When will we stop acting like little kids?

It has been hard to hear anything other than Philadelphia Eagles news this week.

I am a lifelong fan and this week seems at times to me that I am watching the head coach put the entire team in a shredder.  It would be easier to write about that, but I think I would end up crying. This was the front page of the Philadelphia Daily News:

But there was other news that happened this week.  It has to do with our country, Iran, Democrats and Republicans.  Both political parties acted like nimrods.  In case you hadn't heard it, here is a quick summary:

The History.

Our nation has had a long history of not negotiating with Iran because they are considered terrorists.  As far back as the late seventies when they took hostages at the Iranian embassy to current day in which they are bankrolling groups like Hezbollah, the Iranian State has been sponsoring terrorism.

This has changed in recent years.  Figuring we can do more good by talking with (rather than ignoring) the leadership in Iran, the current administration has been trying to talk with Iran.  The thinking is that we can figure out how to bring Iran into the community of Western Nations peacefully through dialogue.  Sounds like an idea.

Iran wants to talk to us because it has been trying to get nuclear power for its citizens.  Cheap power will help bring Iranians into the digital age.  Currently its reactors depend on Russia for enriched atomic fuel.  The leaders of Iran feel that the Western World is trying to keep them primitively dependent on them.  Iran feels it has a right to have the same access to nuclear technology as other nations and promises that its aims are peaceful.  So our current administration, along with a host of other Western Nations has been trying to negotiate a way for Iran to have nuclear power without having nuclear weapons.

Why don't we just give them the right to have nuclear power?

Well, because deep within the hearts (and the charters written by) a great many of Iranian leaders is the desire to "wipe Israel off the face of the Earth."  Iran is tied to its theocracy and the radical elements of Islam want to wage war with Israel.  The fear is that if Iran got hold of fissile material it could be made into weaponry and quickly used to annihilate Israel.  This is not "maybe" or "they might" it is more like "what date would they pick to do it?"

To be balanced, not everyone in leadership in Iran has that same desire and not everyone has the same access to power.  The reality is that the bulk of Iranian citizens are not hate-filled radical terrorists.  As in America, Iranian leadership does not always represent the Iranian people.  However, the shifts of power within the Iranian State make the whole thing a dicey affair.  Everyone, regardless of politics is scared of Iran with nukes.

So if we agree they should have weapons, what are we talking about?

The current administration was seeking to negotiate an agreement with the leaders in Iran that would enable nuclear power without the ability for nuclear weapons.  If we don't talk, they secretly pursue nuclear power and weapons.  If we talk and come to an agreement that they can have power but no weapons then maybe everyone wins.  The talks are very delicate, however.  If the Iranians feel pushed they can walk away and more robustly pursue an 'underground' nuclear program and blame everything on the big bully America.

But there are some who feel that we shouldn't even be talking with the Iranians.  The more we talk, the more they pursue a nuclear program secretly.  The president of Israel came and spoke to Congress this week saying that we should not even be in negotiations with the Iranians because it will only be a matter of time before they attack.  It has been Israel's stance to make sure they are not even close to weapons-grade atomic material - even using air strikes in the past to take out facilities that were preparing to do so.

But our administration has stated that something needs to be done because the bridge to nuclear capability will be crossed at some point.  It might as well be done with talks rather than with cold war tactics of sanctions and no communication.  The thinking is that you talk to the bully so you have control over the situation rather than ignore the bully and then deal with the aftermath.  So talks with the Iranian State continue.

So what happened this week?

And this is where the political games began.  Instead of listening to each other and trying to work on something collaboratively the Democrats and Republicans locked horns.  Both acted like little kids.

Just for the record, I am a firm believer that Republicans and Democrats are equally ridiculous.  Not a big political rah-rah one way or another.  God made it clear that we are pretty messed up no matter how you slice it. In this incident, the Republicans were first to act childish by sending a letter to the Iranian leadership saying essentially, "don't listen to these guys negotiating with you about nukes, they are gone in a couple of years and this agreement will be worth nothing."  This was well intentioned, but really low.  I am sure every one of those politicians felt they were protecting Israel and our nation from destruction, but it was like talking dirty about your family to the bully.  

