Austin's Blog What Would Jesus Do?
Last weekend Cindy and I spent three wonderful days with our son and his beautiful new bride at a cabin retreat during the fall colors on Alabama’s Lookout Mountain. Andrew and I spent the mornings on our bicycles grinding up long grades and zipping down steep curves. Over the course of nearly fifty miles we solved the energy crisis, debated the merits of Obama and McCain, and critiqued my class on “Understanding Islam.” Many of you know Andrew as the introductory voice in the audio segments of my Islamic study.
During one ride, Andrew posed an interesting question that I am compelled to share with you. His question cut me to the quick, challenging sacred assumptions and long-held beliefs. This blog might upset you the way my son’s thesis initially aggravated me… but once I gave it some thought, I realized that Andrew had a point we all need to consider.
Is this war winnable? “No,” Andrew says. At first his statement insulted me; I’m a 25-year veteran of the Navy, the Cold War, and combat operations in El Salvador, Grenada and the first Desert War. Yet, despite my military paradigm, a week of mentally processing Andrew’s comments has changed me. He’s right. We cannot “win” this war.
Here’s why: We’re not at war with terror. Our leaders continue to skirt this issue, to our national peril. Terrorism is not the enemy; we are at war with real people, at war with Muslim extremists bent on destroying our way of life. As George Bush said, we will take the fight to whatever enemy attacks us for as long as it takes to prevail. Yet Andrew maintains that our fighting back after the atrocities of September 11, 2001 has simply given the Muslim extremists exactly what they wanted. We have assaulted the homeland of millions of Muslims, enraging Islamic peoples around the globe.
Our military response to 9-11 may have been just, but in Andrew’s mind it was ill-considered. As he so ably points out, we don’t have an enemy that will roll up and go home when and if we “win” this conflict. This is not WWII, and it’s not the Cold War. The rules have changed and our worst enemies… Wahhabism funded by Saudi Arabia, Al Qaeda, and Osama Bin Laden… exhibit no national sovereignty. Other than our “ally” Saudi Arabia that bankrolls Islamic extremism around the world, our enemy has no national lines, and does not assemble in traditional armies and navies that we can confront. We could identify and attack evil during WWII. Now… it’s not so easy.
“What would Jesus do?” Andrew asked as we sprinted away from half a dozen mangy dogs running loose on a lone country road. “Would Jesus kill a hundred thousand Iraqis and Afghanis?” I had to confess “no,” then asked “but what would you have us do, son? Love them for killing three thousand of our citizens and bankrupting our airlines?”
Andrew never minces words. “Yes. Love them. Did Christians fight back against Rome in the early days of the persecutions?” he asked. “No. They loved their enemies. That’s what Jesus commands. We’ve never tried this. We should embrace the Muslim people. Build schools. Develop trade with them. Educate them. Not fight them.”
At first I thought that Andrew’s idea was nuts, but soon remembered a wonderful book that’s high on the New York Times best seller list, Three Cups of Tea. Greg Mortenson spent enormous personal capital building peace across Afghanistan, one school at a time. It’s a stunning tale of compassion, of impacting the lives of simple people in remarkable ways. But I was not yet convinced. “We are fighting a just war, Andrew. Education and economy are important, but books and bucks won’t turn the tide of radical Islam.”
“And fighting them will?” he snapped back, breathless as we chugged up yet another hill. We climbed for a quarter mile before he continued. “You said it yourself, Dad. We’re not fighting a nation so much as fighting a way of life. When we fight terror, we fight Islam. We’re fighting a theocracy, and that makes us the enemy of Muslims everywhere.”
If you’ve followed our class these last ten weeks, you realize that Andrew has a great point. Our response to 9-11 may be just, but vengeance is not Jesus’ way, and attacking Islam could embroil us in irresolvable conflict for decades. By the end of the bike ride, I was starting to wonder if my adamant support for battling terrorists really made sense. Islam aside, I couldn’t state with certainty that Jesus would have attacked Afghanistan in response to September 11th. Ponder this: If Jesus was President, where would we be today?
I don’t have all the answers. As a military man, I’ve believed that our attacks on Afghanistan were justified. The world was endangered by Saddam Hussein and he needed to go. But are we on the correct path if we continue this war on terror? What would Jesus do? Can we really fight Islam… tackle a radical worldwide theocracy… and hope to win? Should we even try?
Challenge your assumptions! Seek God’s wisdom in prayer and ask how our nation is called to respond to the murderous assault of radical Islam. The more I come to understand Islam, and honestly consider Andrew’s question of “What would Jesus do?” I am led to the conclusion that we need to take a different path. A trillion dollar war has not yet defeated the real enemy—radical Islam.
We should try Andrew’s approach: Let’s follow Jesus’ two great commandments to the letter…love God and love others. We must seek first to understand… seek to change hearts and minds before we resort to more war. Jesus wants us to value life and to bring others to Him.
