I Don't Have the Answers But I'm Torn....

I’m torn because I don't believe more violence creates any form of redemption.

I’m unable to reconcile this idea in our culture that violence is evil, except in war. Then it’s good.

They attacked Paris, then again in California, so now we get to attack them back.

They are bad, we are good.

If we take a giant step back, are we not as "Radical" as we refer to "Radical Muslims"? We too have bombed their land, but claim to do it in the name of “good”, justified by retaliation! 

Radical Americans maybe?

Somehow we have to stop looking at war through our own lens. It’s simply too biased.  Don’t the ISIS fighters believe in what they are doing just as we believe in what we are doing when we retaliate. They believe they’re killing the bad guys, just as we celebrate when we find out we killed Osama Bin Laden or a drone has killed Jihadi John – the face of ISIS who has used media outlets to share his execution of hostages.

Am I the only one who has a problem with us celebrating death?

If retaliation has proven anything, it’s that it doesn’t work. Evil still exists, and just as quickly as we destroy one terrorist group, another surfaces.

But I don’t have the answers…

Because I also struggle to reconcile how we could ignore the kind of violence groups like ISIS are convinced is right and justified, and not retaliate, or at a minimum defend ourselves?

I have to ask, What would Jesus do?

Jesus seemed to challenge this idea our culture has of redemptive violence.  While hanging on the cross, He had all authority and power to call down legions of Angels to destroy those who were crucifying Him, yet the words He spoke were “Father Forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34)

When the feisty Apostle Peter defended His Rabbi, Teacher, and Messiah, by cutting of a guard’s ear (who came to arrest Jesus). Jesus didn’t thank Peter, He scolded him and miraculously restored the guard’s ear, telling Peter "Put your sword back in its place, for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.” Matthew 26:52

In the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew chapters 5-7) Jesus tells us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.  I’m not sure how loving them and praying for them turns into dropping bombs on them?

I see social media outlets joining force to pray for France and pray for San Bernardino, and I have no problem with that. However, who is praying for the ISIS fighters? Who is spending time interceding for them to have a heart change or a Damascus Road experience?  It's not as though God is unaware that this is going on or that He needs our help because He simply can't handle this.

Is it possible that if we’d follow Jesus’ instructions from Matthew 5:44, we’d see a different outcome?

Instead we pray for the innocent and ask God to give us the power and resources to kill the guilty.

But we’re all guilty; we just don’t all know it…

Grace and Peace to you all...

***I'd like to add that I respect all opinions on this very controversial issue.  I could be wrong or misguided here; heck maybe I'll read this a year from now and completely disagree with it. I do know that pictures like this break my heart. 

For now, these are my thoughts as I truly try, with all my heart, to conform to a mindset like Jesus Christ.