Mercy Not Sacrifice
The word devil is a bastardization of the Greek word diabolos, which is a compound word combining the preposition dia (amidst, through) with the verb ballo (to throw). So diabolos captures the connotation of someone who throws something into the midst of human community and creates agitation and chaos. In other words, the devil is the great terrorist, the being or phenomenon that is behind every thought and deed that spreads hate, that sabotages human community. Whatever the motives of the terrorists behind the attacks in Paris this weekend, the devil is the ultimate mastermind of their deeds. So how do we resist the snares of the great terrorist?
It’s one thing to think about military strategies for defeating a human enemy. If you don’t believe in the devil, then that’s your only resort. But if you’re a Christian who believes that every human being is a sinner who is equally susceptible to the wiles of the devil, then the world is a spiritual battlefield whose terms are very different than how we usually understand warfare on a physical level. As Paul wrote in Ephesians 6:12, our fight is not against flesh and blood but against powers and principalities, i.e. demonic systems and discourses that dehumanize people.
It is not my place as a Christian to debate the finer points of Islam. That’s the role of Muslims who want to resist the work of the devil. If you wanted to make a case for supporting terrorism on the basis of the Judeo-Christian Bible, you could turn to Exodus 32 where Moses calls the sons of Levi to him after the Israelites have built a golden calf to worship and says, “Go back and forth from gate to gate throughout the camp, and each of you kill your brother, your friend, and your neighbor.” The Bible says they slaughtered 3000 people, after which Moses said, “Today you have ordained yourselves for the service of the Lord.” So the Levite religious order was established through an act of terrorism about the size of September 11th.
Likewise in Numbers 25, Phinehas, the great-nephew of Moses, earns a covenant of priesthood for his descendants by killing to satisfy the dishonor shown to God by fellow Israelites who were sleeping with Moabite women and worshiping their gods. After an Israelite takes a Moabite woman into his tent with him, Phinehas follows them with a spear and drives it through both of them. In response, God tells Moses, “Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, has turned back my wrath from the Israelites by manifesting such zeal among them on my behalf that in my jealousy I did not consume the Israelites. Therefore say, ‘I hereby grant him my covenant of peace. It shall be for him and for his descendants after him a covenant of perpetual priesthood, because he was zealous for his God, and made atonement for the Israelites.'”
If you wanted to be a Jewish or Christian terrorist, you could argue that these passages in the Judeo-Christian Bible support killing other people for the sake of defending God’s glory. There are plenty of examples of golden calves and sexual immorality in our society that a Jewish or Christian terrorist could use to justify a mass-murder. Of course, there are also many passages throughout the Bible and rabbinic teachings of Judaism that offer a counter-witness. I imagine Islam is the same. And it doesn’t really matter whether it is or isn’t. Because I refuse to dehumanize Muslim people by arguing that their religion is inherently terrorist. That’s how I resist the great terrorist Satan.
Whatever ideological rationalization the terrorists in Paris used to justify their deeds, they had to go through a process of dehumanizing the French people around them before they would be capable of committing such a heinous crime. That is the devil’s work, whatever ideological path he uses to prepare us for great evil. The devil is constantly laying the groundwork for genocide and oppression. When we participate in the dehumanization of Muslims, we’re no different than an imam who preaches that Western culture is inherently evil and its people deserve to be slaughtered. Those who sow the devil’s seeds in millions of diabolical conversations that pool into a dehumanizing, demonic discourse are making terrorism and genocide a more viable option in the future.
For those of us who are Christian, the model that Jesus gives us is a man who prayed on the cross for his murderers, saying, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” I’m not interested in debating how law enforcement or military ought to respond to terrorism. Others can have that debate. I’m specifically interested in how my fellow Christians and I can avoid sowing the seeds of the devil in our discourse. There is no legitimate reason for us to share speculative commentary on the dangers of Islam, and yet I’m afraid that thousands of Christians right now are mouthing off on Facebook about how Muslims should be deported or have yellow crescents sewn onto their shirts so that everyone will know they’re a danger.
In my campus ministry Bible study this week, we read Ephesians 4:29-32: “Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up,as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption. Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.”
Every time Christians give ourselves over to bitterness, slander, and malice, we not only support the designs of the great terrorist; we betray our witness of a better kingdom. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit with your words. Speak only hope and grace and peace. Whatever secular military strategies are undertaken in the war against terrorism, our spiritual warfare as Christians against the great terrorist is to show dignity to all people. We are saved and set apart in Jesus Christ in order to resist every discourse of dehumanization in our world.
If you’re in New Orleans this Sunday, there is going to be an interfaith service for peace at 4 pm at the Holy Name of Jesus cathedral on Loyola’s campus. That is where I will be fighting the great terrorist together with my brothers and sisters from Judaism, Islam, and other faiths.
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