Will Andrew’s approach work? I think so. It certainly can’t hurt to try.
Hushe village schoolgirls, Karakoram mountains, Pakistan - Source: Amazon.com
I totally agree that we can’t really “win” this war. And what is the definition of winning, anyway? I would have to say that the government’s definition and mine differ greatly. I would say winning the war would be to set up these countries that we are helping with complete independence, and freedom to make their own choices. Winning would be having no one die in the process. Already, according to my definition, we have lost. The question is, how much longer will we losing? I don’t agree in just pulling out and leaving those people without support and defenseless, but there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight.
Is the Pentagon correct then when it calls the region “the non-integrating gap?”
I want to preface this by saying that I don’t want to take what you said out of context, that is why I am asking. When you said “When we fight terror, we fight Islam”(in the paragraph right below “three cups of tea”) I had to read it twice. Did you actually mean to say “radical islam?”
Are there any accounts in the bible of Jesus or the disciples defending innocent people (other than Christ on the cross)? I really want to say that there are…because that has been my own defense of why this is a just war…but when I really think about it I can’t come up with any examples…
I have such a hard time with this issue, because I know that as Christians we are called to love others and not seek vengence. But when are we called to step up as protectors? I have just finished a book by Elizabeth Elliot, the wife of the late missionary Jim Elliot who refused to fight back against attacking natives because he was practicing peace. He died for his beliefs and his non-actions. I question what I would do in this type of situation. If someone tried to hurt my family I know I couldn’t stand there and let it happen. I would fight back, and trust that God had put that protecting spirit in me. If we had not retaliated and reacted against terror would other innocent people in our country today be dead?
To BeJoyful’s first question, yes… I meant that we are at war with radical Islam, or more correctly, Islamic fundamentalism. The term “radical” is used incorrectly, even by me, since the fundamental interpretation of Muhammad’s teachings leads to much of this terror activity. Good catch, BeJoyful!
To the BeJoyful’s second question, Jesus defended innocents who were sinners, but undeserving of death, such as the adulteress about to be stoned. He healed innocent people and in so doing defended them in some ways. But I know of no physical defense of the innocent, although His righteous anger is displayed in some situations. I believe that we are called to defend ourselves, but the question arises “was the attack on Iraq self defense?”
Kiwimichelle asks another penetrating question. “If we’d stayed out of the fight, how many more people would have died?” This question is very pertinent, since our lack of engagement in WWII until after Pearl Harbor led to the death of hundreds of thousands of Jews. If we’d followed Andrew’s recommendation, would it have led to better conditions in Iraq and Afghanistan? My military side says “no”, but Andrew’s point is we’ve never tried the alternative. Interesting subject for conversation… what would have happened if we’d brought schools and not bombs?
From my current research, the general consensus between Muslims is that the radical Muslims do not understand the true nature of Islam. Yet, I do not see “conservative” Muslims making an effort to educate radical Muslims on their error. A reoccurring theme that I find is that Muslims tend to have a lackadaisical attitude when it comes to supporting or guiding each other. If Muslims do not intervene when other Muslims are wrong, than who will? We may not ever “win” the war on terror, but at least we are making an effort to voice concerns for the actions of radical Muslims.
Violence may not be the answer to this problem, but what actions will have any effect? Yes, education and economy boosts can develop a Muslim community, but it will not change the mindset of radical Muslims. Deciding on a solution is difficult, as it calls for social and religious customs to be altered in a people who believe they are doing nothing wrong.
This question also took me by surprise, because I have been raised in a military family my whole life. However, I have had many of the same conversations with my father, who serves as a chaplain in the Air Force. Interestingly, my father has many of the same views. When you really look into what Jesus would think of this war, I believe that he would feel that many American Christians are contradicting their values and beliefs. In all honesty, I have very mixed feelings about the war. I do feel that we are essentially fighting against religion, and that is not right. However, do we just ignore Muslim Extremists? Maybe the war we are at is not the answer, but what is?
I understand that we can’t win this war, and it pains me to see us still involved. I agree with Andrew that we need to educate people. My only concern with trying to educate people is that we are trying to westernize these places. I think that Mortenson (Three Cups of Tea) did it right he went into hard places but befriended the locals. This led to gaining respect for each other and each others dreams. I agree that education is power and I would love to see us end this war soon, and try to educate people while also allowing all to educate us as well.
I am challenged by the depth of the discussion on this blog. I don’t think we can “tackle a worldwide radical theocracy” with success. But why is Islamic extremism an issue at this point in history and how did we come to the state that brings us to this dilemma? Is there something in the development of this turmoil and the rise of Islam fundamentalism that we can look back to and see as a juncture where things should have gone differently and maybe still can?
This is a hard topic to sift through because who can know the future or the past(what would have happened). But we are called to love our enemies and I believe that Jesus meant all of our enemies, even the ones who are unjust and evil. The issue at the core of all this is a wrong thinking in radical Islam, and how do we change that? By force? or by love? Jesus never won anyone over by force, but by showing them love, and that is what changes them.
