Do-Overs
For 9/11
But I say
unto you, That ye resist not evil:
but
whosoever small smite thee on thy right cheek,
turn to
him the other also.
--
Matthew 5:39
The latest madman in the Middle
East, the Iranian politician now threatening us with nuclear war, is named
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. His last name is just like the French word for an entrée
with almonds in the sauce, "almondine," pronounced "ah-mah-deen."
Is that the Lord warning us, or
what? THIS GUY IS NUTS!!!
I sat in the dental hygienist's
chair last week and developed a new anti-terrorism idea. We should have a dental hygienist, a knife sharpening
service, a watch repair shop and an acupuncture booth on every plane. We can
all get needed services en route . . . and on the off chance a would-be hijacker
would spring up, en garde! Sharp instruments at the ready!
I also heard about a guy flying his
plane when the family cat suddenly got out of the pet carrier and went bananas
inside the tiny cockpit. He was scratching the guy's eyes out! He had to
strangle him, or go down in flames. Which brought up the idea: why don't we
install cat kennels inside every cockpit, primed to spring open upon a
hijacking? It'd be . . . meow-velously surprising.
Bottom line: we're coming up on the
five-year anniversary of 9/11. Remember? The towers, the flames, the smoke, the
terror. What if we could have "do-overs"? What if we could have made it come
out some other way? What if they all would have fought back, the way the "Let's
Roll!" people did?
We just watched Flight 93, the heartbreaking TV movie about that fourth flight,
where the passengers' courage averted a probable crash into the White House.
They perished. But they foiled the evil plan. They won.
Some people think the Bible tells us
not to fight back against evil. They usually cite Matthew 5:39, where Jesus
tells us to turn the other cheek. Someone did that the other day in a letter to
the editor of our daily paper, urging a withdrawal of our troops from the
Middle East. It made me mad.
Look closer at that verse: why would
Jesus specify getting slapped on your "right" cheek? Doesn't that mean your
assailant would have to be using his or her left hand? How much damage can that
do? Not much. So how much harm is involved in Jesus' example? Not much.
And why on the "cheek"? Doesn't that
imply that the impact would be more slight than mighty - a slap, rather than a
punch? Doesn't it imply a surface contact with no significant, lasting injury?
Consider the Greek word for "evil"
in that verse, "poneros," meaning a "hurtful influence" - something malicious
in intent - but far less than murder and violence. If Jesus had meant THAT kind
of evil, He would have said so.
What it means is, if someone hurts
you but you're really not that hurt, you're not to retaliate, but let them do
whatever they did again, showing that you're not hurt, and they're just making
fools of themselves.
But if it's murderous terrorists
hijacking a planeload of innocent civilians . . . or blowing up women and
babies . . . or chopping off people's heads . . . that's 'way beyond a foolish
act.
We have to fight back.
Jesus never says to wimp out against
violence and terrorism. He loves us; He doesn't want us hurt or killed. He
would want us to be like those people on Flight 93. He would want us to fight
back, any way we can. When we do, He will bless it, because it's what He wants
us to do.
All those who say the war in
Afghanistan and Iraq is wrong and we shouldn't be fighting back are playing in
to the hands of those who would kill us all if they had half a chance. They're as
crazy as the terrorists.
I say, let's be ready if there's a
next time. If it happens to you, find a way to fight back. If it takes plaque
scrapers or deranged cats, let's fight back with everything we have. †
