“How should we respond?”

“…Osama Dead – Censored Video Leakedon.fb.me   Osama is dead, watch this exclusive

CNN video which was censored by Obama Administration due to level of violence, a must watch. Leaked by Wikileaks…”

I had this sent to me on Facebook and refused to watch it, I am some times amazed at us, we who should “explain the Father” as Jesus did so John 1:18 (NASB) tells us, we humanity being the reflectors of the image of God, it begs the question does the world know more about the Father, creator God through my words actions and love?

Our news channels were filled with surprising news, is this the beginning of a confrontation or an end to a long-standing confrontation, giving us news of things that we were previously unaware of. I have a challenge for us today having watched the worldwide announcement on the death of a man, a man who many have longed to see the end of or the conclusion of a struggle.    Without doubt Osama Bin Laden has caused much fear and caused much damage during his lifetime. My writing is not however about this man, to elevate or put down I’m not here to pass judgment on him at this time, but more about the state of affairs in our world and the people we find around us.

It challenges us, especially those of us with faith, we are especially challenged in how should we respond?    Our screens have been filled with attacks in Libya in the name of liberation, the fight for liberty within Syria, African nations battle within its boundaries, with all we know that is going on in our world, how do we, with the faith respond to the problem of evil in our world. It seems as though we so easily join those who ignore evil until it hits us right between our eyes, but the question remains, how do we respond?

We have seen Celebrations surrounding the death of this man flooding in to the streets, the concerned conversations of retaliation in political corridors, the soul-searching comments and questions on Facebook, Twitter, and Blogs like mine let alone the news.   The spiritual representatives uttering different view whether by the Archbishop of Canterbury or by the Dalai Lama, comments that conflict some times.   We see one nation flooding in celebration to the streets and another nation struggling and condemning the celebration of this death.

I note the number of Facebook and Twitter comments re-stating Martin Luther King Jr’s powerful quotation “I will mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy.      Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars.   Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that.    Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.”

We can be fully aware of evil in its actions and movements and do nothing about it, governments can be fully aware of the axis of evil, Al-Qaeda, the forces that seem to undermine our world, terrorism and its operation and nobody moved to do anything, or wanted to know about it until the twin towers fell, or more lately our banking world collapsed.    Until it hit us face on.     We are certain that the factors and forces involved were moving and breathing before the disaster, and were even under surveillance but no-one wanted to take it too seriously until it was too late.

The challenges of this evil goes on and we are all fully aware of the problem that faces the developing world with chronic national debt and HIV threats to whole populations but nobody in the West wants to take it too seriously.  In the poorer countries of our world the challenge is in the conscious of all the poor who are being de-sensitized by being offered Pepsi and sweetness from the developed world who in turn are tapping into a huge market  for themselves, but adding  health problems due to excess sugar to the already chronic problems  of our world.   The banking challenge that we are still facing was there for everyone to see but nobody wanted to take it seriously until it was too late.   Today the changes, the implications it has brought about are still to be handled with the rise of the ‘BRICS’ nations and their perhaps rightful demand for change in the IMF, United Nations, it’s far from over, it was plain to see but it was just too late.

Let us not ignore changes and evil except when it hits us between the eyes; let us know how to respond.

How should we respond?

Today I have to admit I’m challenged, disappointed and stand emotionally wondering how should I react?     Do I, do we reacting in immature and dangerous ways, we Know that we can no longer be isolated and removed in our actions as our media immediately delivers the emotional explosions right in our living rooms, whether it’s a Libyan politician protesting after very so-called attempted on taking the life of his Presidents or whether it’s people flooding out onto the street celebrating the death of one man.

Our world that celebrates the killing, with joy the TV screens report in my living room, of a killer who celebrates killing I am not sure what to make of the life we live and times we breath in?  Is our world just out of control in our immaturity?

How should I respond?

Surely not by lashing out at something you simply know by media.  Is it a sign of strength to just tolerate human atrocities?  Surely neither of these is the way to build a stable model society. The appalling acts of his unprovoked horror and anger but we must avoid knee jerking reaction, unthinkingly, immature lashing out will get us nowhere and will get misunderstood otherwise we will divide people into acceptable and unacceptable people groups which again is immature.     Lashing out as those you perceive as being evil in the hope that we deal with the problem will certainly not solve anything for anyone

‘Evil’ is a four letter word that surely can only be dealt with by another four letter word ‘love’, but how do we love?     I don’t hold any particular answers at this time, I am sure that this will frustrate some, but I would say that we should find within ourselves a means for the love of God to be shared abroad for us not to ignore evil, not to lash out and react, but to be wise.      How can I display a better way of living with difference?      Rather than joining those we see as evil.

I hope you will consider how you and I can counter the quick spiral into evil and prevent the downward spiral of evil and violence from being ours too.      Remember the four letter word of God that the ‘love’ of God to be shed abroad and bring healing to the world in a small way, if we all play our part, it would be a big thing.    So what do you or who do you see as evil that the LOVE of God can be shown?

How should I/we respond?

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s