Christianity, The War on Terror, and Redemptive Justice

Lately, in the little free time that I have from reading for class I have been reading this book:



This is a book by a guy that I heard speak at Berry College late last semester. Up until that point i had no idea who he was or what he was about. There have been a lot of things in this book that have made me think. I am sure that I will write a lot more about things that I have read in this book because it truly is revolutionary.

The most recent thing that caught my attention is where Shane is talking about redemptive justice, also know as the "eye for and eye" mentality. In the book he talks about how some people feel like the world kills the good in them, one of them being a solider in the Gulf War who later cam home horrified, crazy and dehumanized. He would go on to do the worst domestic terrorist attack we have ever seen. Shane says, " He (did what he did) in hopes that complacent Americans could see what "collateral damage" looks like and cry out against bloodshed everywhere, even in Iraq."

"Instead of America seeing this, the government that had trained him to kill, killed him, to teach the rest of us that it is wrong to kill."

.

Is it just me or does that sound a little backwards. Shane goes on to talk about one of the fathers of the Oklahoma City Bombing who even though he lost his daughter in the bombing who although he first wanted the bomber to die remembered his daughter telling him "Execution teaches hatred."

Shane then goes on to say that,"God's love (and grace) extends to all losers whether:


Osama bin Laden
or


Saddam Hussein
or



Saul of Tarsus
or

Timothy McVeigh

or



Me


This is interesting because it is not very often that I put myself in the same group as these other four guys. Even Saul who eventually becomes the Apostle Paul, I would like to say I am like him and group myself with him but truth be told I can't even compare. However, I don't put myself in the group with the other three because I tend to think that I am not as bad as they are, I have not done things nearly as bad as them, but the truth of the matter is to God a sin is a sin no matter if it is lying or murder. So if this is the case then I am no better than anyone else even these guys.
In case you haven't figured out who Shane was talking about, he was talking about Timothy McVeigh. It is hard for me to think of doing anything other than retaliating at someone who does wrong to me. Yet I know that this is not what Jesus teaches in the Gospel. In Matthew 5 Jesus says:

38 "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' 39But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. 41And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. 42 Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you. 43 "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 44But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

It seems to me that we have listened and read Jesus' words but we have not heard what He is actually saying. If we were actually hearing we would be doing as well. Instead we are still living by the eye for and eye mentality. Now I think mainly because it is such a foreign concept I can't even imagine not retaliating for September 11th or not using the death penalty for murderers such as McVeigh. However the only reason it seems foreign to us is because we forget what Jesus says about anger, and lust, and addictions, and so on. As Shane says in his book:

"When we look through the eyes of Jesus, we see new things in people. In the murderers, we see our own hatred. In the addicts, we see our own addictions. In the saints, we catch a glimpse of our own holiness. We can see our own brokenness, our own violence, our own ability to destroy, and we can see our own sacredness, our own capacity to love and forgive. When we realize that we are both retched and beautiful we are freed up to see others the same way."

If we apply this radical thought of following what Jesus commands and try to see others as Jesus sees them then we would:

1. not only have not retaliated for the attacks on September 11, 2001 but we would also be doing something that says we love and more importantly Jesus loves the Taliban.
2. Have not gone to Iraq to start with, or if we did then we go not because we want to take out Saddam, but to show Saddam the love of Christ
3. Forgiven Paul for what he did when he was Saul (ok so most did, but it was a stretch considering he is not in our lifetime)
4. Not sought the death penalty for Timothy McVeigh and instead gotten him some sort of counseling and also shared the love of Jesus with him over time.

When you start seeing things as Jesus sees them then this whole notion of redemptive justice flies right out the window. I still have a hard time with this simply because it has become human nature to follow the lie of redemptive justice. However, Jesus calls us to live radically different than the world and this is a perfect example of how to do just that.