Tragedies and Terrorism 

Yes, everyone seems to have a need to express their profound thoughts on the events of 11 September 2001. Actually, my thoughts aren’t so much related to the events as they are to the profound thoughts being expressed. And, I need to add, my thoughts aren’t profound as much as they are honest expressions of certain uncertainty.

Now, for a rehash of the profundity. 

• There are some who think the actions of the terrorists who attacked the World Trade Center’s twin towers and the Pentagon are a part of God’s divine plan of judgment upon a nation once known as a “Christian” nation. 

• There are those from the terrorist’s camp who say it is indeed the judgment of God on a heathen, satanic nation which has corrupted the world with our pornographic, lewd and lascivious, capitalistic society.

• There are others expressing tones of moderation who would doubt the intervention of God in the affairs of man in any event, believing that the actions of destruction are cause and effect. They believe that the events are the reflection of hostilities in a world without proper dialogue and understanding. 

• Then, there are those who just as adamantly proclaim that God is a God of love and peace. 

Those in this last category place all hostile actions in the category of evil deeds done by uninformed, or at the worst, evil doers.

Most of the Christians who have questioned me on this subject seem to fall in the last category. As one dear brother, indeed a truly compassionate man and a good friend, said to me yesterday that he had been reading in the Old Testament, most recently in Joshua. He said he didn’t understand the violence, the killing of all those considered to be the enemies of God. He went on to state that the image or impression of God which comes from those passages is not the way he wants his kids to know or see God.

Karl Barth, a 20^th century theologian from Germany/Austria, wrote extensively during the early part of his scholarly career his thoughts on “dialectical theology.” I found a scene in the movie, “Fiddler on the Roof” to illustrate this dialectic. In this scene the Eastern European Jewish patriarch is standing on a lonely road, pulling his milk-wagon without the aid and benefit of a horse. He stands there engaged in an active conversation with God. Full of pathos and anguish he offers an Augustinian/Aquinas’ dialogue in which he says “God, on the one hand…..then on the other…”

I understand that I don’t understand the dialectic of God. There is a dynamic tension on this string pulled between the poles of 

• God’s love and God’s hate, 

• God’s mercy and God’s wrath, 

• God’s forgiveness and God’s judgment. 

Many people/ churches/ denominations have decided to divide the polemics for their own ease of understanding and acceptance rather than accepting that God is not to be reconciled to the cubbyholes of our human philosophies. 

There is the whole counsel of scripture to be considered. We prefer to paint certain pictures of God in order to reaffirm and justify our chosen arguments concerning The Holy. To include those snapshots of God which are not explainable within the parameters of our preferred ideologies would require flexibility in our dogmas.

We tend toward simple division of beliefs. We want crisp, clear differences between us, along with those who are like us and those who aren’t like us. Then we want the assurances and affirmations that we are “right.” This necessitates a positive certainty in our belief systems and dogmas. To include anything not explainable in our terms of rigid certainty would be to invite doubt or at least questions about the continuity and consistency of our belief system.

We therefore tend to have some difficulty reconciling portions of the Bible with our belief system because we have westernized the message first revealed in and to a middle-eastern society.

Our western civilization Christian fundamentalism has now been one-upped by a middle eastern fundamentalism. Actually, their view of God and His demands for societal holiness isn’t much different from the views espoused by the Old Testament prophets. That’s really not central to the theme of this discussion. What is central is the vast difference in how Muslim existentialism and Christian existentialism plays out in the reality of our societies. They live and die their belief system. We codify and justify our belief system but rarely really put Christ’s actual teachings into play in our lives and society. We really don’t understand anyone willing to actually die for what they believe.

The clash of ideologies involves such things as their view of theocracy without regard to nationalism or nation’s boundaries. Our view tends toward a Christian nationalism with patriotism being promoted with revivalistic fervor. Many Christian leaders in our country are calling folks to rally ‘round the flag and defend our “national values.” Many churches and ministers are proverbially and almost literally wrapping themselves with the flag, even with flags in the church auditoriums and patriotic anthems sung in “worship.”

So how should we view the role of God in the events of 11 September 2001? I don’t know. I do know I’m really tired of reading emails about God being surprised at the thousands of Americans who are marching up to heaven’s gates “when it wasn’t their time…”