The Most Dangerous Word in the World

I woke up this morning to the news of Dallas. The same way I woke up to the news of Orlando. And 9/11. And San Bernardino. And Paris. And Brussels. And in all of those cases, I heard the same message: “The only way you can defeat hate is by love.”

We have heard that countless times now, in the face of countless tragedies. You would think at some point it would take hold. Sure, there are always going to be people who kill for sport and those who can’t tell the difference between right and wrong, but surely the rest of the population can figure out that violence and hate make the world a darker, crueler, more dangerous place to live. The only way to crush hate is by love, not more hate. Humanity created the light bulb. Surely we can figure this out.

With the amount of people reiterating the “beat hate with love” idea, however, I don’t think recognizing it is the issue. I think what most people forget is that there’s another step before simply loving someone.

Last January, I went to SEEK, a giant Catholic retreat in Tennessee. While I was there, I listened to a talk titled, “The Most Dangerous Four Letter Word.” As I was waiting for the talk to start, I ran through the obvious possibilities in my head. Hate. Love. Fear. Nuke (ok, fine, that one was after the talk… still, it’s a very dangerous four letter word).

It wasn’t any of those words. It was something far more thought-provoking and far more troublesome.

The word was THEM.

I’m not going to lie, the speaker lost me for a minute, but then he explained that the word THEM is almost dehumanizing. We take real people and we turn them into a faceless group whom we are free to hate. Because they are no longer individuals. They are simply part of a mob.

This is the most dangerous aspect of our world right now. Because we no longer recognize our enemies as people with real problems who love and make mistakes and have goals and beliefs and fears. It’s us versus them. And you see this every day. In every country.

I’ll never forget one article I read about an ISIS fighter. He and his brother, both from war-torn Syria, had joined ISIS because there was no other way to make money. Another article I read mentioned a fighter who was forced to join because otherwise the other ISIS fighters would have taken his sister. But when we envision ISIS, our enemy, we don’t think about those people. We think of the fighters who rape and kill and loot and who take pride in doing so.

I am not making excuses for the people in ISIS. But if we can no longer recognize them as people, if we can no longer recognize that situations and outside events helped shape their decisions, then we can never defeat anyone. Both sides will always find excuses to hurt the other because it will always be us versus them. ISIS is simply a terrorist group. And we are free to hate them.

This feeling isn’t confined to America, either. It’s the same on the other side. When a Middle Eastern nation (you could insert North Korea, Iran, parts of Iraq, and maybe even Russia) thinks of America, it doesn’t think of the ordinary American people. It simply thinks of an empire. And you can hate empires.

It’s not just nation against nation. It’s everywhere. Blacks versus whites. Cops versus blacks. Conservatives versus liberals. The US versus Hispanic immigrants. The West versus the Middle East. It goes on and on and on. And no one wins.

Because if you make the conflict into us versus them, one person of the THEM is no different than the rest. Brent Thompson is no different than Jeronimo Yanez. A Muslim is no different than an ISIS fighter. Philando Castile is no different than Mumia Abu-Jamal. Minnesota leads to Dallas, Iraq and Afghanistan lead to Paris and Brussels and San Bernardino, and routine traffic stops become deadly encounters.

If we turn a conflict into us versus them, then we have already lost. Because we can hate them. We can silence them. We can torture them. We can kill them. We are free not to love them.

Yes, hate can only be defeated by love. But first, we have to recognize that there are people to love. People with names. People who are not simply THEM. If we want to defeat hate, this is imperative. To quote Beetee from The Hunger Games: Mockingjay: “We have to stop viewing one another as enemies. At this point, unity is essential for our survival.”

 

 

Waiting to Welcome the Bridegroom

66-70 A.D. 993-995. 1000. 1346-1351. 1533. 1736. 1925. 2000. 2011. 2012 (this was a big year, three different dates). 2013.

What do all of those dates have in common? Any guesses?

Those are the years that the world was supposed to end.

There are a lot more than I included. These were the ones that stood out to me. I remember the 2011 and 2012 end-of-the-world predictions. Harold Camping. The Mayan Calendar. My parents remember the 2000 doomsday prediction: Y2K. 1346-1351: the black plague. One of the most interesting ones: the birth of the Anti-Christ around 993-995 when Good Friday happened on the same day as the Annunciation (Gabriel’s appearance to the Virgin Mary). 66-70: the Jewish revolt against the Romans, seen by many to be the final battle.

I’ll ask an easier question. Is there anything else these dates have in common?

That’s right. I’m writing this. Russia still exists. The world is still standing.

There are more similarities. Some of the predictions were mathematical calculations based on the Bible. Some of them were the coinciding of religious holy days (692-695 Annunciation/Good Friday). Some of them were messages from angels (the 1925 prediction came from Gabriel himself). And none of them came true.

I’ve been getting a lot of emails about the end of the world lately. Apparently someone finally nailed the date (an angel revealed it to him) and it’s September of 2015. Start stocking up on food and bottled water because the end is here. To quote The Dark Knight Rises: “There’s a storm coming, Mr. Wayne.”

