Just got back from spending time with Kelly's relatives up in Oregon. They are Mennonite, but grew up Amish -- talk about interesting stories, not to mention the good food; I'd need a barn raising to burn off all the calories I ate.
Anyway, I had an interesting conversation with 81 year old Aunt Ida. She was explaining how sad she was when her son joined the army years ago, how it was so heartbreaking. As our conversation continued she said something that stuck with me. She told me she asked her son how he could even consider "shooting somebody and sending them to hell."
Interesting. I had never thought of it that way.
Now, theological nuances and pondering aside (and this is not a post about Iraq or the army or war in general) but, it bothered me that I never even though of that before. And so I had to ask myself why? Why had I never thought about that? My conclusion: I am perhaps more inundated by individualism and pragmatism than Jesus -- and I don't think I'm alone. I mean, how many Christians in America or elsewhere would think about the actions they would take in war or self defense first in terms of the effect that they might have on the ability of the person at the other end of their actions being able to choose to follow Jesus.
Let me get real practical. If a person was about to kill one of my children and I had a gun, I would blow them straight to hell without a second thought. I wonder if Jesus were living my life, faced with the same situation, if he would do the same thing. I don't think he would. I know he would grieve for the person, but I also think he might not shoot. And then what?
This is a post with questions and without answers. I'd still blow the bastard away, so don't mess with my kids.
I'm troubled by these questions -- at least that's a start.
No comments:
Post a Comment