Sometimes, I wonder what Jesus must be thinking of people blatantly misusing His name and perverting the scriptures to suit their objectives. And at other times, I wonder if these people truly believe what they are saying.
I remember when George Bush Jr. launched the war against Iraq. He opened the Koran and read a verse from it, something to the effect of, “evil to the extreme will be the reward of those who reject good.” And at that point, I thought to myself, how much of a hypocrite can a man be? If you say you are a Christian, then you unconditionally accept the Bible as the only inspired word of God. And if you call yourself a Christian, there is no condition under which you can hold the Koran as a source of truth.
So if you think the Koran is a false book, why do you use it as though it were a source of truth: quoting a verse from it to justify your war? No. He was doing that to win the favor of the gullible Muslim faction in Iraq whom he was training and supplying with weapons to help win the war in Iraq. But was the war in Iraq ever won? That’s a whole other long story.
The other day, I saw a beautifully disturbing video on Facebook. The video showed young marines of the US military singing gospel songs before going off to war in the Middle East. While I applaud the worship session, and my heart goes out to these young boys and girls who were being harnessed, it made me think about the conflict of interest which is found between war and religion. For some religions, war may be justifiable, but for Christianity, there is no words from Jesus‘ mouth which leaves margin for that error.
Let’s take a look at some of the things that Jesus said as it relates to war and aggression:
- If a man slaps you on the right cheek, give him the left also.
- If someone takes away your coat, give him your cloak also.
- If someone asks you to go one mile, go two.
- Sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you shall have treasures and heaven.
- The meek shall inherit the earth.
- Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.
America has called itself a Christian nation. Indeed, it was founded on Christian principles. Nevertheless, the pioneers have always found convenient verses in the bible to justify their hatred for and attack on other peoples, and even their own.
It is men and women of this same caliber who used the bible to justify slavery until karma bitch-slapped them with the Civil War.
Let’s close with the Golden Rule which Jesus left with us: Do unto others as you would that they should do unto you.
Let me break that down for some of you: Whatever you do unto others, whether good or bad, will return to you in some shape or form because the rule is “golden.”