This one has all of the signs. ISIS. The legalization of gay marriage in the U.S. The faltering of world economies (Greece, China, etc). Ebola. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Oh, and did I mention that the last of the blood moons is coming in September (a tetrad of lunar eclipses – 4 in two years, each of which has lined up with Passover and Sukkot – an agricultural holiday that also celebrates Israel’s 40 year wait in the desert). To quote Revelation 6, verse 12: “The sun turned black as dark sackcloth and the whole moon became like blood.” It all makes sense.

Except… it doesn’t.

Tetrads of blood moons aren’t unheard of. They’re not often but they aren’t impossible either (4 in the last ~60 years). The matching up of religious holidays also isn’t unheard of. The Annunciation/Good Friday happened again in 2005 and will happen again next year. The growth and conquering power of ISIS? Remember the Crusades? They were intended to fight the Islamic conquest of the Middle East. If we want to talk about laws endorsing sin, remember slavery? Remember abortion? The epidemic of the end, aka Ebola (which has faded)? Remember the black plague? Economic crises? There was something that began in 1929… the Great Depression. Ring a bell? What about the economic troubles of the 1980s? What about 2008? One of the predictions in 2012 was that all governments and economies were going to crash on June 30th. Notice anything? Yes, we’re still standing. 2015 is not the first time this has all happened.

I saw an email yesterday and I’m just going to quote it. Here it is:

(From the New International Version)
“The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and pay the penalty.”

New Living Translation
“A prudent person foresees danger and takes precautions. The simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences.”

Matthew 25 (verses 1-13)
The Parable of the Ten Virgins.

“Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones, when taking their lamps, brought no oil with them, but the wise brought flasks of oil with their lamps. Since the bridegroom was long delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep. At midnight, there was a cry, ‘Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’ Then all those virgins got up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise ones replied, ‘No, for there may not be enough for us and you. Go instead to the merchants and buy some for yourselves.’ While they went off to buy it, the bridegroom came and those who were ready went into the wedding feast with him. Then the door was locked. Afterwards the other virgins came and said, ‘Lord, Lord, open the door for us!’ But he said in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, I do not know you.’ Therefore, stay awake,[e] for you know neither the day nor the hour.”  

We’re not supposed to know when the world is going to end. We’re just supposed to be ready for it. And that doesn’t mean stocking up on nonperishables and propane tanks. If a disease wipes out the human race, neither of those are going to do any good. Bottled water isn’t going to save you if there’s a nuclear war. Food, water, propane tanks, none of them are going to save the people who rely on medicine to live. Diabetes? Cancer treatment? How do they prepare for the apocalypse? And it’s not like there’s going to be one set thing that wipes out the entire world. According to Revelation, people will die by war, epidemics, starvation, and wild animals. I read another email, this one advising people to use credit cards or take out home equity or 401k loans to stock up on food. Again, what is food going to do if you die by epidemic? Or by a nuclear attack? Or by a bear who somehow wandered into your neighborhood or wherever you’re hiding? There is no way to prepare for all of that. You can’t be physically ready for the end of the world. It’s the end times. Sooner or later, everyone dies. 

You can base your doomsday predictions off of the Bible, but try getting around Matthew 24, verse 36: “But of the day and hour, no one knows, neither the angels of heaven nor the Son, but the Father alone.”

We are not supposed to know. We are supposed to be ready. Not physically, but spiritually. We’re not supposed to stock up on oil because it’s going to keep us alive, but because the bridegroom is coming and we’re waiting to welcome him.

There’s no other option. We can’t physically prepare for the apocalypse, just like you can’t physically prepare to survive for 40 years in the desert. God had a plan for the Israelites and He has a plan for us too. In the end, we are all going to die. Whether it’s tomorrow or two months from now or when the world actually ends, it doesn’t matter. We just have to be ready. And death should be welcome. We are not made for this world and we need to remember that. When we die, it is simply our Father calling us home. And the apocalypse? That’s the wedding feast.

 

Can You Hear the Trains?

We have chosen to be silent.

History is full of people like this. Some don’t stand up because they agree. Some because they don’t agree, but because their neighbor does. Some don’t because in a world of 7+ billion people, one can’t make a difference, so why fight?

Because we have to. Because history remembers those who stand by and watch. History condemns those who watched the trains go by. We all do. Why didn’t they fight? Didn’t they know what they were doing by watching? To stand by and do nothing means we agree. And we’re doing it again.

Time and time again, the world has told certain groups that they don’t deserve the same rights as the rest of humanity. They are different. They don’t deserve to live. They. Aren’t. People. We have tried so many times to decide who is worthy of life and we have had our worst moments during those times. Look at the Holocaust. Look at slavery. Look at history. The darkest times are when certain groups are defined as sub-humans who don’t deserve to live. Slavery. The Holocaust.  Think of all of the atrocities that the Nazis were responsible for. The medical experimentation, the mass killings, and the gas chambers to name a few. When we can tear a baby apart with forceps while it’s still in the womb, we can’t point fingers at Nazi Germany. When we can kill a baby inside the one place where it is supposed to be safe and then count the body parts to make sure that they’re all there, we are no better.

