9/11 Remembered: A Christian Response to an American Crisis

[This was my first response to the tragedy of 9/11. At first, I felt that there might be a national revival because of so many people turning to God in the midst of the tragedy. Of course, such fear driven conversions rarely persist. But I thought it might shake up America's arrogance and help us re-evaluate our values. Unfortunately, we have become more arrogant and fear has actually caused many of our values to erode. The America I grew up in did not start wars (at least not openly), detain prisioners of war years after the war was declared over, and didn't condone, excuse or turn a blind eye to torture. Unfortunately, I'm afraid many Christians swept along with the cultural tides of our time have let this national paranoia erode many of their values as well. I think in remembering that tragic day we must mourn not only the dead, but the living legacy of 9/11 in terms of the fear and hatred it has spawned in the hearts of many of our citizens. This article is as relevant today as it was when it was published just a few days after the event.

A Christian Response to an American Crisis

There are events that happen that years later you will remember exactly where you were when you heard the news. For me, those events include the death of President Kennedy, the Lunar Landing, the Challenger disaster and last Tuesday, September 11, 2001 when the World Trade Center towers were leveled and the Pentagon Damaged by terrorists using fully loaded jet airliners as flying bombs.

The numbers themselves are staggering. The 110-story World Trade Towers brought down to a 5 story pile of rubble. Four or five other buildings nearby destroyed. Over 200 firefighters and police killed in rescue efforts. Nearly 200 persons killed at the Pentagon and close to 5000 lost in New York. 50,000 National Guard and Reservists called to active duty. Troops mobilizing around the world.

It's a frightening time. The question is how do we as Christians respond to this tragedy? Here are a few reflections in the shadow of this event.

Pray. The next few weeks are going to be difficult ones for everyone. As the days pass and bodies are recovered, hope will wane and vanish for the families and friends of the victims. Pray that God will be with them during this time of grief. Also pray for the world's leaders. Difficult, dangerous decisions must be made in the coming months which are going to require divine wisdom.

Manage Your Fear. Yes, these are scary times. We do need to take reasonable precautions, but we also need to continue to live our lives. Scripture says that He has not given us a "spirit of fear but of love and power and a sound mind" (2 Tim. 1.7) Fear brings one into bondage (Romans 8.15). Besides, God is our refuge and our strength. He will either keep us safe or take us home. Either way, we are in His hands. Fear steals your testimony. If people see you trembling in fear over the affairs of this life, you cannot point them to your source of hope. But if you are confident in the time of trouble then you have the opportunity to share why you can feel that way.

Continue in Love. Right now we are experiencing a lot of anger. The desire for revenge and retribution is strong. We also feel frustration in not knowing exactly who is responsible for these horrific attacks, how to apprehend them and how to bring them to justice. Consequently, many people are expressing that anger and frustration by venting it on people of Arabic descent. Just recently, at least two people have been killed simply because of this heritage. I have a number of Arabic students in my classes. It was nearly a week before they returned to class and they have been distant in their interactions with other students. We must not allow a righteous anger to turn into unfocused hatred. God loves your Arab neighbor just as much as He loves you. And by extending that Love to them at this difficult time, you may well be an instrument of God which can draw them to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Redeem the Time. We have seen much talk of God and Prayer in the public arena in the past few days. Admittedly, much of it is window dressing. A tragedy is often followed by a public call to prayer or reference to God. But the magnitude of this particular tragedy has shaken people's confidence to a point that there is an opportunity for witnessing like never before.

We as a people have in the past century placed our trust in our economy and our military might. We have felt safe from upheavals often found in other countries because we are a wealthy nation with a strong military. The attack struck deep at both our centers of economic power and military might. We have seen that even the greatest, wealthiest, and most powerful country in the world is vulnerable to attack from a relatively small group of conspirators. So, if we can't trust in the power of this world, what can we trust? This is the question that many people are asking themselves now.

Of course, we have the answer. You can trust Jesus Christ. I was impressed that in much of the talk about prayer and God among our media and political leaders this past few days, I have heard nothing about Jesus. People are thinking about God, but not about salvation. We have a golden opportunity to lead them from that God consciousness to Christ Consciousness. Our message is simple. This world is unpredictable. Life is often tenuous. But there is hope. Jesus Christ came to this world, taught us how to live, then took upon himself our sin, died and rose again so that we might be made Children of God and given peace and comfort in times of trouble and the hope of an eternity with Him.

