RSSRemembering Sept. 11, 2001 W.H. Chellis While a n…
Remembering Sept. 11, 2001
W.H. Chellis
While a number of recent posts have been particularly critical of the President’s foreign policy, I believe a kind word should also be registered. As we respectfully morn the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001, let us be thankful to the Lord for the good work of the President and our government at all levels who have, by the common grace of God flowing from the cross of Jesus Christ, preserved the safety of the American people in the face of an implacable and menacing enemy. Lest the name of that enemy fail to be named, let our lips boldly utter it. The enemy of the West is Islam.
May the West awake and realize that a battle of faith must be matched with an opposing faith. Woe to us if we awake to find that the faith of the West is Modernist liberalism and greedy consummerism. May the Lord Christ grant repentance to the West and may we rediscover the faith upon which our civilization stands.
Baus
September 12th, 2006 at 9:42 am
But, of course, we can also be thankful that the fate of Christianity is not tied to that of the West or any other civilization.
And religiously, and therefore also politically, the West (insofar as it distances itself from Christianity) is its own enemy. And in the same way Islam is its own.
Our fight is not on the side of the West against Islam. Indeed, we are not fundamentally on the side of any civilization against any other. Rather, we are against all because we are for all… if you see what I mean. We oppose the West and we oppose Islam for their sakes. They are both our enemies, and we love them both.
But our weapons are not those of HomeLand Security or the U.S. Army or even of International Diplomacy.
Thank God.
That said, here are some thoughts worth considering on Just War and Terrorism: [1] & [2
W.H. Chellis
September 12th, 2006 at 10:18 am
Good to see you again Gregory!
And, of course, you are correct, in an abstract and wholly unsatisfying way (at least for me).
The fate of Christianity is not tied to the West. On the other hand, as a son of the West, my fate and the fate of my children are inextricably bound to the fortunes of Western civilization.
To take a cavalier attitude toward your country, your soil, and your blood seems anti-incarnational at best. As you point out, these things are far from everything but they are also far from meaningless.
I realize that this is not what you have in mind, but that rather you are offering a balancing corrective to my comments.
Thanks for the links. A helpful discussion of just war is certainly in order.
Baus
September 14th, 2006 at 9:06 pm
Bill, I think we’re on the same page.
As Paul Marshall recently wrote in a CT Sept 06 article entitled “The Problem With Prophets“:
“Political action will not deliver utopia, conquer sin, or change human nature. But it can make a difference between rampant crime and safe neighborhoods, between hungry families and economic security, between victory and defeat in war. And only those who have never been mugged, never been hungry, or never been at war will think these differences trivial.“
Tom Muldoon
September 14th, 2006 at 10:00 pm
I appreciate Bill Chellis’ comments
about patriotism. One facet of
patriotism is sympathy for those
who defend your country and provide
freedom to worship and post blogs!
I was part of the Army culture for
quite awhile. Being Christian in
the Army is a synthesis of modern
American culture and what is
Biblical. While we can critique
the United States Biblically, we
can only win the culture by having
some ability to identify with it.
Although bringing the culture to
repentance is essentially the work
of the Holy Spirit…