Sunday, September 11, 2011

To Forget the Dead

"To forget the dead would be akin to killing them a second time" - Eli Wiesel (Night)

Ten years is a long time to harbor bitterness and fear, yet that's what many of us have done since 9/11. I stand among you who have built a wall, using fear as mortar, to keep the dreaded Muslim out. I admit that when I noted that my sons flight to Europe would also be carrying several Muslim men that I felt fear in the pit of my stomach. It was the same fear when I became aware of the flight pattern his plane took when he flew to and from India.

I do not understand the terrorist mindset, nor their need to murder and destroy. I don't need to. I do not need to understand their hatred or their faith.

There really is only one thing that I must do: I must not condemn the innocent with the guilty.

I believe that Islam is a religion of lies. I also hold this to be true in regards to the Jehovah Witness', the Mormons, and any other cult that distorts the Word of the Living God.

If I am to be a follower of Christ, than my duty, my obligation, my one goal must be to love the sinner and share the news that Jesus lives.

We cannot forget the day that America, my beautiful country, was attacked and her people killed. Nor can we ignore the fact that world wide these types of attacks are growing in scope and ferocity. The world is an evil place and there will be no peace on earth until the return of the Son of God.

I wish I could say that I embrace my Muslim sister with the same joy and openness that I embrace my Christian sisters. Even though I smile, even though I laugh and joke, my heart still quakes with fear and my mind still races to thoughts that this Muslim or one she knows, may murder in the name of Islam.

"Can't we all just get along?"


No, we can't.

To forget the dead would be akin to killing them a second time and this is why we must not forget the heroes and victims of 9/11. We must cry when we hear their names read. We must harbor sorrow for the day America's innocence was destroyed.

We are not a city on a hill, safe and protected from the evils of this world.

Europe wasn't.

Korea is not.

As I consider these thoughts and my own short comings, I am appalled by the battle that rages in my heart. Jesus wants us to love mankind, as he did. Yet my heart feels contempt and anger when I remember the towers falling.

I do not want to forge the dead or the tragic days from ten years ago. I don't want to forget Hitler or Mao or Rwanda & Darfur. I want to let the anger and horror of it to wash over me.

But I want to rise up from this pool of tears and shine the promise of a better day.

I just don't know if I can.




2 comments:

patti said...

i think our all powerful God understands our resistance to those who wish to kill us. while i will continue to try and be as close to Christ as humanly possibly by attempting forgiveness, it's not to say i will succeed.

Anonymous said...

You may not be able to, but Jesus can! :)
The only way to overcome anything of the flesh is to allow God to work in and through you. I shall pray that when you think and feel these things you do not wish/you know you should not think/feel/etc., that you will continually turn to God and rely upon His strength to work in you in continually becoming more like Christ.