WORDS WORTH GIVING FOR ORLANDO

In the beginning the elohim created skies and earth.

            Welcome back.  Let’s talk about words and their power.

            About this time last summer, I could not sleep.  I was heartbroken.  A young man, a stranger,  entered a Charleston church and murdered nine Christian brothers and sisters after being invited by them to stay and study the Bible.  I feel the same misery today after hearing about Orlando.

            When something this tragic happens, healing must stir anew and immediately.  I heard healing words today when a Muslim man on the news said that Omar Mateen is not a Muslim because he murdered  people during Ramadan.  He went on to say that Islam preaches peace and love.  Jihad, he said, is a struggle against life, not individuals.

            We have a presidential candidate, a news network, numerous radio voices, and a political party that proclaims that saying the words "radical Islamic terrorist" is crucial to preventing murders like the ones in Orlando.

            That sounds like the old superstition that you know something or control something when you name it.  Hebrews and Muslims believe God can never be represented by any image or name because God is beyond knowledge and control. 

            What happens when we name things is we label them.  We forge them into thought idols.  We need not spend intellectual energy understanding an idol.  That gives us free time to think about other important things like faulty air bags and sharks inviting themselves over to our legs for dinner.

            I doubt very seriously that the people spewing the lame brain name vomit believe it.  Their voters believe it, and for their overly vexed fluster drives certain words and flake issues act like an aphrodisiac, so the hurling never ceases to arouse rage.

            Most of the vexation the past eight years has been stoked by the presence of President Obama in the White House.  Mr. Obama has been so busy taking away our guns and giving them to Muslims that he has not stopped and labeled Mateen with a designation that will please his critics.  He does not use the words "radical Islamic terrorist," and now Mr. Obama is flying flags at half staff--the Hitler.

            Yes, once again these Pharisees of the right are rending their garments and pulling out their hair and we all stay mad at each other until the next day comes along with a new slight that is the worst in American history and is destroying Western Civilization as we know it. 

            Does hair grow back when we rip it out?

            To be honest, I don't have an opinion about Old Glory flying at half staff except to say if we must fly our flag every time any soldier is murdered in this country, or any massacre occurs in this country, then do it.  Fly it every time.  Make it a new precedent.  Who’s to say we can’t.

            Maybe if we see every day that we cannot raise the Stars and Stripes full mast because the butchery will not be sated, the guns will not be silent, and the hatred will not take a holiday, then so be it.  Maybe after a year or so, we will weary of a half mast culture and  find a way to heal so Old Glory can fly full staff—proud and free--again.

            That being written, I do have an opinion about name calling.  For the past few posts, I've been writing about Justin Martyr's claim that truth belongs to Christians. What happened in Orlando had interrupted my purpose.

            Or has it?

            Martyr's claim is truth is no threat to Christians.  Truth comes from God.  Since the murders in Orlando, I must point out that lies can never be true and, therefore, acceptable to us, the Christians.  Indeed, like should not be acceptable to human beings.

            The most pernicious lie that many who call themselves Christians believe is the lie that God wants the church to enforce God's will by condemning other people, intimidating other people, and murdering other people.

            Name calling is a form of condemnation and intimidation.  Calling a fiend who murders in the name of Allah a radical Islamic terrorist condemns Islam by implication and intimidates Muslims by recrimination. There are a billion Muslims who must cringe when they hear word strangers like “radical” and “terrorist” entering in the holy presence of “Islamic.”

            I know because I cringe every time Westboro Baptist Church is in the news.  They make Christians, that is, me, my pastor, my church members, Justin Martyr, Paul, Jesus, and our God of love seem like low class jerks.  Even worse Christian Baptists look like donkey asses.  That’s a redundant ass, the worst kind you can be.

           

            Ponder that (the lie, not the donkey).  Next time, I will write about words worth more than gold.

            Blessings…