All men are created equal. It doesn’t say that they’re born equal or that they come out of the womb equal. They are created equal. As in brought into being equal. Which means they all have the same basic rights and none are more important than the right to life.

The law says otherwise? The law said otherwise in Nazi Germany. It said otherwise before the Civil War. Which side does history fall on?

A lot of people say abortion is different. It’s the mother’s body. It’s not life. It’s a group of cells, not a baby. Let’s accept that last argument for a moment. A flower is a group of cells. A tree is a group of cells (interestingly enough, we actually send people to jail for killing a group of cells – see Harvey Updyke). By the third week after conception, a baby’s brain, organs, and heart have started developing and only a week later it registers a heartbeat (which is very commonly recognized as a sign of  life). By the tenth week following conception, the fetus is showing off a very familiar looking facial structure. The group of cells looks suspiciously human. What’s. So. Different.

Maybe you disagree with my logic. Look at the laws. They know it’s life, that it’s a person, as much as they try to say otherwise. Look at the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, a federal law with limited jurisdiction, and then go find the 38 state laws (including one in California) that back it up. A person can be charged with the murder of a fetus. Which is really interesting because when we say murder, we mean the killing of a person.

The law has had this sort of contradiction before. Look at slavery. Look at the price we paid for trying to define personhood. We know better. It’s just easier to forget.

We are the people that history will condemn. We know better and we ignore it. We stand by and we watch, ignoring the cries and the blood that’s starting to pool at our feet. If we can’t respect the smallest life, what hope does this world have?

I can’t watch the trains go by. Will you?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Black Lives Matter. White Lives Matter. All Lives Matter.

What about this one?

This is the 42nd anniversary of Roe v Wade. That’s 42 more birthdays than the 56 million aborted babies have had.

We don’t like to talk about this. We like to pretend this is a settled issue. We disagree, but leave it at that. The 1 million babies aborted each year deserve more.

You tell me. What do we disagree on and why?

Let’s Talk About Ferguson

Unless you’ve been living in the wilderness for the last six months or REALLY don’t follow the news, you know about Ferguson (and the Eric Garner case in New York) and the protests that have erupted following the lack of an indictment against the cop who killed Michael Brown. Two Fridays ago, I got to witness one.

For all of the hype over the “die-ins”, it really wasn’t anything special. 50-75 people chanted things like, “We can’t breathe,” “Hands up, don’t shoot,” and dropped to the floor. At one point, the protesters reformed and circled the mall with signs chanting, “Black lives matter. White lives matter. All lives matter.” It was mostly black, but had a few white teenagers and one or two women pushing strollers. It was all nice and well, but I couldn’t stop wondering why they were protesting.

It may seem like a silly question. A unarmed black man was killed by a white police officer who was not indicted. The protestors said that they were protesting police brutality and racial profiling. The protests have been compared to the Freedom Riders and Selma and the rest of the Civil Rights movement. It’s black and white, right?

I talked to one of the women who was in the protest. She said that she was so glad it remained peaceful and that the cops were really cool here. She said the last part like it was a surprise. Remember, they’re protesting police brutality. It’s a systemic problem. And that’s where the movement has a an issue.

In the last year, five cases have made the news of black men dying at the hands of a white police officer. There are more murder cases in Chicago alone every day. Think of how many cops there are in the entire United States. Five cops made very publicized decisions that took away a life. Of all of the police in the entire country, five have been singled out. The movement suggests that they are representative of the entire police population. I have a hard time believing that. If we really had such a hard time with police brutality, do you think the protestors would be allowed to march peacefully? Look at the Civil Rights movement. There are pictures. There were dogs and they were set on people who were marching in the streets. That’s brutality.

Look at Syria, where civil war erupted when the government used the police and military to try to squash the rebellion. They fired into crowds of protestors and killed countless people. That’s brutality.

Look at Romania in 1989. When the dictator ordered the crushing of pro-democracy/Western protests, the police obeyed. That’s brutality. The country’s communist dictatorship fell when the military refused to obey and civil war erupted.

Tiananmen Square, 1989. Police and security forces destroyed the pro-democracy demonstrations. The exact number who died is still uncertain. That’s brutality.

There is a difference between murder and brutality. We see murder every day in the news, but brutality is something entirely different. Brutality is violence to the excess. Brutal describes incredibly savage murders. Whether or not Michael Brown’s death was murder or self defense, we will never know for sure, but was it brutality? Eric Garner died being wrestled to the ground, but was it brutality? Perhaps an overreaction, but savage?

People are upset, I understand. But in order for there to be a movement, there has to be a system that needs to change. The Civil Rights movement fought a system that was clearly broken. Yes, five lives are five too many. No one should ever die at someone else’s hand. But do we have a problem with police brutality or do we have five decisions, good or bad, right or wrong, racist or defensive, that cost five lives?

 

What do you think? Let me know in the comments.