“Be Imitators of Christ”—so
goes a phrase in the Bible. Such an lofty aim—how
on earth can anyone imitate Christ? And yet, this is part
of the responsibility of those who call themselves Christian.
In preparation for this article,
I checked the world news, particularly the situation in
the Middle East between Israel and Lebanon. Needing to
understand better, I did a little research on the background
of the Hezbollah, known as “The Party of God.”
From one of their websites, I found these phrases:
“Hizbullah is concerned
about Presenting Islam that is confident of its fundamentals,
its highly civilized understanding of Man, life and the
universe, Islam as being self-assured about its capability
to achieve the basis of right and justice.”
“We are anxious to present
Islam as being the guardian for human rights defining
choices, adopting convictions and expressing them, socially.”
“We hereby affirm that
our Islam rejects violence as a method to gain Power,
and this should be the formula for the nonislamists as
well.”
In other words, this religious
political party in its stated purpose aims high with reasonable
goals. But now they aim at Israel, and Israel aims right
back. Lofty aims are lost in multiple deaths and injured
people, mostly civilians. Views of the destruction caused
by both sides tear at the soul. Yet I’m fully confident
that both sides of this conflict are absolutely sure they
are correct in their perceptions of the world and the
essential righteousness of their actions.
How different are they from
any of us who say we are good people with lofty aims yet
fail to live up to them? While we may not aim rockets
loaded with explosives at each other, most of us are pretty
good at sending verbal and emotional explosives at people
or institutions with whom we have substantial disagreement.
Surely, in the imitation of Christ, there are more effective
and less destructive ways to move forward with what we
believe to be right and to express disagreement with those
whose paths are different.