And of course, true to form, the Democrats responded with a barrage of finger-pointing saying that they undermined the authority of the Administration and played games for political support.  This assumes that Republicans are just out for their own political good when it may just be that they are scared to death of Iranian radicals getting their hands on nukes.  It is sad when there is absolutely no respect on either side.  If only each side would give the other the benefit of the doubt.  Work together.  Listen to each other.  We are on the same team.

This is why politics is so unappealing to so many.  It is why underneath all of the nice suits and fancy cars and offices we are just little kids acting out our fears well into our old age.

It is also why we need a Savior.  God help us.  

On The Other Side of the World . . .

As connected as we like to think we are in this world, as much as we like to talk about a 'global community,' it is morbidly fascinating what is taking place within hundreds of miles of each other.  

Cruise ships are pulling into and out of ports in the country of Turkey (or slightly West in Greece) while a few hundred miles away about seventy Syrians were yanked from their beds early Monday morning and forced into Islamic State encampments that are holding them hostage.  One man refused to leave his home and was burned alive in his house.  

This happened at roughly the same time Birdman won the Oscar for best picture in Los Angeles.

The seventy (and by some estimates up to 300) that are currently being held by Islamic State could be used as cover for US-led attacks against them.  It is the equivalent of bank-robbers grabbing some hostages as the police are on their way.  

No, on second  thought, it would be the equivalent of a gang of murderous thugs in several cities across the US have killed hundreds of innocent people and posted it online while the police talk about what to do.  Then they grab hostages in case the police come after them.  They have a fresh batch ready to show the world that no one can really stop them and what they are doing.  That is the equivalent of what is going on in the Middle East.

All this while Oil Producers send emails a few hundred miles away deciding the cost of crude oil.  

And chances are the climax to this will take place during March Madness.

Not to say we shouldn't take cruises and fill out brackets and watch basketball games . . . perhaps the world would be a safer place if we had more to root for rather than root against.

But it does become really interesting to think that there are completely separate realities that are taking place right next to each other.  

Of those that were taken captive, a good portion of them were women and children.  I have a nine year old.  I tell her stories at night before she goes to bed.  She loves to sing and dance and play piano and she has beaten me at chess . . . twice.  When I go to bed at night I check in on her curled up and sleeping.  Sometimes I sneak in and kiss her cheek.

The one thing that connects me in a very uncomfortable way to what is going on is that nine year old.  Chances are that on the other side of the world right now there is a nine year old who is in a prisoner camp awaiting her fate.  I am typing on a laptop at this very moment and she is over there wondering whether she will be made into a bomb-shield or a jihadist video.  All because she is a Christian.  All because a group of Muslims have a big idea that requires people to die.

And there is nothing I can do about it.  

So we turn to you, God.
We ask that you save those who have been taken captive.
Please don't let them wind up on TV as victims.
Do something about this and deliver us from the evil that has a grip on Christians in the Middle East.
We acknowledge your timing and your plan as we intercede.

Amen.

Islamic State Part II - A little more raw

Over the weekend a radical Jihadists who call themselves the Islamic State released a video in which they beheaded 21 Christians from Egypt that they kidnapped in December and January.

They made threats against the rest of the world saying that they were coming for Rome next (and presumably the rest of the world). 

Okay, so think about it.  There is a reason they are called terrorists.  They want us to be terrified that they are coming for us next.  The Islamic State is using fear to get what they want, but it isn’t working.

Consider this:

·  1.  Muslims in the region are not aligning themselves with IS.  Egypt launched air strikes.  Jordan is mobilizing militarily.  Clerics and leaders in the Muslim world are actually condemning the group and seeing it as a threat to Islam.  We don’t hear those voices because it doesn’t make our news cycle.  IS is at war with Christians and certain Muslims.

·      2.  More importantly, the killings show resolve.  They are killing Christians because Christians are holding to their convictions.  They have all been given the opportunity to change to Islam and they have not.  Let their convictions that led them into death for their faith be the basis for our conviction that we should not live in fear.  If anything else, we owe it to them to live out our faith in fearlessness.

