The Blog I Never Use

A friend of mine and one time roomate, Jamie, reposted an article from Sojourners, in which the author opposes the attacks on Lebanon and our president's support thereofOne of Jaime's commentors made several comments in support of the bombings and (because he lacks detailed knowledge of the situation) calls the Lebanese people, "millitant Muslims." I feel that I should reprint my reply, in case any of you need to know how to defend your support of Lebanon innocents (my comments assume that most readers are coming from a Judeo-Christian perspective):

. . . I don’t know how to approach this without stepping on your toes, but I have to point some things out. I was in contact with a dozen or more Lebanese who, before this started, just wanted to live in the country that they love, though most are in exile at the moment. They ALL opposed Hezbollah, but felt that their government was too weak to disarm them (and it was). What we have here is a bigger problem than you recognize: you see Israel retaliating against terrorists, but the fact is that Israel is retaliating against women and children, angainst the elderly and sick for the actions of people who were the enemies of those people, at least before this violence drove them together.

Israel always claimed to have the greatest force of assasins in the modern world, why couldn’t they use those assasins to kill those responsable for terrorism, instead of killing the innocent — and creating more terrorists.

Also, Lebanon is one of the few countries in the Middle East that has significant Christian populations; Christians (mostly Marionite and Orthodox) make up almost 40% of the population (CIA Fact Book, updated on July 20, 2006). Whoever told you they they were a bunch of fundamentalist Muslims lied.

Sorry to pull the proverbial trump card, but I think it proper that we all remember Proverbs 17:15 , “One who justifies the wicked and one who condemns the righteous are both alike, an abomination to the LORD.” There are countless righteous people being condemed, and way too many defending the wicked actions of others.
Read Amos, follow the progression of the oracles, God makes it clear that all nations will account for their actions, whether or not those actions were retaliation or just terror. God doesn’t let Moab off for defiling the bodies of Edomite kings just because Edom, “. . . pursued his brother with the sword.” I’m sorry, but you don’t get to act that way, and if you claim to be the People of God, you get worse, and I don’t know whether I’m talking about Israel here or America: we may all be destroyed for supporting this, at least according to scripture.

My advise: we wail in sackcloth and ashes and pray for our brothers and sisters in Lebanon.