Perhaps today, you are one of those who are feeling anxious. You fear that which is coming on the earth. Perhaps you have been trusting in all the wrong things. Perhaps, you are looking for meaning in the midst of a senseless world. You have wanted to seek God in this time of trouble, but don't know how. You want peace, confidence and assurance that God really does have everything under control. You can have that peace today. Admit that you are a sinner, that you fall short of what you know God wants for your life. Turn away from that sin and ask Christ to come into your life, take control and give you that hope of eternal life. If you want you can pray this prayer right now.

"Dear Lord Jesus, I want to have your peace in my heart. I ask you to forgive me of my sins, to come into my heart and help me live a righteous life. I commit myself to you and promise to live for you. Thank you for coming into my life today. Amen"

If you prayed that prayer, you are now part of God's forever family. Your name has been written in His Book of Life, you have a home in heaven and a place in His family here on Earth. You need to connect with a good Bible Believing church.

Whatever your circumstance today, remember, no matter what happens GOD IS FAITHFUL! He will be with us during this time, and that comfort is one thing the terrorists cannot destroy.

No Spirit of Fear!!!

[This was amazing. I was looking for another article I wrote immediately following 9/11 and discovered this one. At the time I didn't realize how deep our national paranoia would eventually run. I couldn't have imagined people taking off their shoes before getting on a plane or being barred from taking cough medicine on a plane. I couldn't imagine people of color agreeing that racial profiling could be a good thing (as long as it isn't the police officer on the corner pulling them over because they came into the wrong neighborhood). The troubling compromising of civil liberties, issuance of secret search warrants, unwarranted wiretapping, the turning over of virtually everyone's phone records, and the justification of torture out of fear of terrorism. So, this article for Christians following 9/11 is even more on point today. Read it in light of what has happened in the past 5 years as a result of rampant fear of terrorism.]

No Spirit of Fear

The events of September 11 left America with more than buildings destroyed and lives lost. They left us with a spirit of fear. These attackers are not called terrorists for nothing. Their most powerful weapons are not bombs or guns, explosives or anthrax. Their most powerful weapon is fear.

A few recent news stories shows how pervasive this fear has become. An airliner was forced to land and fighter jets scrambled because a man of Arab descent was smoking in the rest room and became angry when told to stop. An IRS processing facility was shut down today because a woman found some sort of powdery substance on an envelope. Tweezers and fingernail files are not being allowed on planes. While these may or may not be reasonable precautions given the current situation, they are indicative of the level of fear present in the country.

This spirit of fear is even infecting the church. I heard someone a couple of weeks ago decide not to go to a church meeting unless she could go with someone, because she was afraid.

A month after the attacks, many people are still depressed and unable to sleep for fear. This brings to mind the scripture referring to the last days with "Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken" (Luke 21.26) Yet, I Timothy 1.7 says "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." If anything, Christians should be the calm presence in the midst of the storms facing us today.

So, then how can be fight the fear.

1) Trust in God first, and man second.

While security precautions are good, your protection as a Christian does not depend on them. The Psalmist said, "Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God." (Psalm 20.7) Our security lies in God. Does this mean we don't
take reasonable precautions? Certainly not. As always, one needs to lock their doors at night, be aware of their surroundings, be patient with the delays at airports, but lets not become obsessive about safety. Nothing is totally safe, but God is always faithful.

2.) Don't Overdose on News Reports.

Certainly we are all interested in what is happening, but don't spend hours of your time watching the same scenes of the World Trade Towers collapsing. Set a limit on the number of hours you spend watching such reports. Get more of your news from newspapers and news magazines. These are less visually involving than television.

3.) Turn a deaf ear to rumors.

Especially with the Internet, rumors can spread rapidly. Somebody'scousins, sister's wife's best friend's husband's brother heard from his butcher whose son is in the CIA that..... These types of stories are invariably untrue and serve only to inspire unwarranted fear. If there is a legitimate, imminent, known threat, the official agencies will make the announcement through regular media outlets. Even in these cases listen for specifics. A warning that "Officials are reporting that a terrorist attack is likely to occur during the next few weeks, possibly on the west coast," may be useful for law enforcement officials to keep their eyes open, but means very little in the way of assessing your own personal vulnerability.

4.) Assess the real level of personal vulnerability.