·     3.  Ultimately the Islamic State will be defeated with how we respond to their terrorist threats.  Terrorists will always get more recruits after an air strike but our resistance to fear is not anchored by our guns but our grace.  Christians have a long tradition of sacrifice in the face of threat.  This is because we know that the game is not over at the end of this life.  Terrorism has no hold over people who live forever.

I know how this might all sound – all platitudes and attitudes.  But if there is anything we can do in America as this group does more and more to inflict damage on our way of life, we need to let our faith guide our response.

We cannot fear this group when Jesus Himself said, “Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”  This is more than ‘keep a stiff upper lip.’  This is Christ Himself telling us to refuse fear and the hate that comes with it as a way of making us feel better.  Don’t let news broadcasts and conversations about ‘us versus them’ rob us of Christ’s mandate to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. 

Because what our enemies have most miscalculated is that they can interrupt our lives here on earth . . . when the truth is that our lives have not even yet begun. 

IS and grace

A group of militant Muslims identifying themselves as part of the Islamic State (IS) beheaded 21 Christians that they kidnapped back in December and January.  On the shores of Libya, in Africa (only 300 miles from the shores of Italy) they recorded the deed on video with the title: "To the Nation Signed with the Blood of the Cross."

Yes, that is a threat aimed at Italy and all of Europe.  They refer to them as Crusaders.

So what is IS doing in Africa?  Aren't they from Iraq, Syria and Lebanon?  At first they called themselves ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and Syria).  They grew.  The US government tried calling them ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant).  They outgrew this title as well.  Now they call themselves the Islamic State.

Apparently IS is taking up shelter in Libya - a nation who is so unstable right now that two governments are claiming legitimacy in two parliaments.  No one is coming for IS on the shores of Libya at the moment because they can't.  And apparently Italy has no response ready either.  Matteo Renzi - the prime minister of Italy - shook his fist and talked about retaliation and retribution but quickly backtracked the day after calling on the UN to do something.

That may be because as of right now Italy has 5,000 troops ready to do something of this magnitude.  Not the kind of numbers you want going into something like this.

So how do we even begin to deal with this?

The more we practice retaliation and retribution the more it comes to visit us.  I hear a lot from those who would love to just 'nuke em' and be done with it.  A lot of criticism of world leaders for not rolling up their sleeves and going in there and obliterating the jihadists.  

On a heart level I totally agree.  I wish this whole thing was as easy as sending in large numbers of soldiers and weaponry that would expunge the entire area of extremists.  Bomb them back to the stone age.  Crush those that are evil and wipe them clear off the face of the Earth.  It would be great if we could live in a reality as black and white as that . . .

My head has a series of questions about that.  Isn't that what we thought we were doing when we started the war on terrorism?  The more involved we get the more we get drawn into revenge and revenging the revenge.

It reminds me of the God of the Old Testament that gets routinely chided by intellectuals who can't believe in a God who would be so barbaric.  Like Isaiah says in chapter 5:20-21

What sorrow for those who say
    that evil is good and good is evil,
that dark is light and light is dark,
    that bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter.
 What sorrow for those who are wise in their own eyes
    and think themselves so clever.

And on again in verse 25 . . .

 That is why the Lord’s anger burns against his people,
    and why he has raised his fist to crush them.
The mountains tremble,
    and the corpses of his people litter the streets like garbage.
But even then the Lord’s anger is not satisfied.
    His fist is still poised to strike!

We are uncomfortable talking about a God who punishes evil and has to pronounce judgment but we are perfectly fine cheering on a squadron of planes from Egypt who respond to these violent acts with their air strikes.  Evil like IS reminds us that we are ultimately unable to rid ourselves of the darkest parts of our humanity because we are so caught up in it.

And yet at the crux of this verse is Isaiah is the image of God's hand not yet punishing.  He is still patient.

Evil is something that has to be purged from us from the outside - and that is why we need judgment one day . . . but more importantly grace for today.