So are you suggesting that we pull up stakes in the Middle East right now and leave? I do agree with what you have to say, but how can we leave now? It is interesting to think about what the result would have been if we didn’t go to war. I don’t disagree with the fact we went to war, but I don’t see our troops getting out of there anytime soon either. Sometimes it almost feels hopeless in some ways as to the ending result.
What Andrew brought up is a good question. Honestly I wouldn’t know either but it doesn’t hurt to try, but what do we do after we try and it fails? Trying to deal with all situations with Jesus’ way in mind is an optimistic goal but in a secular society like ours it is hard to get others to stop and agree on trying to love our enemies.
I really agree with Andrew. He has some solid points. I do not support or agree with the Iraqi Occupation. Especially because Suddam Husein didn’t have anything to do with 9/11. I think we should be building up our Muslim brothers and sisters and not torturing, bankrupting, or killing them. I can not help but think of the pain this occupation and 9/11 has caused my Muslim friends who grieve the whole situation. It’s harder to fight an enemy that is not an army like you say. We didn’t have terrorists in Iraq, until we invaded it. But our response to 9/11 was exactly what the terrorists hoped for. And unfortunately, Muslims are being persecuted for their beliefs and actions. We, as Christians need to stop this. That’s what Jesus would do.
Hello everyone, I am the Andrew Boyd from the article. I am so delighted to see that the conversation between my father and I has extended to the internet. I appreciate the way the article was written and wanted to make a few more comments.
I would like to convey the reason that I oppose the war against militant Islam (yes I believe in a peaceful ‘brand’ of Islam, too). Consider this, as a result of attacks on 9-11, more than 2,000 people were killed. In 2003, during the first month of the war, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis were displaced and thousands of innocent people were killed. In America, some of us justify the Iraqi’s loss as collateral damage in a just conflict.
The reason I oppose war on a very fundamental basis is because I believe the very idea of ‘collateral damage’ is one which comes straight from Satan.
When war is waged against against another country, it is not simply waged against a government or a military, it is engaged against innocent civilians. I can find no proof against this claim as I can’t find an example of war which did not take innocent life. Therefore, upon the assumption that war must always take innocent life, and knowing that this fundamentally contradicts the teachings of Christ, war must be rejected. I don’t believe this to be a patriotic, pro-American, or common sense way of thinking.
I believe it to be a lesson from Christ.
Christianity and patriotism do not always align themselves. Patriotism is love of our country’s achievements(man’s works) and is firmly rooted in the protection of our own lives. Christianity is the love of God, peace, hope, and endless mercy; especially in the face of death.
I hope this does not offend anyone. It is radical and I don’t even know if I could live up to the ideas I espouse.
I look forward to continuing this discussion.
I completely agree that the Iraq war is not just, at all, and I do not think that answering violence for violence is ever good. Jesus specifically says turn the other cheek, Jesus also talks about blessing those who curse you, and Paul later urges Christians to return blessings for curses. Jesus also says, as Andrew pointed out, “Love your enemies.” and the bible says it is God’s to avenge, that He will repay. in short, i dont’ think any war is just from a Biblical perspective. I watched the movie END OF THE SPEAR (same story as mentioned earlier- Jim Elliot) and was convicted about what i would do, would i run in fear? would i pray blessings on them as i was dying like Jesus did for those who crucified him?
The word “terrorist” is extremely ambiguous. Terrorists come in all shapes, ethnicities, religions, and more. This war on terrorism is so vague because we are not against any single nation/country, but against hateful individuals who seek to spread insidious messages through acts of destruction and public hate. To wage war on terror is to run into a snowstorm looking for an extremist who could be anywhere. No government is perfect. How can it be when run by imperfect people? How do we make that difference? How do we spread peace when issues are no longer in “other” places, but piling up inside our home? I do not have answers to the above questions, but I truly believe that in times of turmoil (both economic and political) that people begin to focus on what was done wrong and how to act better in the future. Is this naive? Maybe to some degree, but we saw many things change after the World Wars, the Great Depression, and more current events.
I don’t have much to say. I feel like everything has been said, and said very eloquently! I think that this is a very interesting topic and find myself second guessing how I feel about us in this war. It is a humbling thing to think “What would Jesus do?” in a situation like this…
Perhaps, even though our government has taken the approach of war, maybe we can take the approach of peace. Organizations and individuals certainly can make a difference in the war and in the lives of people in the Middle East by supporting peaceful efforts. This doesn’t mean fighting against the war and protesting (because that brings factions and doesn’t initiate peace). But we could be doing more with NGOs in the Middle East to help the issues that we are mutually facing. And it wasn’t an attack from Islam against the US, it was an attack from extremists and terrorists. The sooner we realize that all Muslims from the Middle East aren’t terrorist, the sooner we can find that common ground and realize that we are all on the same team.