The events of September 11 were horrific, but put in perspective, your chances of being killed in an automobile accident are much higher than being killed in a terrorist attack even on the ground in the Middle East. If you live in a small town, it is unlikely that you will be hit by a terrorist attack simply because, terrorists go after population centers for the most carnage. If you fly, consider that only a few planes have been hijacked out of American airports in the past 25 years.

5.) Live a normal life.

If you cancel your vacation plans, stop going to large gatherings, fear drinking water, check for bombs everywhere, stop going to concerts, plays, or evangelistic crusades, or willingly sacrifice your basic freedoms of travel, assembly, and free speech then the
terrorists have already won. Fear is their weapon and their goal. They have no realistic hope of conquering a superpower, but they can bring us to our knees in fear and in so doing we conquer ourselves. The pay off for conquering the fear in our own hearts is more than simply more joyful living for us as Christians, but by replacing the spirit of fear with the spirit of confidence in Christ, we can share peace with others around us. We can point those who are fearful around us to the one who has conquered all fear.

In so doing, we defeat Satan's plans. We turn what he meant for evil into something God is transforming into good.

When the terrorists win!

I was browsing through some writing I had done years ago and came across this which I wrote about a week after 9/11. If you remember, there was a general panic. I knew a woman who didn't even want to come to a county wide church conference because she was afraid to go out in public -- and we live in California!

The problem is that they are called "terrorists" for a reason. They do not realistically expect to invade America and turn it into an Islamic state by force of arms. They don't even realistically expect to do that in Isreal. Their victory comes in the fear of their enemies. When their enemies are afraid of them, they have succeeded as surely as if we signed articles of surrender with Al-Queida.

I was trying to put that into words and wrote the following email to a discussion group:

I will take a trip to San Francisco this weekend and cross the Bay Bridgefrustrated by traffic delays but not in fear of attack because if I don'tTHEY WIN!

I will plan a trip for summer without thinking about airport security,because if I don't THEY WIN!

I will begin my retirment investment portfolio and I will include some bluechip stocks in the portfolio without fear of loss because if I don't THEYWIN!

I look at my Arab neighbors without suspicion, hatred or fear. Because ifI don't THEY WIN!

I will greive for the loss of so many innocents, but I will not live as a slave to fear or hatred, because if I don't THEY WIN!

I will walk tall and straight without fear.I will breathe the air of my homeland as a Free American, and I will not give up freedom for safety, because if I don't THEY WIN!

Since September 11 many of us have let the terrorists win by succumbing to fear and hatred, by being willing to bargain away our freedoms for the illusion of perfect safety.

Terrorists have no goal of taking over Governments or running countries. Their goal is to punish those whom they hate with fear.

When a country gives into that fear and the people live their lives based on avoiding attack or responding to such attacks, whenpolice are replaced by soldiers, when freedom is considered a luxury, when the people live their lives looking over their shoulders in fear, when hatred and suspicion reign, when I fear man more than I trust God,then THEY WIN!!!

Whether they win or not is my choice.

And I for one, will not let them win.

Religious Neutrality or Religious Freedom?

Today, I got a flyer in my mail box at the college. It read:

Stressed Out!

Difficulty Concentrating Don't Medicate....

Meditate

Free Meditation Instruction for faculty, staff, and students

It then gave the time and place. And it was printed with the college logo on the page. Okay, I don't have problems with meditation, per se. Some forms are simply relaxation techniques with no religious significance. And on the religious side, many religious systems practice meditation of different types including Christians and Jews as well as Eastern Religions like Buddhism and Hinduism. Without knowing how the instructor would approach the practice, I couldn't say whether it would be essentially secular in nature or religious. After all, I don't know that they are going to have the person sit cross legged on the floor and chant mantras.

However, that's the problem. There is a picture on the page of a woman doing exactly that. She is sitting in the lotus position touching thumb and forefingers together. I had to wonder, if instead of that pose, she had been kneeling serenely with hands folded together what would happen.

Transcendental Mediation and yoga based meditation is a religious practice. The body positioning and the chanting of the mantras have religious significance as much as saying "Our Father who art in heaven" has for the Christian.

As readers of this blog know by now, I am not exactly a fan of the religious right (nor the religious left for that matter) but some of the more intelligent writers on that side of the culture war have made the point that there is a type of hypocrisy bound up in the protestations of religious neutrality by school administrators. They claim that the issue of religious neutrality only arises when the religion in question is Christianity.

For instance, one university is requiring reading from the koran, but have no such similar requirement for Biblical study. Turbins are allowed in some school districts, but crosses and crucifixes banned. This is yet another example that religious neutrality tends to work mostly against Christians.

