The level of barbarity on the part of ISIS or ISIL or whatever this murderous band of thugs is called apparently knows no bounds. The Syrian government attempted to negotiate the release of a pilot only to see him burned alive. Aid workers doing their best to help the sick and hungry have been brutally murdered. While Christians are aware of Jesus' caution about "eye for an eye" retaliation, turning the other cheek, even emotionally, is difficult to do.
Most recently a group of twenty one Coptic Christians from Egypt were beheaded on a beach in Libya by a new manifestation of ISIL. How is it that so many people, the majority young it would appear, can be recruited to commit such heinous crimes? Pope Francis is amongst those horrified by this cruelty and he interjected comments in a meeting about the death of these men. As he named his sadness he also noted the reported last words of a number of them which were "Jesus help me." Francis also offered that their martyrs blood confessed Christ.
We don't think of martyrs all that much any more, assuming that those who died for their faith lived in centuries long in the past. The word martyr means witness, and in some respects these slain men do bear witness to Christ because they were killed for their faith, as other Christians have been. But the madness of ISIS/ISIL is that they have murdered many Muslims as well because they somehow do not adhere to the beliefs of these terrorists. We know too that in Nigeria the majority victims of the Boko Haram militant Muslim group are Muslims.
The men slaughtered on the beach were Christians but they were in Libya simply to make a living. They weren't proselytizing or giving offense. Of course with rare exceptions none of the murdered were combatants or militant about their faith. This is madness.
Christ help us all.
If Christians had known ahead of time that this was planned, could anything have been done to stop it?
ReplyDeleteI also think Christians need to start speaking up. Not just in support of fellow Christians, but of everyone.
ReplyDeleteIt's time to stop mollycoddling those who behave badly, as a way for atoning for past crimes committed in the name of Christ. We can't change the past. We can only influence the future.
There are fairly clear standards to use as the basis for arguing in support of compassion and mercy.
Sometimes it feels like the world is imploding. I can't imagine doing to a rat what these disgusting monsters have been doing repeatedly.
ReplyDeleteIt's hard not to just let emotions take over in revenge.