Tearing Down, Building Up


2nd Cor 10:4

The weapons with which we fight are not human weapons, but are mighty for God in overthrowing strong fortresses.

Yesterday was the 10th Anniversary of the Saddam statue being toppled. You can get a 1/35th scale statue of it on the web. No fooling. For those longing to have a memorial of the dictator close-by. Saddam was a bad man. There are a lot of bad men in the Middle East. And in the world for that matter.

I recall inititially seeing the statue being pulled down by the American military a decade ago and thinking "Oh no." I considered that if the Iraqi people could not pull down the statue by themselves, nation-building was going to be considerably more difficult that the Bush/Cheney team surmised. Time has shown the Iraqi campaign to be a disaster. Cheney is still unrepentant. Damn him. At least Bush has the good sense to keep his mouth shut about it.

I am by no means a pacifist yet I see the horrible effects of militarism. At best, warfare should be a last resort and repugnant. Not gleefully bearing the sword but instead with tears. A lot of Christians have been the most dependable constituency of the Neo-Conservatives visions of remaking the world in our image and it is time to say enough. No to Israel, no to the Arabs states we sell arms to. It is not our fight and we had be quite reluctant putting ourselves in the middle of ancient animosities that neither side shows an inclination to abandon.

Christians had better be particularly careful as many of us through our tithing escape a good chunk of paying federal taxes. If you want to be war-like and use the Gospel to justify military misadventures, at least have the integrity to foot the bill. And, this pertains to domestic issues also.

The Gospel does have a component of tearing down idols. Yet the means are by persuasion and not compulsion. I think Matthew Henry says it well:

Outward force is not the method of the gospel, but strong persuasions, by the power of truth and the meekness of wisdom. Conscience is accountable to God only; and people must be persuaded to God and their duty, not driven by force. Thus the weapons of our warfare are very powerful; the evidence of truth is convincing. 

When we use worldly means to destroy don't be surprised when it baffling to rebuild the rubble. Our means of destruction are directly related to our methods of construction.      

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