about how your policies, words, and actions will show love, then please don't speak at all.