Lost in the aftermath

This morning, following yesterday's wicked bomb explosions in London, any voice not calling for blood and retribution risks quick marginalization. Responding to evil with anything resembling love is not only counterintuitive by human reasoning, it borders on treason. At moments like these anyone walking into the crosshairs is apt to be shot, if not literally then as a figure of speech. As the old saw says, fools step in where angels fear to tread.

But Johann Christoph Arnold is such a fool.

Anyone who has traveled in the past four years will have no doubt that our “values and way of life” are going to be defended. Soldiers and armed security guards are already a common sight at major airports and train stations. After today, we will see more.

But it seems to me that amid all the tumult, we are missing the most important thing. If 9/11 really changed us (as so many people claim) then why are we once again seeking protection in heightened security and military might? If we have really seen enough bloodshed and violence, then why aren’t we turning to God for help?

I don’t just mean talking about God. At least here in the United States, I have never heard so much religious language as since 9/11. But how many of us have truly stopped and tried to listen to what God is saying?

Biblical history shows us that whenever we think we have the answers and try to take world events into our hands, God withdraws from us. It was only when the children of Israel realized that their own strength had come to an end, and cried out to God, that he intervened and helped them. If God led the children of Israel out of Egypt, how much more will he help us today?

Thanks to ROFTERS for the link.

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If you don't read another word on my site, take time now to go to the complete post by Johann Arnold. If you are pressed for time, go directly to the comments thread and read until you get tired. Responses there from all over the world make me not feel alone.