I believe in religious neutrality in the schools. I oppose prayers led by administrators, posting of the 10 commandments, and I really don't care if the Pledge of Allegiance includes the words "under God" or not considering that they were added at a later date anyway. But what is good for the goose is good for the gander. One may argue that even though it is a religious practice, it is being used for a secular purpose - Relaxation.

One can argue that saying Christian prayers also can reduce stress. And those on the left argue -persusasively - that the teaching of "intelligent design" as an adjunct to the theory of evolution is simply a back door attempt to get the book of Genesis taught in the classroom. (Personal opinion is that at the lower grades it is silly to discuss creation from either perspective since the lack of evidence on both sides is overwhelming).

If this was simply a private individual using the school facilities, that's cool. If it was a campus student group, great. But as a school sponsored, faculty directed activity, it, in my opinion, crosses the line. The doctirne of religious neutrality must extend to all religions and not just Christianity. To do otherwise would be to violate a basic tenant of the first admendment.

Christian Foundation???

One of the things which bothers me about the Christian right, but also to a lesser extent the Christian left as well, is the historical myth that the founding fathers set with a Bible in one hand and a quill pen in the other writing the constitution.

We hear it all the time. "This country was built on Christian prinicples." However, when you look at our form of government, it bears little resemblance to any type of Biblical government Old Testament or new.

God's plan for Isreal was a sort of theocratic socialism. The prophet would be in charge as a "Judge" over Isreal and receive instructions from God for the big issues. Otherwise, they would follow a code of laws which were quite interesting in light of America's preoccupation with capitalism. Now, I'm not opposed to capitalism, per se. We have benefitted as a nation from it, but we must not enshrine it as essentially Biblical. There was a type of free enterprise in the sense of individuals such as farmers and craftspeople selling their own goods, but the foundation of capitalism is loaning money at interest which was forbidden under the Law.

One of the most interesting elements of the law had to do with land ownership. Here's what Leviticus has to say about it:


And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.
(Lev 25:10)

As you read further, you find out that every 50 years all of the land which had been sold to other people was redistributed to the original families so that no one could build up a monopoly on wealth because in those days wealth was measured in land and cattle and the produce of the land.

Also, they were not allowed to sell the land at whatever they could get for it. The price was fixed based on the produce of the land for the years the owner held it. They were not allowed to "charge what the market would bear." Such profiteering which is the American way of life in business was forbidden.

Since Isreal is not free in the New Testament, we must look at the organization of the church community for hints as to Government. In this case we see a type of communal living at the beginning. The church shared their funds with each other so that all could share in the prosperity of others. Of course, this was necessary considering the persecution of the times. There was a rude democracy at work, but it was direct democracy in the sense of coming to a consensus on issues rather than voting on them and taking the 51 percent solution.

So, where did our form of government come from? Well, most of the models had their roots in Greece and Rome. The original form of government in the U.S. was a type of elected oligarchy. The franchise was limited to males and landowners. With the exception of local offices and the house of representatives, Senators and Presidents were elected by the electoral college. The electors were not bound by law to vote for their candidate either, although they usually would.

The Roman senate was composed of the heads of ancient families for the most part and the Procounsuls were elected by popular vote of a limited citizenry as well. In the period before the emperors this provided a type of representative form of Government which was later refined into the Parliaments of Europe and eventually that of the U.S.

Likewise, our legal system has its roots in Roman Law. The Justinian Code laid the groundwork for legal codes throughout the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and the Age of Enlightenment. Those codes were the models upon which our legal system is built. The Romans were the first to set forth the principle of presumption of innocence which is the hallmark of western Juris Prudence. The Justinian Code more than the 10 Commandments laid the foundation of our laws. Indeed, only the laws concerning theft, murder, and perjury are based on Mosaic law and those are shared by nearly all legal systems.

So, does this mean that our system is bad? No, not at all. What it does mean is that we cannot turn American History into some sort of apologetic for tearing down the wall of separation between church and state. Contrary to the assumptions of some, the founding fathers did not consider themselves to be setting up a "Christian" nation, even though most of them would consider themselves Christian (even though probably not by the standards of modern day evangelicals or the early church). They were driven more by classical ideals and the French enlightenment. The produced a good system. Would God's system be better? Probably, but I fear you need God to run it, since I don't think we have very many humans capable of doing so equitably.