Death and Disaster
Recently, in a conversation with my mother she expressed a deep grieving and heart-ache over knowing that a large percentage if not all of those dying or dead in the March 11, 2011 earthquake here in northern Japan are without salvation, no knowledge of the their Creator. I never thought about it in that manner. The grief, the pain, and the suffering and my own sense of helplessness in the face of their struggle preoccupied me. But as I thought about this idea and talked to my wife. I realized this not so an astonishing reality. If a Christian should feel such duly painful grief over a natural disaster slaughtering so many unsaved people, then they should NEVER EVER even think of condoning, facilitating, allowing, or participating in actions that take people’s lives. One must allow those people as much time as possible to live and be saved. One cannot think themselves free to kill in any circumstance under this presumption.Take a step further. Who in the world then deserves more compassion than any other? The Muslim terrorist. Not only hell-bent on murder but firmly believing that he will be saved by another god if he does.
But on the other side of the coin, American soldiers could be put into the same situation through metaphor. The gods – the state, the nation. salvation honor, bragging rights. But I lack compassion for soldiers and servicepeople( a great weakness of mine). If i think of these military people as the most pitifully confused and misdirected group in America – deluded by ideas of fun, excitement, valor, honor, they plunging into a bloodbath of pain, and psychological trauma.
If one wants truly wants the souls of the world to be saved than a supernatural pacifism is absolutely necessary. Not just necessary but required. This takes a great deal of compassion not just rhetoric.
I don’t see the metaphor. Do you know of military people bragging and having fun? If you lack compassion it is not a weakness it is a judgment. I think knowing the meaning of our identity as a Chistian and being overcome by the compassion of Christ to love and share the message is the issue on both counts.